/  ^ 


FROM   THE   LIBRARY   OF 
REV.    LOUIS    FITZGERALD    BENSON.   D.  D. 

BEQUEATHED   BY   HIM   TO 

THE   LIBRARY  OF 

PRINCETON  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


section  /^  /  5  2) 


HANS   HOLBEIN    DEL. 


;  R  P-jcs   scuLP:r 


JOHN     HUSS. 

1373  1415 

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HISTORY     '■^%!:ii^i:";-^ 


OF  THE  CHURCH   KNOAVN  AS 


The  Unitas  Fratrum 


THE  UNITY  OF  THE  BRETHREN, 


FOUNDED  BY  THE  FOLLOWERS  OF  JOHN  HUS,  THE  BOHEMIAN 
REFORMER   AND    MARTYR. 


BY 

EDMUND  DE  SCHWEINITZ,  S.T.D. 
Bishop  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum. 


SECOND    EDITION 


THE  MORAVIAN  PUBLICATION  CONCERN, 

BETHLEHEM,  PA. 

1901. 


UOPYEIGHT, 

i8a5, 

By  EDMUND  De  SCHWEINITZ. 


PREFACE  TO  THE  FIRST  EDITION. 


HE  history  of  the  Church  founded  in  the  fifteenth 
century  by  followers  of  John  Hus  has  excited,  in 
recent  times,  no  little  interest  among  Bohemian 
scholars.  This  is  owing,  on  the  one  hand,  to  the  spirit  of 
inquiry  roused  by  the  abrogation  of  the  Austrian  censorship 
of  the  press,  and  on  the  other,  to  the  discovery  of  new  and 
important  sources,  especially  the  Lissa  Folios.  Such  sources 
have  been  examined  by  Dr.  Franz  Palacky,  the  late  Histori- 
ographer of  Bohemia,  by  Professors  Anton  Gindely  and 
Jaroslav  Goll,  of  the  University  of  Prague,  and  by  other 
writers,  all  of  whom  have  produced,  in  the  German  and 
Bohemian  languages,  valuable  works  on  the  subject.  The 
majority  of  these  historians  are  Roman  Catholics,  which 
circumstance  renders  their  labors  the  more  remarkable. 
No  less  important  are  the  researches  of  Bernhard  Czer- 
wenka,  a  Protestant  clergyman  of  the  Austrian  Duchy  of 
Steiermark,  who  has  written  a  German  History  of  the 
Evangelical  Church  in  Bohemia.  Of  writers  connected 
with  the  Moravian  Church,  Bishops  Ernst  William  Croeger 
and  Henry  Levin  Reichel  have  used  the  newer  sources ;  but 
their  works  are  likewise  in  German.  In  order  to  find  an 
English  History  of  the  Bohemian  Brethren,  the  reader  was 


IV  PREFACE. 

obliged  to  fall  back  upon  the  brief  and  antiquated  narratives 
of  Cranz,  Bost  and  Holmes,  written  prior  to  the  discovery  of 
the  newest  sources. 

In  the  pages  which  follow  I  have  attempted  to  supply 
the  existing  want  and  to  set  forth,  in  an  English  History 
based  upon  those  sources,  the  faith,  works  and  sufferings  of 
the  Bohemian  Brethren,  as  Reformers  before  the  Reformation 
and  as  the  fathers  of  the  Moravian  Church. 

My  preparations  for  this  History  have  been  lectures  which, 
for  nearly  twenty  years,  I  have  been  delivering  in  the  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  at  Bethlehem,  Pennsylvania.  Throughout 
this  period  I  have  been  studying  the  subject.  I  have  en- 
deavored to  produce  an  authentic  History  in  strict  accord- 
ance with  the  sources  at  my  command.  At  the  same  time  I 
have  not  hesitated  to  express  my  own  opinions,  and  to  correct 
what  ajipeared  to  me  to  be  wrong  views,  or  unwarranted  de- 
ductions, on  the  part  of  other  writers,  especially  of  those  who 
are  Roman  Catholics. 

The  object  which  I  have  in  view  is,  not  only  to  make  the 
members  of  the  Moravian  Church  familiar  with  the  history 
of  their  fathers  and  to  set  before  the  general  reader  a  narra- 
tive that  will,  I  trust,  be  found  interesting  and  profitable ; 
but  also  to  furnish  a  work  of  reference  for  scholars  who  may 
wish  to  consult  the  authorities  upon  which  the  facts  are 
based.  Hence  I  have  furnished  abundant  references  in  the 
foot-notes  and  a  complete  table  of  the  literature  relating  to 
the  subject. 

The  various  names  that  the  sources  give  to  the  Church  of 
which  I  treat,  I  have  used  indiscriminately.  All  these  names 
— that  is,  The  Unitas  Fratrum,  The  Unity,  The  Bohemian 
Brethren,  The  Brethren,  and  The  Brethren's  Church — were 
recognized  and  acknowledged  by  that  Church.     The  title  by 


PREFACE.  V 

which  it  is    commonly  known    at    the    present    day  is,  The 
Moravian  Church. 

The  orthography  of  the  Bohemian  and  Polish  proper 
names  varies  greatly,  according  as  they  are  used  by  d liferent 
writers.  It  is  owing  to  this  circumstance  that  the  same  name 
will  occasionally  be  found,  in  the  following  pages,  spelled 
in  different  ways.  When  these  discrepancies  were  discovered 
it  was  too  late  to  correct  them. 

As  the  chapters  of  my  work  were  originally  published 
in  the  columns  of  the  official  journal  of  the  American  Mo- 
ravian Church,  it  may  be  well  to  add,  that  before  being 
made  up  in  book  form  they  were  thoroughly  revised  and 
corrected,  and  that  consequently  the  only  History  of  the 
Unitas  Fratrum  which  I  acknowledge  as  from  my  pen,  is  the 
one  contained  in  the  volume  herewith  published. 

The  "Mai in  Library  of  Moravian  Literature,"  recently 
presented  to  the  Moravian  Church  by  Mr.  William  Gunn 
Malin,  of  Philadelphia,  has  afforded  me  such  constant  and 
valuable  aid  that  I  can  not  forbear  an  expression  of  deep 
gratitude  for  this  magnificent  gift.  It  is  owing  to  the  gen- 
erosity of  the  same  gentleman,  that  this  volume  is  adorned 
with  so  beautiful  a  frontispiece.  This  engraving  is  a  reduced 
copy  of  one  by  Wolff  from  the  picture  of  Holbein,  and  the 
fac-siraile  which  it  exhibits  of  the  handwriting  of  John  Hus, 
is  taken  from  an  official  entry  made  by  him  in  the  year  1401, 
as  Dean  of  the  Faculty  of  Philosophy,  in  the  records  of  the 
University  of  Prague. 

My  sincere  acknowledgments  are  due  to  Professor 
Severin  Einger,  U.  J.  D.,  of  the  Lehigh  University,  at 
Bethlehem,  for  the  valuable  aid  which  he  gave  me  in  trans- 
lating important  parts  of  the  original  Polish  History  of  the 
Brethren  by  Lukaszewicz,  not  found  in  the  German  version. 


VI  PREFACE. 


To  the  memoiy  of  mv  late  friend,  Professor  Theodore 
Wolle,  of  the  Moravian  Seminary  for  Young  Ladies,  at 
Bethlehem,  I  reverently  bring  an  affectionate  tribute,  for  his 
kindness  in  reading  the  proofs,  the  last  of  them  when  he 
was  already  near  to  the  shadow  of  the  dark  valley. 

I  send  forth  this  History  with  the  humble  prayer,  that  it 
may  serve  to  promote  the  glory  of  Jesus  Christ  the  Divine 
Head  of  the  Church  Universal,  which  He  has  founded  upon 
Himself  as  the  Rock  of  Ages  and  against  which  the  gates  of 
hell  shall  not  prevail. 

If  my  life  is  spared,  I  propose,  in  the  course  of  the  next 
few  years,  to  issue,  as  a  supplementary  volume,  the  History 
of  the  Renewed  Unitas  Fratrura,  or  Moravian  Church. 

Bethlehem,  Pennsylvania,  April  17,  1885. 


PREFACE  TO  THE  SECOND  EDITION. 


The  wish  and  the  purpose  expressed  iu  the  closing  para- 
graph of  the  preface  to  the  first  edition  of  this  History  were 
destined  not  to  be  fulfilled,  for  the  distinguished  author  was 
called  to  his  eternal  reward  on  December  18,  1887.  But  his 
successor  as  Lecturer  on  Moravian  Church  History  iu  the 
Moravian  Theological  Seminary  at  Bethlehem,  Pa.,  the  Rev. 
J.  Taylor  Hamilton,  has  in  efiect  fulfilled  this  design  by 
publishing  in  1900  an  exhaustive  History  of  the  Moravian 
Church  during  the  eighteenth  and  nineteenth  centuries.  This 
publication  has  accentuated  the  desirability  of  publishing  a 
new  edition  of  the  History  of  the  Moravian  Church  during 
the  fifteenth,  sixteenth,  and  seventeenth  centuries  by  the  late 
Bishop  Edmund  de  Schweiuitz,  S.  T.  D.,  the  more  so  as  the 
first  edition  has  been  totally  exhausted. 

Ever  since  its  original  publication,  sixteen  years  ago,  it  has 
been  used  as  a  text-book  in  the  Moravian  Theological  Semi- 
nary at  Bethlehem,  Pa.  Although  thus  subjected  to  con- 
stant scrutiny,  now  that  opportunity  for  revision  is  offered,  it 
is  found  that  no  essential  changes  are  desirable.  The  work 
is  generally  recognized  as  the  standard  on  the  subject,  and  is, 
in  fact,  the  only  one  in  the  English  language. 

It  has  been  felt,  therefore,  that  it  would  be  an  historical 
blunder,  and  almost  a  literary  crime,  to  tamper  in  any  way 


PREFACE   TO   THE   SECOND    EDITION. 

with  the  finished  and  scholarly  work  of  the  deceased  author. 
Consequently,  the  present  publication  is  a  reprint,  rather  than 
a  new  edition.  Only  a  few  typographical  errors  have  been 
corrected. 

A  cordial  expression  of  thanks  is  due  Prof.  J.  Taylor 
Hamilton  for  his  careful  examination  of  the  work  in  view  of 
its  possible  revision,  and  for  his  assistance  in  preparing  it  for, 
and  seeing  it  through,  the  press. 

This  second  edition  is  published  by  the  son  of  the  author, 
Dr.  George  E.  de  Schweinitz,  of  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  at  the 
suffffestion  of  the  constituted  authorities  of  the  Moravian 
Church  in  America,  and  the  valuable  service  thus  rendered 
the  Church  is  herewith  most  gratefully  acknowledged. 

In  sending  forth  this  second  edition,  the  pious  wish 
expressed  by  the  author  in  the  preface  to  the  first  edition 
may  well  be  repeated.  May  this  History  promote  the  glory 
of  the  great  Head  of  the  Church  Universal,  Jesus  the  Christ, 
our  adorable  Saviour,  and  may  it  inspire  all  readers  with  a 
spirit  of  unquestioning  devotion,  even  unto  death,  to  Him, 
Who  has  redeemed  them,  even  as  so  many,  of  whom  this 
History  tells,  laid  down  their  lives  because  of  their  fidelity 
to  their  Lord. 

P.    DE    S. 
Bethlehem,  Pennsylvania,  March  20,  1901. 


literature  relating  to  the 
u:n"itas  fratrum. 


To  adduce  all  the  manuscripts  and  printed  works  relating, 
directly  or  indirectly,  to  the  Unitas  Fratrum,  would  require  a 
separate  volume.  Those  here  presented,  comprise  the  most  im- 
portant sources  and  upon  them  is  based,  as  the  foot-notes  show, 
the  History  which  follows.  In  order  to  avoid,  in  these  foot-notes, 
the  repetition  of  the  titles  in  full,  abbreviations  have  been  used 
which,  in  the  subjoined  list,  appear  in  brackets. 

I.     CHRONICLES  AND  GENERAL  HISTORIES  OF 
BOHEMIA  AND   MORAVIA. 

1.  [Scriptores  Rerum  Boh..]  Scriptores  Rerum  Bohemicarum.  Tom.I- 

Pragse,  1783;  Tom.  II.  1784;  Tom.  III.  1829. 

The  first  and  second  volumes  contain  the  Jjatin  Chronicle 
of  Cosmas,  the  father  of  Bohemian  history ;  the  continuation 
of  this  Chronicle ;  the  Chronicle  of  Franciscus ;  and  the 
Chronicle  of  Benessius  de  Weitmil.  The  third  volume  com- 
prises Annals  in  Bohemian. 

2.  [.^n.  Syl.]     ^Enese  Sylvii  De  Bohemorum,  et  ex   his   Imperatorum 

aliquot  Origine  ac  Gestis.     Basilea,  Anno  M.D.  LXXV. 

3.  [Stransky.]     Respublica  Bohemise  a  M.  Paulo  Stranskii  Descripta. 

Lugd.  Batavorum,  Anno  1634. 

The  same  work  in  German,  corrected  from  a  Romish  point 
of  view,  by  Ignaz  Cornova,  Professor  in  the  University  of  Prague, 
and  entitled :  "  Paul  Stransky's  Staat  von  Bohmen.  Uebersetzt, 
berichtigt  und  erganzt."     Prag.  1792-1803. 

Paul  Stransky  was  a  learned  Professor  of  the  University  of 
Prague ;  according  to  Cornova,  a  member  of  the  Church  of  the 
Bohemian  Brethren  and  "showing  in  this  his  religion  a  zeal 
that  degenerated  into  intolerance."  In  the  Anti-Reformation 
he  was  banished  and  wrote  his  work  in  exile.  See  pp.  468  and 
469  of  our  History. 

vii 


vm  LITERATURE    RELATING   TO 

4.  [Balbin.]     Epitome  Historica  Rerum  Boheinicarum.     Authore   Bo- 
huslao  Balbino  5  Societate  Jesu.     Pragae.     Anno  1677. 

5.  [Palacky.]     Geschichte   von  Bohmen.    Grosstentheils   nach  Urkun- 

den  unci  Handschriften.  Von  Franz  Palacky.  Erster  Band ;  Zweiter 
Band,  zwei  Abtheilungen  ;  Dritter  Band,  drei  Abtheilungen;  vierter 
Band,  zwei  Abtheilungen ;  fiinfter  Band,  zwei  Abtheilungen.  Prag. 
1844-1867. 

The  Abtheilungen  are  published  as  volumes ;  hence  there  are 
ten  volumes,  and  we  cite  accordingly,  not  according  to  the  Ab- 
theilungen. Palacky  was  a  Protestant,  a  direct  descendant  of 
the  Bohemian  Brethren,  a  pronounced  Czech,  and  Bohemia's 
most  distinguished  historiographer.  His  work  must  be  regarded 
as  the  highest  authority  on  that  part  of  Bohemian  history  of 
which  it  treats,  from  about  B.  C.  388  to  A.  D.  1526. 

6.  [Schlesinger.]     Geschichte  Bohmens,  von  Dr.  Ludwig  Schlesinger. 

Herausgegeben  vom  Vereine  fiir  Geschichte  der  Deutschen  in  Boh- 
men.    Prag.  1870. 

Written  from  an  ultra  German  point  of  view,  as  an  offset  to 
Palacky's  work. 

7.  [Pal.  Boehm  Geschicht.]     Wiirdigung  der  alten  Bohmischen   Ge- 

schichtschreiber,  von  Franz  Palacky.     Prag.  1869. 

8.  [Pelzel.]     Franz  Martin  Pelzel's  Geschichte  von    Bohmen,    von  den 

altesten  bis  auf  die  neuesten  Zeiten.  Vierte  fortgesetzte  Auflage. 
2  Bde.  Prag.  1817. 

9.  [Illust.  Chronik.]     lUustriste  Chronik  von  Bohmen.     Ein  geschicht- 

liches  Nationalwerk.  Herausgegeben  von  einem  Vereine  vater- 
liindischer  Gelerheteu  und  Kiinstler.     2  Bde.  Prag.  1852-1854. 


II.  PARTICULAR  PERIODS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF 
BOHEMIA  AND  MORAVIA. 

10.  [Gindely's30-jaehr.  Krieg.]    Geschichte  des  dreissigiiihrigen  Krieges 

von  Anton  Gindely.     Prag.  1869-1880. 

Four  volumes  have  been  published  which  bring  the  history 
of  the  Thirty  Years'  War  to  1623.  An  abbreviated  popular 
edition  in  three  volumes  has  appeared,  and  been  translated  into 
English  by  Andrew  Ten  Brooks.  New  York,  G.  P.  Putnam's 
Sons.  ' 

11.  [Gindely's  Rudolf.]     Eudolf   II.  und   seine  Zeit.    1600-1612.  Von 

Anton  Gindely.     2  Bde.  in  one.     Prag.  1868. 

12.  [Gindely's    Majestaetsbrief.]      Geschichte  der   Ertheilung  des  Bo- 

heraischen   Majestatsbriefes   von    1609.      Von  Dr.  Anton  Gindely. 
Prag.  1868. 

This  is  substantially  a  reprint  of  the  Fourth  Book  of  his 
"  Geschichte  der  Bohmischen  Briider." 


THE    UXITAS    FRATRUM.  IX 

13.  [Borott  Majestaesbrief.]     Der  von  Kaiser  Rudolph  ertheilte  Majes- 

tiitsbrief  vom  Jahre  1609.  Aus  einer  Bohmischen  Urkunde  iiber- 
setzt  mit  Anmerkungen,  von  Johann  Borott.     Gorliz.  1803. 

14.  [Bucholtz.]     Geschichte  der  Regierung  Ferdinand  des  Ersten.  Von 

F.  B.  von  Bucholtz.     9  Bde.     Wien.  1831-1838. 

15.  [Apologia.]     Apologia,    oder    Entschuldigungs     Schrifft,      aus   was 

fiir  unvermeidlichen  Ursachen,  alle  drei  Stende  des  loblichen  Konig- 
reichs  Bohaimb,  sub  utraq. ;  ein  Defension  Werck  anstellen  miissen. 
Prag.  M.  DC.  XVIII. 

16.  [Andere  Apologia.]     Die  Grosse  oder  Andere  Apologia   der  Stiinde 

dess  Konigreichs  Boheimb,so  den  Leib  u.  das  Blut  unsers  Herrn  und 
Heylands  J.  C.  unter  Beyder  Gestalt  empfahen.  Sampt  den  darzu 
gehorigen  Beylagen.     s.  1.  M.  DC.  XIX. 

17.  [Deductio.]     Deductio,  Das  ist   JSTothwendige   Ausfuhrung,    Bericht 

u.  Erzehlung,  deren  Ursachen  u.  Motiven :  darumb  Kayser  Ferdi- 
nandus  der  Ander,  des  Regiments  im  Konigreich  Boheimb  und 
demselben  Incorporirten  Lander,  verlustigt :  und  wodurch  die  Liin- 
der  zu  der  Befugten  und  Rechtmiissigen  Wahl  jtzt  Regierender  K. 
Majestiit  in  Boheimb,  vermoge  ihrer  Freyheiten,  zu  schreitten  be- 
wogen  u.  getrungen  worden.     Im  Jahr  M.  DC.  XX.  s.  1. 

18.  [Pescheck.]     Geschichte  der   Gegenreformation  in   Bohmen.     Von 

Mag.  Chr.  A.  Peschek.      2  Bde.     Leipzig.  1850.     2te  Ausgabe. 

The  first  edition  has  been  translated  into  English  :  "  The  Reforma- 
tion and  Anti-Reformation  in  Bohemia."     London,  1845. 

As  a  general  thing  we  cite  this  English  edition.  It  is,  how- 
ever, faulty,  omits  entire  paragraphs,  and  nearly  all  the  impor- 
tant notes. 

19.  [Pescheck's  Exulanten.]     Die  Bohmischen  Exulanten  in  Sachsen. 

Von  Christian  Adolph  Pescheck,  Theol.  Dr.  u.  Archidiaconus  zu 
Zittau.     Leipzig.  1857. 

20.  [Daum.]     Die  Verfolgungen  der   Evangelischen  in  Bohmen.     Eine 

ernste  Warnung  fur  alle  Evangelische.  Von  Hermann  Daum. 
Darmstadt.  1800. 


III.     LOCAL  HISTORY   AND  TOPOGRAPHY. 

21.  [Schottky's  Prag.]     Prag   wie   es   war  u.  wie  es  ist.     Von    Julius 

Max  Schottky,  Professor.     2  Bde.  Prag.  s.  a. 

22.  [Burg  Puerglitz.]     Das  Piirglitzer  Thai  u.  die  Burg  Purglitz.  Von 

J.  Nitsche.     Wien,  1876. 

23.  Lissaer    Geschichte.]     Das  Wichtigste  u.    Merkwiirdigste   aus   der 

Geschichte  der  Stadt  Lissa.     Von  Pflug,  Lissa. 


X  LITERATURE    RELATING    TO 

24.  [Lissaer  Gymnasium.]  Zur  dreihimdertjiihrigen  Jubelfeier  des 
Gymnasiums  der  Eeformirten  Briider  Unittitjetzigen  Koniglichen 
Gymn<vsiums  zu  Lissa,  am  Dienstage,  dem  13.  November,  1855. 
Gedruckt  in  Lissa. 

For  years  we  tried  to  secure  this  rare  and  important  work  but 
without  success,  until  we  visited  Lissa  in  1879,  and  found  that 
.  there  were  three  copies  remaining  in  the  hands  ot  the  Faculty. 
One  of  these  copies  the  Rector  of  the  Gymnasium  presented  to 
us,  through  the  courteous  intervention  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Koch,  one 
of  the  Pastors  of  the  Unitdtsgemeinde. 


IV.  BOHEMIAN  LITERATURE. 

25.  [Dobrowsky.]     Geschichte  der  Bohmischen  Sprache  und  Literatur, 

von  J.  Dobrowsky.     Prag.  1818. 

26.  [Talvi.]     Historical  view  of  the  Languages   and   Literature   of  the 

Slavic  Nations.     By  Talvi.     (Mrs.  Robiason,  wife   of  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Edward  Robinson.)     New  York.  1850. 


V.     JOHN  HUS  AND  THE  HUSSITES. 

27.  [Palacky's  Vorlseufer.]  Die  Vorliiufer  des  Husitenthums  in  Bohmen. 

Von  F.  Palacky.     Prag.  1869. 

28.  [Palacky's  Waldenser.]     Ueber  die  Beziehungen  und  das  Verhiilt- 

niss  der  Waldenser  zu  den  eiiemaligen  Secten  in  Bohmen.  Von  Dr. 
Franz  Palacky.     Prag.  1869. 

29.  [Hcefler."!  Geschichtschreiber  der  Husitischen  Bewegung  in  Bohmen. 

Von  C.  Hofler.     3  Bde.  Wien,  1856-1866. 
Ultra  Romish  and  full  of  faults. 

30.  [Palacky's  Hoefler.]     Die  Geschichte  des  Husitenthums  und  Prof. 

C.  Hofler,  von  Franz  Palacky.     Prag.  1868. 
A  severe  criticism  of  No.  29. 

31.  [Documenta  Hus  ]     Documenta  Mag.  Joannis  Hus,   vitam,  doctri. 

nam,  causam  in  Constantiensi  Concilio  actam,  et  Controversias  de 
Religionein  Bohemia  annis  1403-1418  motas  illustrantia,  qufe  partim 
adhuc  inedita,  partim  mendose  Vulgata,  nunc  ex  ipsis  Fontibus 
hausta.  Edidit  Franciscus  Palacky,Regni  Bohemise  Historiographus. 
Pragse.  1869. 

A  most  important  collection  of  documents. 

32.  [Hist,  et  Mon.]  also    [Hus  Opera.]       Historia  et   Monumenta   J. 

Hus  atque  Hieronymi  Pragensis.  Norimbergensem,  1715.  I  et  II 
Tomi. 

A  collection  of  the  Latin  works  of  John  Hus.  An  earlier 
edition  appeared  in  1558,  also  at  Nuremberg.  We  cite  the 
edition  of  1715. 


THE    UNITAS    FEATRUM.  xi 

33.  [Gillett.]     Life  and  Times  of  John   Huss  by  E.  H.  Gillett.     3d  ed 

2  vols.,  Boston.  1871.  "' 

34.  [Wratislaw.]     John    Hus.     The   Commencement   of  Eesistance  to 

Papal   Authority   on  the   Part  of  the  Inferior   Clergy.     By  A.  H. 
Wratislaw,  M.  A.     London,  1882. 

35.  [Berger.J     Johannes   Hus  und  Konig  Sigmund.     Von  Dr.  Wilhelm, 

Berger.     Augsburg.  1871. 

36.  [Schwabe.]     Die  Eeformatorische  Theologie  des  J.  Hus.     Von   Dr. 

F.  Schwabe.     Friedberg.  1862. 

37.  [Friedrich.]     Die  Lehre  des  J.  Hus.     Von  Dr.  J.  Friedrich    Regens- 

burg.  1862. 

38.  fHelfert.l     Hus  und  Hieronymus.     Studie  von  Josef  Alexander  Hel- 

fert.  Prag.  1853. 

39.  [Von  der  Hardt.]     Magnum  CEcumenicum  Constanticnse  Concilium 

VI.  Tomis  comprehensum.     Opera   et   labore    Hermanni   Von  der 
Hardt.     Helmestadt.  1697-1700. 

40.  LHus  Predigten.]    Joh.  Hus  Predigten.  Aus  der  Bohmischen  in  die. 

Deutsche  Sprache  iibersetzt  von  Dr.  J.  Xowotny.     3   Abtheilungen 
Gorlitz.  1855. 

These  sermons  are  translated  from  a  Bohemian  Postil  which 
the  Moravian  refugees  brought  to  Herrnhut,  in  the  eighteenth 
century. 

41.  [Huss  Sermons.]     The  Sermons   of  John  Huss,  by  Rev.  E.  H.  Gil- 

lett, D.  D.     From  the  "  New  Englander,"  October,  1864. 

42.  [Gillett's  Taborites.]     The  Taborites  and  the  Germ  of  the  Moravian 

Church.     By  Rev.  E.  H.  Gillett.    From  the  American  Presbyterian 
and  Theological  Review. 

43.  [Hus  und  Wiclif.]     Zur  Genesis  der  Husitischen  Lehre.     Von  Dr. 

Johann  Loserth.     Prag  u.  Leipzig.  1884. 

An  English  translation  by  the  Rev.  M.  J.  Evans,  has  been 
published  in  London. 

This  work  appeared  after  those  chapters  in  our  History  which 
treat  of  Hus  had  been  electrotyped,  so  that  we  could  make  no 
use  of  it.  It  sets  forth  Hus  as  a  mere  slavish  imitator  of  Wyc- 
liffe  and  is  one-sided  in  its  tendency,  as  has  been  shown  in  a 
review  of  the  work  written  by  the  Rev.  J.  Max  Hark  and  pub- 
lished in  the  Andover  Review,  September,  1884. 

44.  [Krummel.]     Geschichte  der  Bohmischen  Reformation  im  funfzehn- 

ten  Jahrhundert  von  L.  Krummel.     Gotha.  1866. 

45.  [Krummel's  Ut.  u.  Tab.]     Utraquisten  und  Taboriten.  Ein  Beitrag 

zur  Geschichte  der   Bohmischen  Reformation.     Von   L.  Krummel 
Gotha.  1871. 

46.  [Bezold's  Sigmund.]     Konig  Sigmund  u.   die  Reichskriege   gegen 

die  Husiten.     Von  Dr.  F.  von  Bezold.     Miinchen.     1872. 


xii  L,ITER.4.TURE    RELATING    TO 

47.  [Bezold  Husitenthum.]     Zur  Greschichte  des  Husitenthums.     Von 

Dr.  F.  von  Bezold.     Munchen.      1874. 

48.  [Lechler.]     Johann  von  Wicliff  u.  die  Vorgeschichte   der   Keforma- 

mation.     Von  G.  Lechler.     2  Bde.  Leipzig.  1873. 

A  large  part  of  the  second  volume  is  devoted  to  the  Bohemian 
Reformatii)n. 

49.  [Reiser's  Ref.]     Friedrich  Keiser's  Reformation  des    K.  Sigmund. 

Mit  Einleitung  u.  Commentar  von  Dr.  Willy  Boehm.  Leipzig.  1876. 


VI.    HISTORY  OF  THE  UNITAS  FRATRUM. 

50.  [L.  F.]     The  Lissa  Folios.  MSS.      Herrnhut  Archives. 

The  Lissa  Folios  comprise  fourteen  folio  volumes  of  historical 
documents  collected  by  the  Brethren  after  the  destruction  of 
their  earlier  archives  in  the  great  conflagration  at  Leitomischl, 
in  1546.  Thirteen  of  these  Folios  were  found,  in  1836,  by  the 
Eev.  Frederick  Emmanuel  Kleinschmidt  in  the  vestry  of  the 
Church  of  St.  John,  at  Lissa.  Two  years  later  they  were  ex- 
amined by  the  Kev.  John  Plitt,  the  Historian  of  the  Unitas 
Fratrum,  who  reported  that  they  contained  papers  of  the  ut- 
most value.  Thereupon  they  were  purchased  by  the  authorities 
of  the  Moravian  Church,  for  500  Thaler,  and  placed  in  the  Ar- 
chives at  Herrnhut.  The  fourteenth  Folio  has  since  been 
discovered  in  the  Bohemian  Museum  at  Prague.  That  Folio 
may  possibly  contain  the  documents  which,  according  to  Lukas- 
zewicz,  disappeared  after  the  death  of  Bishop  Jablonsky,  (See 
p.  632,  Note  25,  of  our  History).  These  Folios  have  been  ex- 
amined by  Gindely,  who  made  them  the  principal  source  for  his 
"  Geschichte  d.  Bohm.  Briider,"  as  also  by  Palacky  and  _Goll. 
Some  of  the  documents  are  written  in  Latin ;  the  majority  in 
old  Bohemian,  and  of  these  latter  many  have  been  translated 
into  German  by  Hock  (1841).  At  the  present  time  the  Rev. 
Joseph  Miiller  who,  according  to  a  resolution  of  the  General 
Synod  of  1879,  has  been  appointed  Historiographer  of  the  Unitas 
Fratrum,  and  who  has  devoted  several  years  to  tlie  study  of  the 
the  old  Bohemian,  is  engaged  in  a  thorough  examination  of  the 
Folios.  We  cite  them  in  so  far  as  they  are  referred  to  by 
Reichel,  Gindely  and  Goll.  (See  pp.  142,  302,  Note  2,  476,  596, 
Note  13  and  632;  Note  25,  of  our  History.) 

51.  [Jaffet  Enstehung  d.  B.  E.  or  B.  U.]     Geschichte  der   Enstehung 

der    Briider   Einigkeit,   by   John   JaSet,   Assistant   Bishop.      MS. 
Herrnhut  Archives. 
62.  [Jaffet  S.  G.]     Schwerdt  Goliaths,  by  John  Jaffet,  Assistant  Bishop. 
MS.     Herrnhut  Archives. 

We  cite  Nos.  51  and  52,  as  referred  to  by  Reichel.  Both  these 

MSS.  are  very  important,   especially   in   connection  with   the 

episcopacy. 

53.  [Blahoslaw's  Summa.]      Summa  qusedam  brevissime  collecta  ex 

variis  scriptis  Fratrum  qui  falso  Waldenses   vel    Picardi   vocantur, 


,  THE    UNITAS    FRATRUM,  XUl 

de  eorundem  Fratrum  Origine  et  Actis.  1557.  MS.,  copied  from 
the  8th  Lissa  Folio. 

Since  printed  as  an  Appendix  to  GoU,  No.  61.  See  our  Hist, 
p.  314  and  Note  36 

64.  [Blahoslaw's  Boh.  MS.  Hist.]  also  [Boh.   Hist.    Frat.]     A    MS. 

History  of  the  U.  F.,  in  Bohemian,  quoted  by  Gindely,  Palacky  and 

Goll. 

According  to  Gindely  and  Palacky  it  was  written  by  Blahos- 
law ;  according  to  Goll,  the  author  is  unknown.  Gindely  has 
furnished  a  German  translation  for  the  library  of  the  Theo.  Sem. 
at  Gnadenfeld.  The  original  is  in  the  University  Library  at 
Prague.  Blahoslaw  wrote  a  second  and  more  voluminous  His- 
tory of  the  Church,  but  this  work  is  lost.  See  our  History,  p.  145 
and  Note  11. 

55.  [Lasitius.]     Lasitii  Origo,  Progressus,  Res  prosperae   quam  adversse, 

nee  non  Mores  Instituta,  Consuetudines  Fratrum.  MS.  Herrnhut 
Archives. 

We  cite  this  work  in  so  far  as  it  is  referred  to  by  Plitt.  For 
an  account  of  its  origin  see  our  History,  pp.  411  and  412. 

56.  [Plitt.]      Denkwiirdigkeiten  der   Alten   Briider   Geschichte.      Von 

Johannes  Plitt.  MS.  1828. 

A  copy  is  in  the  library  of  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Beth- 
lehem.    Plitt  wrote  his  work  before  the  L.  F.  had  been  secured 
and  other  new  sources  had  come  to  light.     Taking  this  circum- 
stance into  consideration,  his  History  is  wonderfully  accurate. 
t 

57.  [Reichel's  Zusaetze.]      Zusiitze   und  Berichtigungen  zu   Johannes 

Plitt's  Denkwiirdigkeiten  der  alten  Briider  Geschichte,  nach  JafFet 
und  den  1 3  Lissaer  Folianten.  Von  H.  L.  Reichel,  Lehrer  am 
Seminarium  in  Gnadenfeld.     MS.  1844-1845. 

A  very  important  work  to  which  we  repeatedly  refer.  There 
is  a  coj^y  in  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Bethlehem. 

58.  [Plitt's  Bischofthum.]     Vom  Bischofthum  der   Briider  Unitat,  in 

alter  und  neuer  Zeit.     Von  Johannes  Plitt.     MS.  1835. 

59.  [Quellen  ]     Quellen  zur  Geschichte   der   Bohmischen    Briider,    vor- 

nehmlich  ihren  Zusammenhang  mit  Deutschland  betrefFend.  Ver- 
offentlicht  von  Anton  Gindely.     Wien.  1859. 

This  work  gives  a  large  number  of  the  documents  contained 
in  the  L.  F.  and  is  very  important. 

60.  [Benham's  Notes.]     Notes  on   the  Origin   and    Episcopate  of  the 

Bohemian  Brethren,  by  Daniel  Benham.     London.     1867. 

61.  [GoU.]    Quellen  und  Untersuchungen  zur  Geschichte  der  Bohmischen 

Briider.     Herausgegeben  von  Jaroslav  Goll.     Prag.     1878. 

For  a  criticism  on  this  work  see  our  History,  p.  151,  Note  20. 
The  second  part,  published  in  1882,  treats  of  Peter  Chelcicky, 
but  reached  us  too  late  for  use. 


XIV  LITERATURE    RELATING    TO 

62.  [Cranz.]     The  Ancient   and  Modern   History    of  the  Brethren,    by 

David  Cranz,  translated  into  English,  with  Emendations  and   addi- 
tional Notes,  by  Benjamin  La  Trobe.     London.     MDCCLXXX. 

The  original  appeared  at  Barby  in  1771.  The  Ancient  His- 
tory is  very  brief  and  antiquated. 

63.  [Holmes.]     The  History  of  the  Protestant  Church  of  the   United 

Brethren,  by  John  Holmes.     2  vols.     London.     1825. 
Brief  and  atiquated. 

64.  [Croeger.]     Geschichte  der  Alten  Briiderkirche,  Von  E.  W.  Croeger 

Zwei  Abtheilungen.      Gnadau.     1865  and  1866. 

Bishop  Croeger  follows  Plitt,  often  word  for  word,  but  makes 
use  of  the  newer  sources  also,  without,  however,  attempting  to 
give  a  critical  history. 

65.  [CrcEger  G.    E.   B.]     Geschichte   der     Erneuerten     Briiderkirche. 

Erster  Theil.    Gnadau.     1852.     By  Bishop  Croeger. 

66.  [Gindely.]     Geschichte  der  Bohmischen  Briider  von  Anton  Gindely. 

2  Bde.  Prag.  1857  u.  1858. 

Professor  Gindely  is  a  Koman  Catholic,  but  writes  with  com- 
mendable fairness  and  uses  all  the  newest  sources.  His  work  is 
very  important,  although  as  a  Romanist  lie  cannot  understand 
the  true  spirit  of  the  U.  F.,  which  he  looks  upon  as  an  interest- 
ing development  of  the  national  life  of  Bohemia. 

67.  [Czerwenka.]     Geschichte  der   Evangelischen  Kirche  in   Bohmen. 

Von  B.  Czerwenka.     2  Bde.  Bielefeld  u.  Leipzig.  1869  u.  18V0. 

The  author  is  a  Protestant  clergyman  familiar  with  the  Bo- 
hemian language.  Although  he  had  no  opportunity  of  consult- 
ing the  L.  F.  he  has  used  nearly  all  the  other  newest  sources  and 
produced  a  history  which  deserves  the  highest  praise.  He  fully 
understands  and  forcibly  sets  forth  the  spirit  of  the  U.  F. 

68.  [Regenvolscius.]     Systema    Historico-Chronologicum    Ecclesiarum 

Slavonicarum.  Opera  Adriani  Regenvolcii  E.  P.  Trajecti  at  Rhenum 

(Utrecht).  Anno  M.  D  C.  LII. 

The  author's  real  name  was  Adrian  Wengierski,  which  ap- 
peared in  the  second  edition  published  at  Amsterdam  in  1679. 
Both  editions  came  out  after  his  death.  For  particulars  see  our 
History,  p.  574,  Note  1. 

69.  [Camerarius.]     Camerarii  Historica  Narratio  de  Fratrum  Orthodox- 

orum  Ecclesiis   in   Bohemia,   Moravia  et   Polonia.     Heidelbergae. 

1605. 

Written  originally  at  the  request  of  the  Brethren,  but  not 
published  until  thirty  years  after  the  death  of  the  author.  The 
volume  contains  a  large  number  of  additional  documents.  See 
our  History,  p.  412. 

70.  [Rieger.]     Die  Alte  und  Neue   Bohmische  Briider,  Von  M.  Georg 

Cunrad  Rieger.     6  Bde.     Ziillichau.     1734-1739. 


THE    UNITAS    FRATRUM.  XV 

71.  [Lochner.]     Entstehung  u.  erste  Schicksale  der  Briidergemeinde  in 

Bohmen   u.    Mahren,    u.    Leben   des  Georg   Israel.     VonG.  W.  K. 
Lochner.     Niirnberg.     1832. 

72.  [Anbeten  des  Sacraments.]      Vom   Anbeten   des   Sacraments  des 

heyligen   Lychnams   Christi.     Mart.  Luther.     Wittemberg.     Anno 
M.  D.  XXIII. 

See  our  History,  pp.  234  and  235,  and  Note  13. 

73.  [Reichel's  Geschichte.]    Kurze  Darstellung  der  alten  Bohm.-Mahr. 

Briider  Kirche,  mit  besonderer  Riicksicht  auf  das  Leben  der  Bischofe 
Horn,  Augusta  u.  Comenius.     Kothenburg.  s.  a. 

Written  by  Henry  L.  Reichel  and  based  on  the  newest  sources. 
A  second  edition  published  at  Bunzlau. 

74.  [Hist.  Persecutionum.]     Historia  Persecutionum  Ecclesiae  Bohem- 

icffi.     Anno  Domini.  M.  D.  C.  XLVIII. 

A  remarkable  book  written  by  exiled  Protestant  ministers, 
chiefly  by  Comenius  and  Adam  Hartmann,  giving  a  full  account 
of  the  persecutions  in  Bohemia,  and  intended  for  Fox's  Book  of 
Martyrs;  but  completed  (1632)  too  late  to  be  incorporated  with 
that  work.  It  was  originally  published  in  Holland,  according 
to  a  resolution  of  the  Synod  of  the  U.  F.,  to  which  church  the 
majority  of  the  contributors  belonged.  See  our  History,  p.  534, 
Note  3,  568,  569. 

75.  [Eisner's  Verfolgungs-Geschichte.]     Martyrologium  Bohemicum, 

oder  die  Bohimsche  Verfolgungs-Geschichte,  Von  S.  T.  Eisner,  Nebst 
einem  hist.  Vorbericht  u.  einigen  Zugaben.     Berlin.     1766. 
A  German  translation  of  No.  74. 

76.  [Persekutionsbuechlein.]    Das  Persekutionsbiichlein.    Von  B.  Czer- 

wenka.  Giitersloh.     1869. 

The  newest  and  best  German  translation  of  No.  74,  with  im- 
portant notes. 

77.  [Hist,  of  Persecutions.]     The  History  of  the   Bohemian   Persecu- 

tion.    London.  M  D  C.  L. 

A  quaint  English  translation  of  No.  74. 

The  Bohemian  version  appeared  at  Lissa  in  1655,  at  Amster- 
dam in  1663,  and  at  Zittau  in  1756 ;  earlier  German  versions  in 
Switzerland  in  1650  and  1669. 

78.  [Comenii  Hist.]     Jo.  Amos  Comenii  Historia  Fratrum  Bohemorum. 

Halae.  1702. 

The  first  edition  appeared  at  Amsterdam  in  1660  ;  the  edition 
of  1702,  which  we  cite,  was  edited  by  Buddeus.  In  both  the 
above  History  forms  the  introduction  to  the  Ratio  Disciplinse 
(No.  100).  See  our  History  p.  602.  A  German  translation. 
Schwabach.    1739. 

79.  [Mueller's  Reports.]     Reports  of  his  Historical  Researches,  by  the 

Rev.  Joseph  MuUer,  the  newly   appointed  Historiographer.     Pub- 
lished in  German  and  English.     1884  and  1885. 


Xvi  LITERATURE    RELATING    TO 

80.  [Fischer.]     Versuch   einer  Geschichte  der   Eeformation   in   Polen. 

Von  G.  W.  T.  Fischer.     2  Theile.   Gratz.     1855. 

81.  [Lukaszewicz.]  Von  den  Kirchen  der  Bohmischen  Briider    im   ehe- 

maligen  Grosspolen  durch  Joseph  Lukaszewicz.  Aus  demPolnischen 

iibersetzt  von  G.  W.  T.  Fischer.     Gratz.     1877. 

The  original  Polish  work  contains  155  pages  of  important 
lists  of  bishops,  churches,  schools,  etc.,  not  found  in  the  Ger- 
man translation. 

82.  [Krasinski.]     Historical  sketch  of  the  Kise,  Progress,  and  Decline  of 

the  Eeformation  in  Poland.     By  Count  Valerian  Krasinski.     2  vols. 
London.     1838. 

83.  [Con.   Send.]     Historia  Consensus  Sendomiriensis.    Studio  et  Opera 

D.  E.  Jablonski.     Berolini.    1731. 

84.  [Dekrete  d.  B.  U.]     Dekrety   Jednoty   Bratrske.     Edited  by  Anton 

Gindely.     Prague.    1865. 

This  volume  contains  the  enactments,  in  Bohemian,  of  the 
Synod  of  the  U.  F.  It  is,  however,  not  a  complete  collection  ; 
the  enactments  of  very  many  years  are  wanting.  We  cite  this 
work  in  so  far  as  it  is  referred  to  by  Czerwenka. 

85.  [Salig's  Aug.  Conf.]     Christian  August  Salig's  Vollstandige  His- 

toric der  Augspurgischen  Confession  u.  derselben  Apologie.     3  Bde. 
Halle.     1730-1735. 

The  Sixth  Book  of  the  second  volume  of  this  voluminous 
work  contains  an  extended  account  of  the  Bohemian  Brethren. 

86.  [Moravian  Episcopate.]     The  Moravian  Episcopate,  by  Edmund  de 

Schweinitz.     2d  edition.     Published  in  London.     1874. 

87.  [Lemme.]     Das  Evangelium  in  Bohmen,  dargestellt  von  L.  Lemme. 

Gotha.    1873. 

88.  [Zezschwitz.]     Lukas  von  Prag  u.  die  Bohmischen  Briider.     By  G. 

von  Zezschwitz,  in  Herzog's  Real-Encyklopiidie. 

89.  [Acta  Fratrum.]     Acta  Fratrum  Unitatis  in  Anglia.  MDCCXLIX. 

A  collection  of  historical  and  other  documents  published  in 
London,  in  1749,  in  connection  with  the  negotiations  carried  on 
with  the  British  Parliament  by  the  Renewed  U.  F.,  and  result 
ing  in  its  recognition. 

90.  [Koelbing's  Nachricht.]     Nachricht  von  dem  Anfange  der  bischof 

lichen  Ordination  in  der   Erneuerten  Evangelischen   Briiderkirche 
Von  F.  L.  Kolbing.     Gnadau.     1835. 


VII.     BIBLES,  HYMNOLOGY,  CATECHISMS,  DIS- 
CIPLINE AND   CONSTITUTION. 

91.  The  Bible.     The  titles  of  the  various  editions  of  the   Kralitz   Bible 
are  given  in  Chapter  XL.  of  our  History. 


THE    UNITAS    FRATRUM  XVU 

92.  [Eisner  Bibel-Gesch.]   Versuch  einer  Bohmischen  Bibel-Geschichte 

entworfen  von  J.  T.  Eisner.     Halle.      1765. 

93.  [Malin    Boh.  Bible.]     History  of  the  Bohemian  Bible,  with  an  Ex- 

amination of  its  claim  to  European  priority.     By  William  G.  Malin. 
Appendix  to  Catalogue  of  his  Library. 

94.  Hymnals.     The  titles  of   the  Hymnals  are  all   given    in   Chapter 

XXXVII.  of  our  History. 

9,5.  [Zahn.]  Die  Geistlichen  Lieder  der  Briider  in  Bohmen,  Mahren  u. 
Polen,  in  einer  Auswahl,  fiir  eine  Singstimme  mit  Begleitung  des 
Harmoniums  oder  des  Klaviers  eingerichtet,  von  Johannes  Zahn. 
Nurnberg.    1875. 

96.  Catechisms.     The  titles  of  the  Catechisms  are  all  given  in  Chapter 

XXXVIII.  of  our  History. 

97.  [Zezschwitz  Katechismen.]     Die   Katechismen  der  Waldenser  u. 

Bohm.  Briider.     Von  G.  von  Zezschwitz.     Erlangen.     1863. 

98.  [Koecher.]      Catechetische  Geschichte,   von  J.  C.   Koecher.     Jena. 

1768. 

99.  [Cat.  Boh.  Brn.]     The  Catechism  of  the  Bohemian  Brethren.  Trans- 

lated from  the  old  German,  with   an  Introduction.     By  Eimund  de 
Schweinitz.     Bethlehem.     1869. 

100.  [Ratio  Disciplinae,  or  R.  D.]     Ratio  Disciplinae Ordinisque  Eccles- 

iastici  in  Unitate  Fratrum  Bohemarum. 

Firstedition  at  Lissa,  1633;  German  version  in  same  year; 
second  edition  at  Amsterdam.  1660  ;  third  at  Halle,  1702.  We 
cite  the  Halle  edition  of  1702.  See  our  History,  pp.  477,  478, 
and  Note  25, 479, 568,  602-605.  Later  German  editions  :  Schwa- 
bach,  1738  ;  Koppen's,  Leipzig,  1S45. 

101.  [Seifferth  Ch.  Con.]     Church   Constitution  of  the    Bohemian  and 

Moravian  Brethren.     The  original  Latin,  with  a  Translation,  Notes, 
and  Introduction.     By  B.  Seiflferth.     London.     M  D  C  C  C  LXVI. 


102 


VIII.    DOCTRINE  AND   CONFESSIONS. 

Confessions  of  the  Brethren.      For   titles,   etc.,  see   our  History 
Appendix,  pp.  648-653. 
103.  [Lydius.]     Waldensia  id  est  Conservatio  verte  Ecclesise.      Demon- 
strata  ex  Confessionibus.    Studio  et  Opera  B.  Lydii.  Tom.  I.  Roter- 
odami,  1616.    Tom.  II.  Dordraci.  1617. 

A  collection  of  Confessions   of    Faith,    including  a  number 
issued  by  the  Brethren. 
[Koecher's  Glaubensbekenntnisse.]      Die  drey  letzen   Glaubens- 
bekenntnisse  der  Bohmischen    Briider.   Von  J.  C.  Koecher.  Frank- 
furt u.  Leipzig.     1741. 


104 


Xviii  LITERATURE    RELATING   TO 

105.  [Ehwalt.]     Die  Alte  u.  Neue  Lehre  der  Bohmischen    Briider.     Von 

J.  G.  Ehwalt.     Danzig.     1756. 

106.  [Niemeyer  Conf.]     Collectio  Confessionum  in  Ecclesiis  Eeformatis 

Publscatarum.     Edidit  Dr.  H.  A.  Niemeyer.     Lipsiae.     1840 

107.  [Gindely  Dog.  Ansichten.]     Ueber  die  dogmatischen  Ansichten  der 

Bohm.  Mlihr.  Briider.     Von  Anton  Gindely.     Sitzungsbericht   der 
Kaiserl.    Akademie.     Wien.     1854. 

108.  [Plitt's  Lehrweise.]     Ueber  die  Lehrweise  der  Bohm.  Briider.    Von 

Dr.  Herman  Plitt.     Theologische  Studien  und  Kritiken.     1868. 


IX.  NECROLOGY  AND  BIOGRAPHY. 

109.  [Todtenbuch.]     Todtenbuch   der   Geistlichkeit  der  Bohm.  Bruder. 

Herausgegeben  in  Bohmischer  Sprache   von  Joseph  Fiedler.     Aus 

dem  Bohmischen  iibersetzt.     Alt-Tschau.     1872. 

An  important  Necrology  of  the  Bishops  and  Ministers  of  the 
U.  F.,  from  1467-1606,  originally  written  in  Bohemian,  for  the 
most  part,  by  Orlik,  according  to  the  data  furnished  by  Blahos- 
law  and  Cerwenka. 

110.  [Chlumecky's    Zerotin.]     Carl  von   Zerotin  und   seine  Zeit.     Von 

Ritter  von  Chlumecky.     Briinn.     1862. 

111.  [Gindely's  Comenius.]     Ueber  des  Comenius  Leben  und  Wirksam- 

keit  in  der   Fremde.     Von   Anton   Gindely.     Sitzsungsbericht   der 
Kaiserlichen  Akademie.     1855. 

112.  [Palacky's  Comenius.]     Ueber  Comenius  und  seine  Werke.     Von 

Franz  Palacky.  Monatsschrift  des  Vaterliindischen  Museums  in  Boh- 
men. 

113.  [Comenius  nach  Palacky.]  Das  Leben  des  Johann  Amos  Comenius, 

nach  Palacky,  u.  dessen  Testament  der  sterbenden  Miitter  d.   B.  U. 
Aus  dem  Bohmischen  iibersetzt.     Leipzig.     1866. 

114.  [Benham's    Comenius.]     An  Essay  on  the  Education   of   Youth 

by  Comenius.     To  which  is  prefixed  a  Sketch  of  the   Life   of  the 
Author.     By  Daniel  Benham.     London.     1858. 

115.  [Laurie's  Comenius.]      John  Amos  Comenius,  Bishop  of  the  Mora- 

vians, his  life  and  Educational  Works.  By  S.  S.  Laurie.  London. 
1881. 
'.6.  [Criegern's  Comenius.]  Johann  Amos  Comenius  als  Theolog.  Ein 
Beitrag  zur  Comenius  literature,  von  Hermann  Ferdinand  von  Crieg- 
ern.  Leipzig  u.  Heidelberg.  1881. 
117.  [Zoubek's  Comenius.]  Johann  Amos  Comenius.  Eine  biographische 
Skizze  von  Fr.  J.  Zoubek.     Leipzig,  s.a. 

Prefixed  to  the  "  Grosse  Unterrichtslehre  "  of  Comenius  and 
followed  by  a  list  of  his  works. 


THE    UNITAS    FRATRUM.  XIX 

118.  [Mueller's  MS.  Notes.]  Biographical  Notes  of  some  of  the  Ministers 

and  Laymen  of  the  U.  F.  who  were  prominent  after  the  Anti-Eefor- 
mation.  MS.  furnished  us  by  the  Kev.  Joseph  Miiller  and  based  on 
Josef  Jirecek's  Bohm.  Literaturgeschichte.     Prag.     1875. 

119.  [Pelzel's  Abbildungen.]     Abbildungen  Bohm.  u.  Miihrischer  Ge- 

lehrten  u.  Kiinstler,  nebst  kurzen  Nachrichten  von  ihren  Leben  u. 
Werken.     Von  Franz  Martin  Pelzel.     4  Bde.  Prag.     1773-1782. 

120.  [Pelzel's  Jesuiten.]   Boehmische,  Maehrische  u.  Schlesische Gelehrte 

u,  Schriftsteller  aus  dem  Orden  der  Jesuiten.  Von  Franz  Martin 
Pelzel.     Prag.     1786. 

121.  [Tomek  Zizka.]    Johann  Zizka.  Versuch  einer  Biographic  desselben 

von  W.  Wladiwoj  Tomek.  Uebersetzt  von  Dr.  V.  Prochaska.  Prag. 
1882. 

122.  [Malin  Zizka.]     Zizka.     Brief  Notices  of  the  Career  of  this  great 

Captain  of  the  Hussites.  By  William  G.  Malin  ;  Appendix  to  Cata- 
logue of  the  Malin  Library. 

123.  [Bily's  Slaven  Apostel.]     Geschichte  der  Heiligen  Slaven-Apostel 

Cyrill  und  Method.  Zur  tausendjiihrigen  Jubelfeier  der  Christianisir- 
ung  von  Miihren  u.  Bohmen.     Von  Dr.  J.  E.  Bily.     Prag.     1 863. 


CONTENTS. 


PART  I. 

The   History  of  Bohemia  and   Moravia  preparatory  to   the         page 
History  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum.— A.  D.  451-1457.  1  102 

PERIOD  I. 

The  History  of  Bohemia  and  Moravia  Prior  to  the  Time 

OF  Hus.— A.  D.  451-1369.  •  3-26 

CHAPTER. 

I. — The  Introduction  of  Christianity  and  its  earliest 

Development.— A  D.  451-885.  5 

II.— The  further  History  of  Christianity  in   Bohemia 

and  Moravia.— A.  D.  885-1347.  13 

III.— The  Forerunners  of  John  Hus.— A.  D.  1347-1369.  18 

PEEIOD  II. 

The  Life  and  Times  of  John  Hus,  the  Precursor  of  the 

Brethren's  Church.— A,  D.  1369-1415.  27-78 

chapter. 

IV. — The  Beginning  of  the   Bohemian  Reformation  as 

inaugurated  by  Hus.— A.  D.   1359-1411.  27 

v.— Hus  and  the  Papal  Indulgences.— A.  D.   1412.  39 

VI. — Hus  in  voluntary  Exile  devotes  himself  to  literary 

Labors.— A.  D.  1412-1414.  45 

VII.— Hus  and  the  Council  of  Constance. — A.  D.   1414- 

1415.  55 

VIII. — The  Condemnation  and  the  Martyrdom  of  Hus. — 

A.  D.   1415.  68 

PERIOD  III. 

The  History  of  the  Hussites. — A.  D.  1415-1457.  79-102 

chapter. 

IX.— The  Hussite  "Wars    and  Factions.— A.    D.   1415- 

1434.  79 

xxi 


Xxii  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER. 

X. — Eokycana  and  the  Utraquist  National  Church. —         page. 
A.  D.  1434-1453.  93 

XI.— Peter   Chelcicky  and   the  Men  who  founded  the 

Unitas  Fratrum.— A.  D.  1454-1457.  95 


PART    11. 

The  History  of  the   Ancient  Unitas  Fratrum.— A.  D.    I457- 

1722. 

PERIOD  IV. 


103-658 


The  Church  under  the  Rigorous  System  Introduced  by 

ITS  Founders.— A.  D.  1457-1496.  104-178 

CHAPTER. 

XII. — The  Founding  and  Earliest  Development  of  the 

Church.— A.  D.    1457-1460.  105 

XIII.— The    First  Persecution   of   the  Brethren.— A.   D. 

1461-1463.  114 

XIV.— The  Synod  of  Reichenau  and  final  Separation  of 
the  Brethren  from  the  Utraquist  Church. — A.  D. 
1464-1466.  121 

XV.— The  Synod  of  Lhota  and  Institution  of  an  Inde- 
pendent Ministry. — A.  D.  1467.  132 

XVI.— The  Introduction  of  the   Episcopacy  and  Second 

Synod  at  Lhota.— A.  D.  1467.  141 

XVII.— The  Second  Persecution  of  the  Brethren.— A.   D. 

1468-1471.  155 

XVIII.— Increase  and    Prosperity  of  the  Church. — A.   D. 

1471-1490.  163 

XIX.— Dissensions  and   a  Schism.— A.  D.  1490-1496.  172 

PERIOD  V. 

The  Unitas  Fratrum  under    the  Influence  of  Bishop 

Luke  of  Prague.— A.  D.  1497-1528.  179-239 

CHAPTER. 

XX.— Increase  of  the  Church  in  Spite  of  the  Persecutions 

inaugurated  by  Uladislaus.— A.  D.    1497-1506.  179 

XXI.— The  Edict  of  St.  James  and  the  General  Persecu- 
tion which  it  brought  about.— A.  D.   1507-1516.  189 

XXII.— Doctrine  and  Life  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum   at  the 

Beginning  of  Luther's  Reformation. — A.  D.  1517.  200 


CONTENTS. 


XXI  n 


CHAPTER. 

XXIII. — The  Ministry,  Constitution,  Ritual  and  Discipline 

of    the   Unitas   Fratrum  at     the   Beginning   of        page. 
Luther's  Reformation.— A.  D.   1517.  208 

XXIV. — The  Growth  and  Enterprises  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum 
at  the  Beginning  of  Luther's  Reformation. — 
A.  D.  1517.  223 

XXV. — Intercourse  of  the  Brethren  with  Erasmus  and 
Luther  ;  and  other  Events  to  the  Death  of  Luke. 
— A.  D.  1517-1528.  228 


PERIOD  VI. 
The  Unitas  Fratrum  in  its  Relations  to  the  Reformers 

AND  ITS  consequent  DEVELOPMENT. — A.  D.  1529-1580. 
CHAPTER. 

XXVI. — Further  Intercourse  between  the  Unitas  Fratrum 
and  Luther ;  new  Confessions  of  Faith. — A.  D. 
1529-1539. 

XXVII. — The  Unitas  Fratrum  and  the  Strasburg  Reformers. 
Last  Mission  to  Luther.— A.  D.  1539-1546. 


XXVIII. 


XXIX. 


XXX. 


-The  Smalcald  War  and  a  General  Persecution  of 
the  Unitas  Fratrum.— A.  D.   1546-1548. 

-The   Unitas    Fratrum   established  in    Prussia   and 
Poland.— A.  D.  1548-1553. 


-The  Brethren  and  the  Reformed  in  Poland.- 
1554-1557. 


-A.D. 


XXXL— The  State  of  the  Unity  in  Bohemia  and  Moravia 
during  the  Continuance  of  the  Persecution. — 
A.D.   1548-1557. 

XXXII.— The  Synod  of  Slezan  and  the  History  of  the 
Church  in  Bohemia  and  Moravia  to  Augusta's 
Liberation. — A.  D.  1557-1564. 

XXXIIL— The  Polish  Branch  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum;  its 
Relation  to  the  Reformed  and  Lutherans ;  and 
renewed  Correspondence  with  the  Swiss  Divines. 
—A.  D.  1557-1564. 

XXXIV. — Augusta  reconciled    to  the  Council.     The   Synod 
of  Sendomir  in  Poland.— A.  D.    1564-1570. 
XXXV. — The  Bohemian  and  Moravian  Branch  of  the  Unitas 
Fratrum     in     the    Reign    of  Maximilian     the 
Second— A.D.   1564r-1576. 

XXXVL— The  Beginning  of  Rudolph's  Reign.  A.  D.  1576- 
1580  ;  and  the  Polish  Branch  of  the  Unitas  Fra- 
trum in  the  first  Decade  after  the  Synod  of 
Sendomir.— A.  D.   1570-1580. 


XXXVII. 


-Hvmnology  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum. — A.  D.    1517- 
"1580. 


240-414 

240 
255 

264 
280 
292 

300 
316 

331 
340 

359 

381 
394 


Xxiv  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER. 

XXXVIII.— The    Catechisms,  other   Literary  Works,  and   the         page 
Schools  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum. — A.  D.    1517- 
1580.  406 

PERIOD  VII. 

The  Unitas  Fratrum  in  the  Time  of  its  outward  Pros- 
perity   CULMINATING    IN    ITS    RECOGNITION    UNDER    THE 

Bohemian  Charter.— A.  D.  1580-1620.  415-502 

CHAPTER. 

XXXIX. — The  Unitas  Fratrum  in  Bohemia  and  Moravia.— 

A.  D.  1580-1590.  415 

XL. — Progress  of  the  Unity    and  the    Kralitz    Bible. — 

A.  D.  1591-1593.  421 

XLL— Further   History    of   the    Brethren's    Church    in 

Bohemia  and  Moravia.— A.  D.  1594-1607.  432 

XLIL— The  Polish  Branch  of  the  Church  to  the  General 

Synod  of  Thorn.— A.  D.  1581-1595.  442 

XLIII. — Negotiations  with  the  Greek  Church  and  further 
History  of  the  Polish  Branch  of  the  Unity. — 
A.  D.   1595-1607.  449 

XLIV.— The  Bohemian  Charter.— A.  D.  1608-1609.  457 

XLV. — The  Unitas  Fratrum  as  a  legally  recognized  Church 
in  Bohemia.  Its  further  History  in  Poland. — 
A.  D.  1610-1620.  467 

XLVL— The  Bohemian  Revolution.— A.  D.   1617-1620.  481 

PERIOD  VIII. 

The  Unitas  Fratrum  as  a  Church  in  Exile  and  a  Hidden 

Seed.— A.  D.  1621-1722.  503-646 

CHAPTER. 

XLVIL— The  Day  of  Blood  at  Prague.— A.  D.  1621.  503 

XLVIII. — The  Anti-Reformation  in  Bohemia  and  Moravia. — 

A.  D.  1621-1628.  532 

XLIX. — The  Overthrow  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum  in  Bohemia 

and  Moravia.— A.  D.  1621-1628.  548 

L. — The  Bohemian  and  Moravian  Branches  of  the 
Unitas  Fratrum  reorganized,  with  Lissa  as  a  new 
Centre.— A.  D.  1628-1636.  559 

LI. — The  Labors  of  Amos  Comenius  and  the  History  of 
the  Unitas  Fratrum  from  the  Synod  of  1636  to  the 
Peace  of  Westphalia.— A.  D.  1628-1648.  574 

LII. — The  Unitas  Fratrum  from  the  Peace  of  Westphalia 

to  the  Destruction  of  Lissa.— A.  D.  1648-1656.  587 

LIII. — The     Resuscitation    of    the     Church    in    Poland. 

Further  Labors  of  Comenius.— A.  D.  1657-1662.  597 


CONTENTS. 


XXV 


CHAPTER. 

LIV. — Perpetuation  of  the  Episcopacy.  Death  of  Come- 
nius.  The  Hidden  Seed  in  Bohemia  and  Moravia. 
—A.  D.  1662-1670. 

LV.  — The  Polish,  Hungarian  and  Silesian  Remnant  in 
the  Half  Century  prior  to  the  Renewal  of  the 
Unitas  Fratruni.— A.  D.  1671-1722. 

LVI. — The  Bohemian  and  Moravian  Hidden  Seed  which 
developed  into  the  Renewed  Unitas  Fratrum  — 
A.  D.  1671-1722. 


PAGE. 

607 


621 


635 


APPENDIX. 

A.— The  Work  of  the   Renewed  Unitas   Fratrum  in 
Bohemia. 

B. — The  Confessions  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum. 

C— The  Bishops  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum  to  the  Transfer 
of  the  Episcopacy  to  the  Renewed  Church. — 
A.  D.  1467-1735. 
Index. 


647 

648 


654 
659 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


John  Hus, 
John  Rokycana,  . 
John  Horn,     . 
John  Augusta, 
Wenzel  von  Budowa, 
Charles  von  Zerotin, 
John  Amos  Comenius, 


Frontispiece. 
To  face  page  90 
265 
371 
517 
573 
619 


THE  HISTORY 


OF 


THE  UNITAS  FRATRUM. 


PART  I. 


THE   HISTORY  OF    BOHEMIA   AND    MORAVIA 

PREPARATORY  TO  THE  HISTORY  OF 

THE  UNITAS  FRATRUM. 

A.D.  451-1457. 


PERIOD  1. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  BOHEMIA  AND  MORAVIA 

PRIOR  TO  THE  TIME  OF  HUS. 

A.D.  451-1369. 


CHAPTER  I. 

The  Introduetion  of  Christianity  and  its  earliest  Developments. 
A.  D.  451-885. 


Bohemia  and  Moravia. — Coming  of  the  Czechs. — Their  Manners,  Customs, 
Government  and  Religion. — First  Introduction  of  Christianity  through 
the  Latin  Church. — Christianity  as  introduced  by  the  Greek  Church. — 
Cyrill  and  Methodius. —  Their  Labors  in  Moravia. — Tiiey  are  cited  to 
Rome. — Death  of  Cyrill  and  Consecration  of  Methodius  as  Archbishop 
of  Pannonia. — Spread  of  Christianity  in  Bohemia. — Methodius  again 
cited  to  Rome. — His  Death. 

Bohemia  is  the  original  home  of  the  Brethren's  Church. 
It  is  a  country  that  lies  in  the  heart  of  Europe,  like  a  natural 
fortress,  with  four  mountain-chains  for  its  ramparts  and  its 
rocky  bastions  directed  to  the  four  points  of  the  compass. 
The  Erzgebirge  and  Riesengebirge  defend  its  northern  sides ; 
the  Bohmerwald  and  Saarer  ranges  form  its  bulwarks  on  the 
South.  Although  but  a  small  kingdom  of  the  Austrian 
Empire,  comprising  only  twenty  thousand  square  miles,  it  is  a 
land  of  plenty.  Its  meadows  are  rich  and  its  fields  fruitful. 
Mineral  springs  abound.  Numerous  rivers  bring  the  tribute 
of  their  waters  to  the  Elbe,  which  makes  its  way  toward  the 
German  Ocean  through  a  rugged  gorge  on  the  Saxon  frontier. 

To  the  southeast  of  Bohemia  is  Moravia,  a  still  smaller 
margraviate  of  the  same  Empire,  embracing  about  eighty-five 
hundred  square  miles.  There  the  Brethren  found  adherents 
at  so  early  a  day  that  it  may  be  said  to  constitute  the  twin 
land  of  their  birth.  In  former  ages  it  embraced  a  larger 
extent  of  territory  than  at  present,  stretching  into  Silesia  and 
Hungary.      Bohemia   and   Moravia   have   substantially  the 

(5) 


6  THE    HISTORY    OF 

same  history.  One  in  their  joys  and  in  their  sorrows,  they 
look  back  upon  a  joint  ancestry  of  Reformers  before  the 
Reformation  and  upon  a  common  but  most  disastrous  Anti- 
Reformation. 

About  the  time  that  Attila  had  left  the  Catalaunian  plains 
reeking  with  the  blood  of  his  followers  and  retreated  to 
Hungary  by  way  of  Bohemia  and  Moravia  (451)/  there 
migrated  into  these  two  countries  a  body  of  Slavonians  led 
Dy  Czech.  Tradition  says  that  they  came  from  Chrowatia, 
in  the  northern  regions  of  the  Carpathian  Mountains.  The 
remnant  of  the  Boji  and  Marcomanni,  which  had  survived  the 
devastations  of  the  Huns,  passively  submitted  to  their  sway. 
By  way  of  distinction  they  adopted  the  name  of  their  leader 
and  called  themselves  Czechs. 

During  the  first  five  centuries  of  their  history  they  were 
devoted  to  the  pursuits  of  peace;  whenever  they  took  up 
arms,  it  was  in  self-defence.^  They  tilled  the  ground,  raised 
cattle,  and  opened  an  extensive  traffic  with  neighboring  nations 
in  grain  and  horses.  Patient  industry  distinguished  them, 
and  a  tenaciousness  which  has  become  proverbial.  Social  in 
their  habits,  they  pressed  hospitality  to  unlawful  extremes, 
not  hesitating  to  rob  their  neighbors  in  order  to  entertain 
their  guests.  Music  and  dancing,  but  especially  singing,  for 
which  they  are  still  celebrated,  constituted  their  pastimes. 
Family  ties  were  held  sacred.^  The  shades  which  darkened 
their  character  were  their  frivolity  and  dogmatical  ways,  their 
quarrelsome  disposition,  their  vindictiveness. 

In  the  court  of  the  castle  at  Wyssehrad,^  under  the  open 
heavens,  stood  a  block  of  hewn  stone,  called  the  Furstenstuhl. 

*  Palacky,  I.  p.  70.  Great  uncertainty  exists  with  regard  to  the  time  in 
which  the  Czechs  took  possession  of  Bohemia  and  Moravia. 

2  Palacky,  I.  p.  185. 

^  The  chastity  and  faithfulness  of  the  Slavonian  women  seemed  to  the 
Greek  writers  to  be  superhuman,  and  filled  them  with  astonishment. 
Palacky,  I.  p.  60. 

*  An  ancient  castle,  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Moldau,  at  the  southern 
extremity  of  Prague,  the  earliest  seat  of  the  Dukes,  inclosed,  in  the  four- 
teenth century,  by  Charles  the  Fourth,  within  the  city  walls. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  7 

In  this  rude  throne  inhered  the  limited  sovereignty  of  the 
Duke.  If  the  stone  was  taken  from  him,  his  reign  came  to  an 
end.  A  senate  of  twelve  Kmety,  or  Elders,  constituted  his 
advisers.  Upon  important  occasions  a  diet  was  convened, 
embracing,  besides  the  Kmety,  the  Lesi,  who  were  owners  of 
large  estates,  and  the  Wladyka,  who  constituted  the  heads  of 
the  clans  into  which  the  freeholders  were  divided.  Prior  to 
the  ninth  century  serfdom  was  unknown,  although  some  of 
the  peasantry  rendered  service  to  the  Lesi. 

The  country  was  laid  out  in  circuits,  or  counties,  each 
governed  by  its  own  magistrate,  with  a  fortified  castle  for  its 
capital.  Within  the  fortifications  were  temples,  built  of  wood 
and  enshrining  the  images  of  the  gods  to  which  they  were 
dedicated.  None  but  priests  were  allowed  to  enter  the  inner 
sanctuary,  and  they  held  their  breath  when  approaching  an 
idol.  Sacred  groves  surrounded  the  temples.  The.  principal 
temple  stood  within  the  Wyssehrad. 

The  mythology  of  the  Czechs  is  obscure.'  Although  the 
Slavonians  were  originally  monotheists,  a  polytheism,  rivaling 
that  of  Greece  and  Rome,  had  grown  up  among  them  and 
extended  to  Bohemia  and  Moravia.  Perun  was  their  Jupiter, 
the  thunderer,  the  god  of  gods.  Around  him  were  grouped 
Swatowit,  the  god  of  war,  Radihost,  the  god  of  industry, 
Weles,  the  god  of  cattle-breeding,  Lada,  the  goddess  of  love, 
Ziwa,  the  goddess  of  corn,  Dewana,  the  goddess  of  forests  and 
the  chase,  Morana,  the  goddess  of  death,  and  many  other 
'divinities ;  but  the  relation  in  which  they  stood  to  him,  and 
the  forms  under  which  they  were  represented,  are  unknown. 
The  forces  of  nature  and  the  affections  of  the  human  heart 
were  set  forth  as  nymphs  and  demons;  while  each  family 
had  its  own  household  idols,  to  which  visitors  invariably 
bowed  on  entering  or  leaving  a  dwelling.  Even  formal  wor- 
ship was  not  restricted  to  temples.  The  country  was  full 
of  sacred  hills  and  fountains  and  rivers,  where  the  Czech 
brought  his  offering  in  the  twilight  hour,  smiting  upon  his 
forehead  and  singing  a  hymn  of  praise. 

»  Palacky,  I.  p.  178. 


8  THE    HISTORY    OF 

Into  the  darkness  of  such  superstition  shone  the  light  of 
Christianity,  in  the  first  half  of  the  ninth  century.  It  dawned 
in  Moravia  and  came  from  the  Latin  Church,  through  the 
agency  of  the  Franks.  Everything  else  touching  its  intro- 
duction remains  unknown.  Prince  Mojmir,  whose  seat  was 
at  Welehrad,^  on  an  island  of  the  March,  embraced  the  new 
faith,  and  three  churches  were  dedicated,  at  Neitra^  (836), 
Olmiitz.,  and  Briinn.  Nor  did  the  night  of  paganism  continue 
unbroken  in  Bohemia.  On  New  Year's  Day,  of  845,  fourteen 
of  its  nobles,  while  visiting  Louis  the  German,  were  baptized 
at  Regensburg.  In  both  countries,  however,  the  new  light 
shone  feebly.  It  did  not  shed  its  beams  upon  the  nation.  A 
few  spots  only  were  illumined.  It  was  in  the  East,  above  the 
horizon  of  the  Greek  Church,  that  the  Sun  of  Righteousness 
appeared  to  the  Czechs  as  a  people. 

In  846,  the  German  Emperor  deposed  Mojmir,  and  invested 
Rastislaw,  his  nephew,  with  the  ducal  dignity.  Rastislaw 
shook  off  the  Frankish  yoke.  In  order  to  be  entirely  inde- 
pendent of  German  influences,  but  moved  also  by  higher 
motives,  he  sent  to  Constantinople  for  Christian  teachers. 
His  ambassadors  found  two  distinguished  Missionaries,  Con- 
stantine,  or  Cyrill,  and  Methodius,  at  the  court  of  the 
Emperor  Michael. 

Their  early  history  is  obscure.^  They  were  brothers,  the 
sons  of  Leo,  and  born  at  Thessalonica.  Both  displayed  extra- 
ordinary talents  and  were  known  for  their  singular  piety. 
Cyrill  was  honored  with  the  title  of  "The  Philosopher;" 
Methodius  saw  the  highest  political  distinctions  within  his 
reach.  But  both  turned  their  backs  upon  worldly  prospects, 
however  flattering,  and  entered  a  monastery,  where  they  lived 
in  seclusion  until  a  call  for  Missionaries  to  the  heathen  reached 
their  ears.  Then  they  came  forth  full  of  zeal  and  courage. 
Cyrill  took  his  way  to  the  Khazares,  a  Hunnic-Tartaric  tribe, 

'  Now  Hradist. 

*  Now  in  Hungary,  twelve  miles  from  Presburg,  on  the  river  Neitra. 
'  Palacky,  I.  Bk.  2,  Chap.  5;  Bily's  Cyrill  u.  Method,  p.  1.     Bily  gives 
a  number  of  legends  concerning  their  early  years. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  9 

whose  country  extended  from  the  Volga  and  Caspian  Sea 
across  the  Caucasian  Isthmus  and  the  Peninsula  of  Taurida 
as  far  as  Moldavia  and  Walachia,  and  converted  the  Khan, 
together  with  the  greater  part  of  his  people.  Methodius 
brought  the  Bulgarians  to  a  knowledge  of  the  Gospel,  and 
made  a  penitent  of  their  proud  king  Boris,  by  painting  for 
him  a  startling  picture  of  the  last  judgment. 

The  success  of  these  Missions  gave  to  the  two  brothers  a 
name  which  was  in  all  the  churches  of  the  East.  They  had 
won  to  the  side  of  Christianity  nations  that  had  long  been  its 
wild  and  formidable  foes.  Accordingly,  in  response  to 
Rastislaw's  application,  Michael  sent  them  to  Moravia.  They 
arrived  in  863,  and  made  Welehrad  the  centre  of  itinerancies 
that  extended  throughout  the  country.  Wherever  they  came, 
they  preached  repentance  and  remission  of  sins. 

The  principles  which  guided  them  in  such  work  were 
calculated  to  open  a  way  for  the  Gospel  into  the  hearts  of  the 
people.  They  trained  young  Czechs  as  native  priests.  They 
finished  that  Slavonian  version  of  the  Bible  which  Cyrill  had 
previously  begun,  and  for  which  he  had  invented  an  alphabet 
known  as  the  Oyrilitza}  They  rendered  the  liturgy  into  the 
same  tongue,  and  introduced  it  into  every  parish.  They 
caused  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures,  public  worship,  and 
preaching  to  be  conducted  in  the  vernacular.  They  built  up 
a  national  Church,  in  which  the  Czechs  felt  at  home.  Cyrill 
and  Methodius,  therefore,  deserve  their  title  of  "Apostles  of 

^  The  Cyrilitza  was  invented  by  Cyrill  in  855.  It  consisted  of  46  letters, 
and  was  based  on  the  Greek  alphabet.  According  to  the  latest  researches 
the  Old  or  Church  Slavonian  language,  into  which  Cyrill  and  Methodius 
translated  the  Bible,  was  not,  as  writers  formerly  supposed,  the  mother  of 
all  the  living  Slavonian  dialects,  but  a  dialect  like  these,  only  developed  at 
an  earlier  time.  It  is  no  longer  a  living  tongue,  but  the  sacred  language 
of  the  Slavonian  nations,  whose  common  property  it  has  long  since  become. 
Cyrill  translated  the  Gospel  lessons,  the  Epistles,  the  Psalms,  and  the  Old 
Testament  lessons ;  Methodius  the  rest  of  the  Bible.  That,  as  some  writers 
assert,  the  Cyrilitza  was  a  mere  modification  of  the  so-called  Glagolitic 
letters,  whose  origin  is  obscure,  cannot  be  substantiated.  Even  if  such 
letters  existed  in  Cyrill's  time,  it  is  very  doubtful  whether  he  was 
acquainted  with  them. 


10  THE    HISTORY    OF 

the  Slavonians."  Both  in  its  character  and  results,  their 
work  resembled  the  Missionary  activity  of  the  primitive 
Christians,  and  stood  out  in  bright  contrast  to  the  system 
which  Rome  introduced  wherever  she  gained  a  foothold. 

Her  priests  who  had  been  sent  to  Bohemia  and  Moravia 
from  Germany,  used  the  Latin  language  in  public  worship, 
impressed  upon  the  minds  of  the  heathens  the  importance  of 
tithes  far  more  earnestly  than  the  necessity  of  a  conversion  to 
God,  and  set  forth  doctrines  which,  even  in  that  early  age, 
constituted  a  wide  departure  from  the  standard  of  the  Bible. 
Cyrill  and  Methodius,  on  the  contrary,  drew  their  inspiration 
from  the  Greek  Church,  which  taught  purer  doctrines  and 
unfolded  the  Gospel,  not  as  a  succession  of  unintelligible 
chants  and  lessons,  but,  in  the  vernacular,  as  "  the  power  of 
God  unto  salvation  to  every  one  that  belie veth." 

Both  the  countries  in  which  they  labored  were,  however, 
claimed  by  Rome  upon  the  strength  of  the  original  introduc- 
tion of  Christianity  through  the  Franks.  This  claim  was 
urged  the  more  persistently,  because  the  controversy,  which 
eventuated  in  their  total  separation,  had  begun  between  the 
Latin  and  Greek  Churches.  Nicholas  the  First,  with  the 
triple  crown  upon  his  head^  and  the  forged  Isidorian  decretals 
in  his  hand,  asserted  his  supremacy  over  Photius,  the  Patriarch 
of  Constantinople,  and  maintained  that  Rome  must  be  the 
final  court  of  appeal  in  all  important  questions.  So  bitter  did 
this  feud  grow,  in  867,  that  Nicholas  deposed  Photius,  and 
Photius  excommunicated  Nicholas. 

Informed,  by  envious  German  bishops,  of  what  was  trans- 
piring in  Moravia,  the  Roman  pontiff  cited  Cyrill  and  Meth- 
odius before  his  tribunal.  They  obeyed  the  summons  (868), 
but  Nicholas  died  before  they  reached  Rome.  His  successor, 
Adrian  the  Second,  received  them  with  great  distinction,  not 
only  because  they  brought  with  them  the  reputed  bones  of 
St.  Clement,^  discovered  by  Cyrill  in  Cherson,  but  also  because 

^  Nicholas  the  First  was  the  first  pope  who  was  crowned  (858). 
^  It  is  said  that  St.  Clement,  who  was  an  illustrious  contemporary  of  the 
Apostles,  suffered  martyrdom  about  the  year  102. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  11 

he  hoped  that  the  two  brothers  would  aid  him  in  resuscitating 
the  ancient  diocese  of  Pannonia,  which  had  fallen  into  decay 
amidst  the  Hunnic  wars.  This  was  a  favorite  project  at  Rome. 
The  resuscitated  diocese  was  to  be  independent  both  of  the 
Greek  Patriarch  and  of  the  German  bishops,  and  to  embrace, 
along  with  Moravia  and  Bohemia,  the  eastern  part  of  the 
archduchies  of  Austria,  the  duchies  of  Styria,  Carinthia,  and 
Carniola,  all  of  Hungary  between  the  Danube  and  the  Save, 
Slavonia,  and  a  section  of  Croatia  and  Bosnia.  In  this  way 
Moravia  and  Bohemia  would  remain  under  papal  jurisdiction; 
their  peculiar  privileges  were  to  be  recognized  merely  until  an 
opportunity  would  oifer  to  withdraw  them. 

With  such  a  purpose  hidden  in  his  heart,  Adrian  sanctioned 
the  Slavonian  Bible  and  liturgy,  allowed  the  Greek  system  of 
theology  to  be  taught,  and  appointed  Cyrill  and  Methodius 
Bishops  of  the  new  diocese. 

But  Cyrill,  whose  health  was  failing,  declined  the  honor. 
He  preferred  the  vows  of  a  monk  and  the  solitude  of  a  cloister, 
that  he  might  prepare  for  death.  In  a  few  weeks,  on  the 
sixteenth  of  February,  868,  death  came  and  brought  his  illus- 
trious career  to  a  close.^  After  his  decease,  Methodius,  satis- 
fied with  the  concessions  of  the  Pope,  promised  him  obedience 
and  was  consecrated  Archbishop  of  Pannonia.  He  returned 
to  Moravia  in  869. 

A  few  years  later,  probably  in  871,  Boriwoj,  Duke  of 
Bohemia,  together  with  his  wife,  Ludmila,  while  visiting 
Swatopluk,  who  had  ^vrested  Moravia  from  Rastislaw  and 
married  a  Bohemian  princess,  received  baptism,  at  Olmiitz,  at 
the  hands  of  Methodius.  Christianity  now  spread  rapidly 
throughout  Bohemia.  Whether  Methodius  himself  labored 
in  that  country  is  not  known.  But  his  fatherly  eye  directed 
the  work,  and  his  pious  heart  gave  to  it  the  same  tendency  as 
in  Moravia.  A  National  Church  was  built  up,  with  the 
Slavonian  Bible  for  its  light,  and  the  promises  of  the  Gospel, 


^  It  was  as  a  monk  at  Rome  that  he  assumed  the  name  of  Cyrill,  by 
which  he  is  now  universally  known. 


12  THE   HISTORY   OF 

proclaimed  in  the  Czechish  mother-tongue,  for  its  joy.  The 
first  Christian  sanctuary  which  was  erected  stood  on  the  left 
bank  of  the  Moldau,  about  seven  miles  from  Prague,  near  the 
Castle  of  Lewy  Hradec. 

These  new  victories  over  heathenism  but  intensified  the 
jealousy  of  the  German  bishops,  especially  those  of  Salzburg 
and  Passau,  who  filled  all  Rome  with  their  lugubrious  com- 
plaints. Methodius  was  cited  a  second  time  before  the  papal 
throne.  He  appeared  and  triumphantly  vindicated  his  course. 
John  the  Eighth  renewed  the  concessions  of  Adrian,  but 
adroitly  interwove  with  them  the  following  stipulations  :  The 
Gospels  were  to  be  publicly  read  first  in  Latin  and  then  in 
Slavonian ;  should  the  Duke  desire  it,  mass  was  to  be  cele- 
brated in  Latin  also ;  a  German  suffragan  was  to  be  appointed. 
Harmless  conditions  they  seemed  to  be  !  And  yet  they  pre- 
pared the  way  on  which  Bohemia  and  Moravia  were  led  into 
the  arms  of  Rome.  The  influence  of  Methodius  began,  at 
once,  to  wane,  while  Wiching,  the  German  suffragan,  grew  in 
importance  and  power.  Many  bitter  experiences  saddened 
the  declining  years  of  the  last  of  the  two  Apostles  of  the 
Slavonians.  He  died,  according  to  tradition,  on  the  sixth  of 
April,  885,  and  was  buried  at  Welehrad,  in  the  church  -of 
St.  Mary. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  13 


CHAPTER  n. 

The  further  History  of  Christianity  in  Bohemia  and  Moravia. 
A.  D.  885-1347. 


The  German  faction  in  the  ascendency. — Persecutions  on  the  part  of  the 
heathen. — Murder  of  Ludmila  and  Wenzel. — Suppression  of  Heathen- 
ism.— Increasing  influence  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  and  spread 
of  her  principles. — Gregory  the  Seventh  forbids  the  Slavonian  ritual. 
— Final  supremacy  of  the  Romish  system. 

The  German  party  now  gained  the  ascendency.  Gorasd, 
whom  Methodius  had  appointed  as  his  successor,  was  set  aside 
and  Wiching  became  archbishop.  Under  his  administration 
the  native  priests  were  persecuted.  Many  of  them  fled  to 
Bulgaria,  where  they  introduced  the  Slavonian  Bible  and 
liturgy,  both  of  which,  in  a  later  period,  passed  into  the 
keeping  of  the  Russians. 

But  the  German  faction  did  not  constitute  the  only  power 
which  interfered  with  the  progress  of  Christianity.  Heathen- 
ism, too,  assumed  a  hostile  attitude,  and  did  not  hesitate  to 
dye  its  hands  in  blood.  Ludmila,  who  had  received  the 
surname  of  The  Holy,  on  account  of  her  many  pious  works, 
was  peacefully  spending  the  days  of  her  widowhood  in  the 
castle  of  Tetin.  Thither  Drahomira,  her  pagan  daughter-in- 
law,  sent  a  body  of  armed  men  who  surrounded  the  castle, 
while  two  of  their  officers  burst  into  her  apartment.  They 
found  her  in  the  act  of  prayer  and  strangled  her  with  her  own 
veil  (927).  The  next  victim  was  the  Duke  himself,  Wenzel, 
Drahomira's  older  son,  illustrious  as  a  promoter  of  the  Gospel 
and  distinguished  by  a  life  of  faith  and  charity.  His  brother 
Boleslaw,  surnamed  The  Cruel,  supported  by  other  couspira- 


14  THE    HISTORY   OF 

tors,  fell  upon  and  killed  him  as  he  was  about  to  enter  the 
church  at  Altbunzlau,  where  he  had  been  the  assassin's  guest 
(936).  But  the  fratricide  could  not  murder  Wenzel's  fame. 
It  lived  from  generation  to  generation.  Bohemia  crowned 
him  as  a  martyr  and  chose  him  for  her  patron  saint.  Boleslaw 
seized  the  government  and  maintained  his  antagonism  to  the 
Christian  religion  until  he  was  forced  by  the  Emperor  Otho 
the  First  to  re-establish  its  rights.^  More  than  a  century 
elapsed,  however,  before  heathenism  was  finally  suppressed. 
In  1092,  Bretislaw  the  Second  banished  the  remnant  of  its 
priests  and  soothsayers,  and  set  on  fire  the  last  of  its  sacred 
groves. 

Important  events  in  the  history  of  the  national  ritual  pre- 
ceded this  forcible  triumph  of  Christianity.  Boleslaw  the 
Cruel  was  followed  by  Boleslaw  the  Pious.  He  deserved  this 
surname.  A  wise  ruler  and  an  earnest  Christian,  he  made  the 
growth  of  religion  to  keep  pace  with  the  extension  of  his 
realm.  While  Moravia,  Upper  and  Middle  Silesia,  and  the 
southern  half  of  Poland  fell  to  him,  numerous  churches  arose 
through  his  munificence,  widows  and  orphans  found  in  him  a 
protector,  and  justice  stretched  out  a  firm  but  gentle  hand. 
Cosmas,  the  oldest  chronicler  of  Bohemia,  contrasting  him 
with  his  father,  calls  him  a  rose  blooming  on  a  thorn-bush,  a 
lamb  begotten  of  a  wolf.^  He  was,  however,  devoted  to  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church.  The  great  service  which  Otho  had 
rendered  Bohemia  in  the  preceding  reign,  and  the  alarming 
progress  of  the  Magyars,  had  brought  about  a  close  fellowship 
with  Germany,  which  formed  one  of  the  strongholds  of  the 
Hierarchy.  Hence,  when  a  bishopric  was  established  at 
Prague  (973),  as  a  part  of  the  archbishopric  of  Mayence,  the 

^  Palacky  represents  the  murders  set  forth  above  as  the  result  of  jealousies 
in  the  ducal  family  and  says  nothing  of  their  having  been  instigated  by 
hostility  to  the  Christian  religion.  We  follow  the  Hist.  Persecutionum, 
even  if  we  do  not  accept  all  the  details  of  its  narrative.  (See  Chap.  III.) 
Schlesinger  says,  p.  31  :  "Aber  einer  Partei  im  Lande  war  nichts  verhasster 
als  das  Christenthum  und  der  Deutsche  Einfluss." 

^  Cosmae  Chronicon.     Scriptores  Eerum  Boh.,  I.  p.  46. 


THE    MORAVIAN   CHURCH.  15 

Emperor  persuaded  Boleslaw  to  disregard  the  wishes  of  his 
subjects  and  to  accept  the  conditions  which  the  Pope  had 
fixed.  The  Latin  language,  the  Romish  ritual,  the  papal 
system  of  doctrines,  was  introduced,  and  Dietmar,  a  German 
received  the  episcopal  office.  About  the  same  period,  monas- 
teries were,  for  the  first  time,  founded  in  Bohemia. 

In  this  way  Romanism  began  a  defiant  march  through  the 
country,  favored  by  the  court,  the  nobility,  and  such  of  the 
inhabitants  as  traded  with  Germany,  but  bitterly  opposed  by 
the  common  people,  who  clung  to  their  ancient  usages  with 
all  the  tenacity  of  their  national  character,  and  conceived  a 
hatred  of  the  Germans  which  has  never  died  out.  Impor- 
tunate calls  were  heard  for  a  native  bishop  and  the  re-intro- 
duction of  the  vernacular  in  public  worship.  At  last,  both 
the  Pope  and  the  Emperor  promised  to  fulfill  these  demands. 
On  the  death  of  Dietmar  (982),  Adalbert,  a  Bohemian  by 
birth  and  the  scion  of  a  noble  house,  was  actually  appointed 
to  the  vacant  see.  But  when  he  attempted  to  carry  out  the 
wishes  of  the  people,  the  Emperor  as  well  as  the  Archbishop 
called  him  to  an  account.  Baffled  and  perplexed,  he  twice 
relinquished  and  twice  returned  to  his  diocese.  On  leaving  it 
a  third  time,  he  found  a  martyr's  grave  among  the  Prussians 
(997). 

Romanism  now  spread  unhindered  for  many  years ;  while 
the  Czechish  language  and  Greek  ritual  fell  into  disuse  more 
and  more.  The  accession  of  Wratislaw  the  Second  to  the 
throne,  in  1061 ,  brought  about  a  change.  This  prince  enjoyed 
the  love  of  his  people  in  an  extraordinary  degree,  and  fostered 
the  national  feeling  until  it  burst  into  new  life. 

His  reign  occurred  in  eventful  times.  Henry  the  Fourth 
was  Emperor,  Gregory  the  Seventh,  Pope.  The  one  passionate 
and  fickle ;  the  other  calm,  cold  and  determined,  striving  for 
a  universal  theocracy  and  the  elevation  of  the  pontificate  to 
supreme  power  upon  earth  as  the  one  unchanging  object  of 
his  life.  The  result  was  a  protracted  conflict  between  these 
two  heads  of  Latin  Christendom.  In  the  midst  of  this 
struggle,  Wratislaw,  who  had  formed  an  alliance  with  Henry 


16  THE    HISTORY    OF 

in  1075/  sent  a  deputation  to  Gregory  and  begged  him  to 
sanction  the  Slavonian  ritual  (1079).  Such  a  petition  could 
not  have  been  presented  at  a  less  auspicious  time  and  addressed 
to  a  more  unyielding  pontiif.  A  chief  means  by  which 
Gregory  endeavored  to  render  the  papacy  supreme  was  a 
common  ritual  for  the  Christian  world.  Hence  his  reply 
assumed  the  form  of  a  bull,  dated  January  the  second,  1080, 
and  directed  to  the  Duke,  but  without  the  usual  greeting  and 
benediction. 

"  Your  Highness,"  wrote  the  haughty  Pope,  "has  asked  us 
that  we  should  allow  your  people  to  make  use  of  the  Slavonian 
tongue  in  divine  worship.  We  can  in  no  wise  sanction  this 
petition,  in  as  much  as  a  frequent  study  of  the  Holy  Scriptures 
has  convinced  us,  that  it  has  pleased  Almighty  God,  and  not 
without  reason,  to  allow  certain  parts  of  them  to  remain 
hidden,  lest,  if  they  were  clearly  open  to  all,  they  might, 
perhaps,  become  of  trifling  value  and  be  subjected  to  contempt, 
and  being  incorrectly  understood  by  minds  of  mediocre 
capacity,  might  lead  men  into  error.  Nor  does  the  fact  that 
certain  holy  men  formerly  bore  with  patience  what  the  people 
asked  for  in  simplicity,  or  let  it  pass  uncorrected,  serve  as  a 
precedent.  The  primitive  Church  took  no  notice  of  many 
points  which  were  afterward  corrected  by  the  holy  fathers,  in 
consequence  of  more  accurate  investigations,  when  Christianity 
had  been  established  and  religion  had  increased.  Hence  that 
which  your  people  imprudently  ask  for  may  not  be  done.  We 
forbid  it,  by  the  authority  of  the  blessed  Saint  Peter,  and 
command  you  to  resist  such  foolish  rashness  with  all  your 
strength,  to  the  honor  of  Almighty  God."^ 

'  As  a  reward  for  the  services  which  Wratislaw  rendered  in  consequence 
of  this  alliance,  he  was  constituted  the  first  king  of  Bohemia,  in  1086. 

^  The  above  letter  differs  materially  from  that  given  by  Plitt,  Holmes, 
Croeger,  and  others,  including  even  Czerwenka,  who  have  all  taken  their 
version  from  the  Hist.  Persecutionum,  which  got  it  from  Hagek's  old  but 
notoriously  unreliable  chronicle.  Our  version  is  translated  from  the 
original  Latin  letter  as  found  in  Palacky,  I.  p.  338,  Note  143,  who  took 
it  from  the  correspondence  of  Gregory  the  Seventh,  published  in  Vol.  VI.  of 
the  Acta  Conciliorum.      Compare  also  Dobrowsky,  pp.  48  and  49.     The 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  17 

This  edict  was  a  death-blow  to  the  uewly  awakened  hopes. 
Wratislaw,  indeed,  in  spite  of  the  Pope,  continued  to  favor  the 
convent  on  the  Sazawa,  where  the  ancient  ritual  had  its  prin- 
cipal seat;  but  his  successor,  Bretislaw  the  Second,  expelled 
the  Slavonian  brethren,  owing  chiefly  to  their  own  unceasing 
disputes,  and  transferred  the  monastery  to  Latin  monks  (1096), 
There  followed  other  measures  which  gave  Rome  the  victory 
at  last.  The  vernacular  in  public  worship  was  prohibited,  the 
clergy  were  forbidden  to  marry,  the  cup  in  the  Lord's  Supper 
was  withdrawn  from  the  laity.  Yet  even  now  the  Bohemians 
did  not  wholly  yield  the  ground  on  which  their  fathers  had 
stood.  Families  and  single  churches,  here  and  there,  could 
still  be  seen  maintaining  the  national  worship,  and  priests 
administering  the  cup.  Married  priests  were  found  as  late 
as  the  reisrn  of  Charles  the  Fourth.  For  the  next  two  cen- 
turies  and  a  half  religious  liberty  slumbered  but  was  not  dead. 
It  only  needed  a  bold  hand  to  break  its  sleep. 

Some  writers  assert  that  a  national  Christianity  was  not 
merely  kept  up  but  even  purified  in  doctrine  and  life,  through 
the  agency  of  the  Waldenses.^  Numerous  churches  arose,  it 
is  said,  representing  a  union  of  the  old  Slavonian  and  Wal- 
densian  elements,  and  flourished  greatly  to  the  glory  of  God. 
This  view  was  first  promulgated  by  Paul  Stransky,^  and 
adopted  by  Plitt.^  Modern  researches,  however,  especially 
those  instituted  by  Palacky,"*  show  that  however  convenient 
it  is  wholly  without  foundation.  If  the  Waldenses  appeared  in 
Bohemia  at  the  close  of  the  thirteenth  century,  which  is  barely 
possible,  they  were  few  in  number,  exercised  no  influence,  and 
cannot,  from  any  point  of  view,  be  recognized  as  a  power  in 
its  religious  development. 

Hist.  Persecutianum,  moreover,  as  also  Plitt,  Holmes.  Croeger,  and  Czer- 
wenka,  gives  a  wrong  date  and  prefixes  the  apostolic  salutation,  which  was 
intentionally  omitted  in  order  to  show  the  Pope's  displeasure  with  the  alli- 
ance between  Wratislaw  and  the  Emperor. 

'  Cranz,  p.  5;  Croeger,  I.  p.  9 ;  Holmes,  I.  p.  14. 

2  Stransky,  p.  256. 

=»  Plitt,  Chap.  I.  Sec.  5. 

*  Palacky's  Waldenser,  p.  18;  Compare  also  Krummel,  p.  51. 
2 


18  THE    HISTORY    OF 


CHAPTER  rn. 

The  Forerunners  of  John  Hus.     A.  D.  1347-1369. 


Gradual  breaking  up  of  the  medieval  Church-System. — Decline  of  Scho- 
lastic Theology. — The  reign  of  Charles  the  Fourth,  the  Golden  Age 
of  Bohemia. — The  Archbishopric,  the  Convent  of  Emmaus,  and  the 
University  of  Prague. — The  three  Forerunners  of  Hus. — Conrad  of 
Waldhausen. — Milic  of  Kremsier. — Matthias  von  Janow. 

About  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century  signs  began 
to  appear  that  the  medieval  church-system  was  breaking  up. 
It  had  held  the  human  mind  bound  in  its  icy  fetters  for  ages, 
but  it  could  not  bind  the  Spirit  whom  God  had  sent.  Under 
His  divine  influences  a  reaction  set  in  and  slowly  gained 
strength,  sometimes  in  silence  and  again  amidst  the  noise  of 
storms,  until  at  last  it  burst  forth  as  an  overwhelming  flood. 
Such  a  result  was  rendered  inevitable  by  the  abuses  of  the 
papacy  and  its  perversions  of  the  fundamental  principles  of 
the  Gospel. 

A  decline  of  scholastic  theology  constituted  the  beginning 
of  this  movement.  Men  began  to  think  for  themselves,  and 
not  as  the  Church  commanded.  An  issue  was  made  which 
still  separates  Protestantism  from  Romanism.  The  authority 
of  the  Bible  as  the  only  source  and  norm  of  belief  was  set  up 
against  the  pretensions  of  the  Church  to  promulgate  doctrines 
of  its  own  creation.  It  is  true  that  such  an  issue  did  not 
become  prevalent,  but  it  constrained  single  reformers  to 
unsheath  the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  and  prepared  the  way  for  a 
general  reformation.  Nor  did  the  revival  of  classical  litera- 
ture, about  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century,  fail  to  send 
the  human  mind  forward  on  its  new  course  of  thought  and 
liberty. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  l9 

John  Wycliffe  was  the  first  leading  representative  of  such 
reformatory  movements,  and  England  the  realm  where  they 
gained  temporary  strength  ;  but  they  were  fully  developed  in 
Bohemia  and  Moravia.  These  twin  countries  had  always 
given  religious  liberty  a  home ;  now  they  furnished  its  battle 
ground.  For  two  centuries,  until  the  ojDening  of  the  Thirty 
Years'  War,  the  conflict  was  kept  up.  Then  Rome  tri- 
umphed again,  and  the  land  of  the  Czechs,  a  second  time, 
lay  helpless  at  her  proud  feet. 

In  1347  Charles  the  First,  of  the  house  of  Luxemburg 
into  which  the  Bohemian  crown  had  passed  by  marriage, 
ascended  the  throne,  and  eight  years  later,  in  1355,  became 
Emperor  of  Germany,  assuming  the  title  of  Charles  the 
Fourth,  by  which  he  is  generally  known.  However  unequal 
he  may  have  been  to  the  duties  of  this  position,  and  however 
little  he  may  have  understood  the  times  in  which  he  lived, 
Bohemia  was  the  object  of  his  love  and  the  end  of  his 
ambition.  Under  his  guidance  it  entered  a  golden  age.  Its 
bounds  were  extended  ;  its  agricultural  and  commercial  pros- 
perity was  furthered ;  and  its  capital  enlarged  to  a  metropolis 
which  rivaled  Paris.^ 

Three  of  his  undertakings  were  particularly  important. 
In  1344,  while  he  was  still  Margrave,  he  emancipated  the 
Bohemian  Church  from  the  control  of  the  archbishopric  of 
Mayence  by  the  creation  of  the  archbishopric  of  Prague ;  in 
1347,  he  organized,  in  the  same  city,  the  Slavonian  Monasteiy 
of  Emmaus ;  and,  in  1348,  founded  the  University  of  Prague, 
which  soon  became  one  of  the  most  illustrious  in  Europe. 

^  The  origin  of  Prague  is  unknown.  It  is  ascribed  to  Libusa,  a  distin- 
guished princess  of  tlie  mythical  period  of  Bohemian  History.  The  city 
is  situated  on  both  banks  of  the  Moldau,  in  a  basin-shaped  valley,  on  whose 
slopes  the  buildings  rise  in  tiers,  giving  to  the  town  something  of  oriental 
splendor.  That  part  of  it  which  stands  on  the  right  bank  is  called  the 
Altstadt  (Old  Town)  and  the  Neustadt  (New  Town);  the  part  on  the  left  bank 
the  Kleinseite  (Small  Side).  A  massive  stone  bridge  and  a  chain  bridge 
connect  the  two  parts.  Charles  the  Fourth  built  the  Neustadt  and  the  stone 
bridge,  enlarged  the  Kleinseite,  began  the  palace  of  the  Hradschin,  which 
stands  on  that  side,  and  erected  a  number  of  churches. 


20  THE    HISTORY    OF 

These  enterprises  were  meant  to  advance  Romanism,  but  God 
overruled  them  for  the  spread  of  the  Gospel  of  His  Son. 
The  archbishopric  re-invested  the  Church  with  a  national 
character.  Ernst  of  Pardubitz,  its  first  incumbent,  a  man  of 
apostolic  ways,  originated  diocesan  synods,  which  caused  the 
Christian  life  of  Bohemia  to  revive.^  The  Convent  of  Em- 
maus,  where  the  Slavonian  ritual,  although  in  a  Romish  form, 
and  the  Czech  vernacular  had  been  re-introduced,  gave  to  such 
life  something  of  an  evangelical  tendency.  This  tendency 
grew  to  be  a  power  in  the  University,  which  sent  forth  John 
Hus,  ordained  to  wake  religious  liberty  from  its  sleep. 

Three  illustrious  forerunners  prepared  the  way  for  his 
coming. 

Between  the  years  1340  and  1360  there  flourished,  at 
Vienna  and  other  places  in  Austria,  a  distinguished  preacher 
named  Conrad  of  Waldhausen.^  The  jubilee  proclaimed  by 
Clement  the  Sixth,  in  1350,  brought  him  to  Rome.  There 
his  eyes  were  opened.  He  saw  the  danger  of  such  pilgrimages 
and  the  evil  of  selling  indulgences.  Multitudes,  from  every 
part  of  Europe,  came  swarming  into  the  city,  paid  the  price 
of  absolution  without  a  thought  of  repentance,  and  imme- 
diately, amidst  the  abominations  of  the  papal  capital,  fell  into 
deeper  sin.  On  his  return  to  Austria  he  set  forth  the  scrip- 
tural conditions  of  forgiveness  with  words  of  power  and  an 
earnest  heart.  Charles  the  Fourth  invited  him  to  Bohemia, 
whither  he  was  drawing  other  celebrities.  Waldhausen 
accepted  the  invitation,  settled  at  Leitmeritz,  either  in  1360 
or  1362,  and  labored  with  great  success.     After  a  time  he 

1  Lechler,  II.  p.  114. 

^  Palacky's  Vorlaufer,  p.  1,  &c.;  Neander,  VI.  p.  240,  &c.;  Krummel,  p. 
57,  &c.  Since  the  publication  of  Cochlaeus'  Hist,  of  the  Hussites,  in  1549, 
Conrad  in  all  works  that  treat  of  him,  down  to  recent  times,  has  received 
the  family  name  of  Stekna.  This  is  an  error.  John  von  Stekna  was  a 
Cistercian  monk  and  priest,  who  flourished  at  Prague,  after  Conrad's  death, 
as  incumbent  of  the  Bethlehem  Chapel,  and  in  other  capacities.  The  error 
originated  in  the  omission,  by  Cochlaeus,  of  a  comma  between  Conrad's 
and  Stekna's  name,  as  Palacky  has  shown.  Waldhausen  was  the  name  of 
the  village  in  which  Conrad  was  born. 


THE   MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  21 

began  occasionally  to  preach  at  Prague.  There  his  congrega- 
tions grew  so  large  that  no  building  could  hold  them,  and 
they  were  forced  to  assemble  in  a  market  place.  In  1364  he 
was  appointed  incumbent  of  the  Thein  Church,  the  most 
important  in  the  capital.^  He  preached  in  German.  His 
bearing  was  calm,  his  thoughts  were  set  forth  with  great 
clearness,  his  language  was  plain  but  forcible  and  eloquent. 
With  a  boldness  that  came  from  God  and  feared  neither  man 
nor  devil,  he  exposed  the  vices  of  the  times  and  called  sinners 
to  repentance.  The  result  was  wonderful.  Women  who  had 
been  leaders  of  extravagant  and  immodest  fashions  laid  aside 
their  costly  robes,  glittering  with  gold  and  pearls,  and  devoted 
themselves  to  works  of  charity ;  usurers,  fattening  on  unright- 
eous gains,  made  restitution ;  notorious  libertines  set  an 
example  of  holy  living. 

Such  success  excited  the  jealousy  of  the  mendicant  friars, 
whose  churches  were  almost  deserted.  But  when  Conrad,  to 
use  his  own  figure,  drew  the  bow  of  God's  Word  against  these 
monks  themselves,  their  envy  was  turned  into  hate  bitter  as 
gall.  And  yet  his  arrows  told,  for  they  came  with  the  force 
of  truth.  He  directed  them  against  the  hypocrisy,  simony 
and  degenerate  ways  of  the  various  orders.  He  said  that  if 
their  founders  were  to  come  back  to  earth  in  order  to  resus- 
citate first  principles,  they  would  be  stoned ;  that  the  monks, 
instead  of  assuming  voluntary  poverty  and  humbly  walking 
in  love,  manifested  insatiable  avarice,  inordinate  pride,  and 
selfishness  in  its  worst  forms ;  that  their  appeals  for  alms 
were  morally  wrong,  because  alms  ought  to  be  given  to  the 
poor;  that  the  idolatry  which  they  practised  with  relics  was 
abominable ;  that  holiness  deserved  more  reverence  than  the 
saints. 

Smarting  under  sharp  truths  such  as  these,  the  Dominicans, 
Franciscans,  Augustines  and  others,  forgot  their  own  inces- 
sant quarrels,  and  made  common  cause  against  Waldhausen. 

^  The  Thein  Church  stands  in  the  Altstadt,  on  the  Grosser  Ring,  opposite 
the  Council  House.  It  is  famous  in  the  history  of  the  Hussites  and  the 
Brethren. 


22  THE    HISTORY    OF 

But  his  popularity  was  so  great  that  they  did  not  venture 
to  attack  him  openly  until  the  Vicar  General  of  the  Domini- 
cans had  arrived  at  Prague.  His  presence  gave  them  courage 
to  lay  twenty-four  articles  of  accusation  before  the  Arch- 
bishop (1364).  These  charges  Conrad  triumphantly  refuted, 
in  the  presence  of  many  witnesses,  and  prepared  a  written 
defence  of  his  course  for  Duke  Rudolph,  who  urgently  re- 
quested that  he  should  come  back  to  Vienna.  But  he  pre- 
ferred Bohemia,  and  continued  his  victorious  career  until 
1369,  when  he  died,  on  the  eighth  of  December,  beloved  by 
the  people  and  blessed  of  God. 

Although  he  did  not  directly  attack  the  dogmas  of  the 
Romish  Church,  he  taught  the  necessity  of  a  living  Chris- 
tianity, of  a  renewal  of  the  heart,  and  of  saving  faith  in 
Christ.  In  view  of  such  principles  he  deserves  to  be  counted 
as  the  first  forerunner  of  Hus. 

The  second  was  Milic,  of  Kremsier,  in  Moravia.^  His 
early  life  is  shrouded  in  obscurity.  He  took  orders  about 
1350,  and  subsequently  became  an  arch-deacon  and  a  canon 
of  St.  Vitus.^  At  the  same  time  he  filled  a  responsible  post 
in  the  imperial  chancellor's  office,  and  owned  an  estate  which 
brought  him  a  considerable  income,  in  addition  to  his  many 
emoluments.  But  neither  honors  nor  wealth  could  satisfy 
him.  He  longed  to  serve  the  Lord  in  poverty  and  lowliness. 
Hence,  in  1363,  he  resigned  all  his  lucrative  and  high  posi- 
tions. The  Archbishop  reasoned  with  hira.  "In  what  better 
work  could  you  engage,"  he  said,  "  than  helping  your  poor 
Archbishop  to  feed  the  flock  which  has  been  committed  to  his 
care  ?"  But  Milic  remained  firm,  and  retired  to  Bischof 
Teinitz,  where  he  began  to  labor  as  a  preacher  of  the  people. 

^  Neander,  VI.  pp.  228,  &c.;  Palacky's  Vorliiufer,  pp.  18,  &c.;  Czerwenka, 
I.  Chap.  III.;  Knimmel,  pp.  62,  &c.  There  is  no  authority  for  the  name 
John,  which  is  commonly  given  him. 

2  This  cathedral  was  begun  in  1344  and  stands  within  the  enclosure  of 
the  Hradschin,  the  celebrated  palace  of  the  Bohemian  kings,  built  by 
Charles  the  Fourth,  in  1353,  rebuilt  by  Ferdinand  the  First  in  1541,  but 
not  completed  until  1756. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  23 

His  stay  in  this  village  was  short.  The  incumbent  had  a 
pleasant  garden  which,  Milic  feared,  might  tempt  him  to 
idleness.  Hastening  back  to  Prague,  he  gained  access  to 
various  pulpits.  At  first  his  congregations  were  small  and 
his  Moravian  dialect  excited  ridicule.  But  he  persevered, 
until  he  found  acceptance.  In  course  of  time  he  became  as 
famous  an  orator  as  Waldhausen.  His  style,  however,  was 
wholly  different.  It  was  mystical,  excited  the  imagination, 
and  glowed  with  figures  borrowed  from  the  Apocalypse. 

The  biblical  studies  in  which  Milic  diligently  engaged,  led 
him  to  the  conclusion  that  Antichrist  would  appear  between 
the  years  1365  and  1367,  and  that,  therefore,  the  end  of  the 
world  was  at  hand.  This  view  he  set  forth  in  his  work  De 
Antichristo,  and  urged  from  the  pulpit,  pointing,  in  the  way 
of  proof,  to  the  degeneracy  of  the  age.  His  denunciations 
were  bold  and  terrific.  He  spared  no  one,  from  the  Arch- 
bishop to  the  lowest  monk,  from  the  Emperor  to  the  meanest 
peasant.  On  one  occasion  he  publicly  reproved  the  Emperor 
by  name.  But  Charles  recognized  his  motives  and  honored 
his  zeal.  Nor  could  his  enemies,  although  their  number 
increased,  prevail  against  him.  It  is  true  that  they  induced 
the  new  Archbishop  to  order  his  arrest;  but  he  was  soon  set 
at  liberty.  Milic  himself,  however,  grew  discouraged,  es- 
pecially in  view  of  the  imwillingness  of  the  Bohemians  to 
accept  his  apocalyptical  theory,  relinquished  his  work,  and 
went  to  Rome  to  consult  the  Pope. 

Urban  the  Fifth  filled  the  papal  chair  and  was  about  to 
transfer  his  court  from  Avignon,  where  his  predecessors  had 
lived  for  more  than  half  a  century,  to  its  proper  seat  (1367). 
While  awaiting  his  arrival,  Milic  was,  as  he  says,  moved  by 
the  Spirit  to  announce,  through  a  poster  affixed  to  the  door  of 
St.  Peter's,  that  he  would  preach  on  the  coming  of  Antichrist. 
For  this  bold  act  he  was  cast  into  prison.  But  Urban,  as 
soon  as  he  had  reached  the  city,  set  him  free  and  punished  his 
persecutors.  The  consultations  in  which  he  now  engaged 
with  the  Pope  and  various  ecclesiastics  led  him  to  recognize 
the  propriety  of  giving  less  prominence  to  his  prophetical 


24  THE    HISTORY    OF 

views,  but  encouraged  him  to  return  to  Prague  and  resume 
his  activity  in  other  respects. 

On  the  death  of  Waldhausen,  he  was  appointed  his  suc- 
cessor in  the  Thein  Church.  In  order  to  reach  the  German 
population  he  began  to  study  their  language,  and  persevered 
until  he  could  preach  in  it  with  fluency.  He  delivered  daily 
sermons,  besides  attending  to  his  pastoral  duties,  visiting  the 
poor,  and  instructing  students  in  theology.  The  most  notable 
instance  of  his  success  in  reformmg  the  morals  of  Prague 
was  the  breaking  up  of  a  whole  block  of  brothels,  which  had 
long  been  infamously  known  as  "  Little  Venice."  More  than 
one  hundred  of  their  inmates  repented  in  a  body.  The  houses 
were  torn  down,  and  a  chapel  and  home  erected,  in  which  the 
penitents  found  an  asylum.  Their  number  increased  by 
accessions  from  the  country.  There  were  often  as  many  as 
three  hundred  women  in  this  retreat,  which  received  the  name 
of  "  Jerusalem."  Near  by  stood  a  house  that  Milic  had 
converted  into  a  Seminary  for  his  students,  who  assisted  him 
in  his  work. 

His  growing  fame  and  widespread  influence  incited  his 
enemies  to  renewed  activity.  The  mendicant  friars,  in  par- 
ticular, opposed  him.  Twelve  articles  of  accusation  were 
sent  to  Gregory  the  Eleventh,  which  aroused  his  utmost 
displeasure.  He  wrote  to  the  Emperor,  to  the  Archbishop, 
and  to  several  Bishops  in  Moravia,  Silesia  and  Poland, 
condemning  the  entire  course  which  Milic  was  pursuing. 
Milic  hastened  to  Avignon,  where  the  papal  court  had  again 
been  established,  in  order  to  defend  himself,  and  succeeded  in 
refuting  the  charges  that  had  been  brought  against  him. 
While  waiting  for  the  final  decision  of  the  Pope,  he  fell  ill 
and  died,  on  the  twenty-ninth  of  June,  1374. 

His  solemn  protest  against  the  vices  of  the  age,  his  earnest 
call  for  the  convocation  of  a  General  Council  that  the  Church 
might  be  reformed,  his  eloquent  plea  for  the  preaching  of  the 
pure  Gospel  that  the  spiritual  kingdom  of  Christ  might 
spread,  constituted  him  the  second  forerunner  of  John  Hus. 
"In    Milic  that  religious  thought  and    feeling  which  have 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  25 

always  distinguished  the  Bohemians,  found  its  embodiment," 
says  Palacky  in  substance.  "  He  stirred  the  spirit  of  the 
people  to  its  depths,  and  first  caused  it  to  rise  in  those  waves 
which,  at  a  later  time  and  with  the  co-operation  of  new 
elements,  grew  to  be  the  billows  of  a  great  storm,"* 

The  last  precursor  of  Hus  was  Matthias  von  Janow,^  the 
son  of  a  Bohemian  Knight,  and  an  enthusiastic  pupil  of  Milic. 
In  1381,  he  was  appointed  a  prebendary  of  the  Cathedral  at 
Prague  and  a  father  confessor.  Distinguished  for  his  learning 
which  he  acquired  at  the  Universities  of  Prague  and  Paris — 
whence  his  title  of  "Parisian  Master" — converted,  while 
searching  the  Scriptures,  from  a  vicious  life  to  the  service 
of  God,  he  used  both  his  knowledge  and  his  experience  in 
bravely  promoting  the  Truth.  He  was  a  writer  and  not  a 
preacher.  The  collection  of  his  works,  composed  between  the 
years  1388  and  1392  and  entitled  De  regulis  Veteris  et  Novi 
Testamenti,  exercised  an  unprecedented  influence  in  its  day.^ 

His  position  is  bold  and  evangelical.  He  bewails  the 
worldliness  of  the  clergy  and  their  neglect  of  the  Bible, 
rebukes  their  pride  and  hierarchical  pretensions,  and  disap- 
proves of  monastic  orders  as  well  as  of  that  wide  distinction 
between  the  ministry  and  the  laity  which  conflicts  with  the 
scriptural  idea  of  a  universal  priesthood.  He  protests  against 
the  worship  of  pictures,  the  invocation  of  saints,  and  the 
idolatry  practiced  with  relics.  He  urges  that  the  Gospel 
shall  be  preached  in  the  vernacular,  that  Christians  shall 
receive  the  Lord's  Supper  daily,  and  that  the  cup  shall  be 
given  to  the  laity,  although  he  does  not  consider  this 
absolutely  essential.  He  asserts  that  Antichrist  is  already  in 
the  world,  in  the  form  of  the  hierarchy  which  has  become 


1  Palacky,  IV.  p.  173. 

2  Neander,  VI.  p.  252,  &c.;  Palacky's  Vorlaufer,  p.  47,  &c.;  Krummel, 
Chap.  V. 

^  This  collection  was  divided  into  five  books,  each  book  containing  a 
number  of  treatises.  It  exists  in  manuscript  only  and  is  very  rare,  except- 
ing one  treatise,  on  The  Abomination  in  the  Holy  Place,  which  essay  was 
printed  along  with  the  works  of  Hus  to  whom  it  was  incorrectly  ascribed. 


26  THE    HISTORY    OF 

wholly  secularized ;  predicts  the  renewal  of  the  Church  in  its 
primitive  purity  and  dignity ;  defines  it  to  be  a  living 
organism  whose  members  ought  all  to  work  together, 
including  the  Pope,  who  must  direct  the  bishops  in  the 
proper  discharge  of  their  duties,  but  not  exalt  himself  above 
them  and  seek  his  own  ends  through  the  agency  of  princes 
and  kings ;  and  finds  a  chief  cause  of  its  corruption  in  its 
many  decretals,  which  usurp  the  place  of  the  Scriptures. 
Finally,  he  sets  forth  the  immediate  relation  of  the  soul  to 
Christ,  the  necessity  of  faith,  and  the  insufficiency  of  works 
when  separated  from  faith/ 

Some  of  these  views  Janow  was  forced  to  recant,  at  the 
Diocesan  Synod  of  1389.^  But  this  seems  to  have  been  a 
mere  form,  for  we  find  them  still  more  fully  developed  in  his 
later  writings.  He  died  in  the  prime  of  manhood,  on  the 
thirtieth  of  November,  1394.  But  the  truths  which  he 
promulgated  were  a  trumpet-blast  that  announced  the  coming 
Reformer  and  the  dawn  of  a  new  epoch.  Indeed,  if  we  may 
trust  tradition,  he  appears  to  have  looked  even  beyond  the 
days  of  Hus  and  to  have  foretold  the  rise  of  the  Brethren's 
Church.  "  We  find  it  also  recorded,"  says  the  History  of 
the  Bohemian  Persecution,  "  that  this  Parisian,  his  death 
approaching,  amongst  others  gave  this  comfort  to  his  friends: 
The  rage  of  the  enemies  of  truth  hath  now  prevailed  against 
us ;  but  this  shall  not  be  always ;  for  an  ignoble  people  shall 
arise  without  sword  or  power,  over  whom  they  shall  not  be 
able  to  prevail."^ 

^  Czerwenka,  I.  p.  50. 

*  Docuruenta  Hus,  pp.  699  and  700,  where  the  retraction  is  given  in  full 
and  the  penance  set  forth,  namely,  suspension,  for  half  a  year,  from  min- 
isterial functions  outside  of  his  own  church. 

^  History  of  the  Bohemian  Persecution,  London,  1650,  Chap.  VII.  5,  p. 
19,  the  quaint  English  version  of  the  Hist.  Persecutionum. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  27 


PERIOD  11. 


THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  JOHN  HUS,  THE  PRE- 
CURSOR OF  THE  BRETHREN'S  CHURCH. 
A.  D.  1369-1415. 


CHAPTER   IT. 


The  Beginning  of  the  Bohemian  Reformation  as  inauguraied 
by  Hus.     J.  i).  1369-1411. 


Birth  and  Education  of  Hus. — His  moral  Character. — A  Professor  in  the 
University  of  Prague. — Magnitude  of  the  University. — State  of  Latin 
Christendom. — The  Philosophical  and  Theological  tendencies  of  Hus. 
— His  Friends  and  Coadjutors. — Incumbent  of  the  Bethlehem  Chapel. — 
Hus  as  a  Pastor  and  Preacher. — Appointed  Synodical  Preacher. — 
Condemnation  of  Wycliffe's  articles  in  the  University. — Beginning  of 
the  Reformation. — The  miracle  at  Wilsnak. — The  Keformatory  Labors 
of  Hus  and  the  Opposition  they  evoked. — The  Reformation  strengthened 
by  the  State  of  the  Country  and  Empire. — Exodus  of  the  Germans 
from  the  University. — The  Reformation  about  to  die  a  natural  Death. 

Four  years  after  the  death  of  the  last  of  his  forerunners 
John  Hus  himself  appeared  on  tlie  stage  of  history.  Through 
his  instrumentality  the  new  ideas,  to  which  his  age  was  giving 
birth,  were  developed  into  a  national  reformation  that  proved 
to  be  the  harbinger  of  the  General  Reformation.  In  bringing 
this  about  he  opened  the  way,  on  the  one  hand,  for  the  coming 
of  the  Unitas  Fratrum  whicli  was  founded  by  his  followers 
and  inherited  his  principles,  and,  on  the  other,  led  Bohemia 
and  Moravia  out  of  the  darkness  of  the  Middle  Ages  a  century 
before  it  began  to  disappear  from  other  countries. 

In  the  southern  part  of  Bohemia  on  the  Planitz,  not  far 
from  the  Bavarian  frontier,  stands  a  small  market-town  called 


28  THE    HISTORY    OF 

Husinec.  It  constituted,  originally,  one  of  twenty-four  vil- 
lages which  belonged  jointly  to  the  royal  exchequer  and  the 
Castle  of  Hus,  built,  in  1341,  by  the  Barons  of  Janowic.  In 
that  town  John  Hus  was  born  on  the  sixth  of  July,  1369.i 
He  took  his  name  from  the  Castle.^  His  family  name  is  not 
known.  Although  his  parents  ranked  no  higher  than  peasants, 
they  were  in  good  circumstances.  His  early  years  are  shrouded 
in  obsciirity.^ 

He  studied  at  the  University  of  Prague  and  took  his  first 
degree  in  1393.  In  1396  he  was  constituted  a  Master  of 
Arts.  His  talents  were  not  brilliant  but  his  diligence  never 
flagged.  He  devoted  himself  to  his  books  with  the  patience 
of  a  student  and  the  tenacity  of  a  Czech.  Such  perseverance 
had  its  reward.  He  became  a  man  of  comprehensive  learning, 
and  slowly  but  surely  made  his  way  to  the  side  of  the  greatest 
celebrities  of  his  age.^  His  moral  character  was  blameless. 
It  was  never  aspersed  even  by  his  bitterest  enemies.  They 
were  constrained  to  recognize  the  purity  of  his  heart  and  the 
holiness  of  his  life.  In  other  respects,  however,  he  is  stig- 
matized by  some  modern  writers  of  the  Romish  school,  who 
call  him  "  a  vain  declaimer,  a  plotter,  a  proud  Czech,  a  fanatic, 
a  revolutionist,  an  ignorant  fellow,  as  rude  and  bold  as  a 
peasant."^  While  such  denunciations  recoil  upon  their  authors, 
there  may  be  some  truth  in  the  charges  of  Palacky.  He  asserts 
that  Hus  was  rash,  obstinate,  greedy  of  popularity  and  am- 
bitious to  win  a  martyr's  crown. ^     Tradition  has  it,  that  on 

'  Gillett,  Croeger  and  other  Moravian  writers,  give  the  year  1373,  but 
1369  is  adopted  by  all  the  best  modern  authorities. 

^  Not  Huss,  but  Hus,  is  therefore  the  correct  way  of  spelling  his  name. 
It  lias  been  adopted  by  German  and  ought  to  be  adopted  by  English  writers. 

3  The  details  given  by  Becker,  Die  Bohm.  Reform,  u.  Miirt.  J.  Hus  u.  H. 
V.  Prag,  1858,  and  found  in  Croeger,  I.  p.  18,  &c.,  are  without  historic 
foundation. 

*  Berger,  p.  79,  Note  2,  asserts  that  the  learning  of  Hus  was  not  extra- 
ordinary, but  merely  such  as  was  common  among  all  scholars  of  his  day. 
In  what  estimation  Berger's  testimony  is  to  be  held,  will  appear  later. 

^  Helfert,  Hofler  and  Friedrich. 

^  Palacky,  IV.  p.  215.  In  Note  218,  he  adds:  "That  Hus,  at  an  early 
period  of  his  life,  dwelt  upon  the  possibility  of  his  suffering  martyrdom,  is 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  29 

reading  an  account  of  the  cruel  execution  of  St.  Lawrence, 
who  was  roasted  alive  in  an  iron  chair,  he  thrust  his  own 
hand  into  the  fire  in  order  to  test  his  ability  to  endure  such 
torments.  Greatness  and  faults  are  inseparable.  We  must 
not  expect  the  record  of  Hus  to  be  spotless.  In  his  inter- 
course with  others  he  was  modest  and  kind.  A  spirit  of 
melancholy  gave  tone  to  his  whole  bearing.  It  seemed  as 
though  he  could  not  forget  the  degeneracy  of  the  Church  and 
the  evil  of  the  times  in  which  he  lived.  He  was  a  tall  man, 
with  a  thin,  pale,  sad  face. 

Two  years  after  he  received  the  Master's  degree,  he  was 
called  to  a  professorship  in  the  University  (1398.) 

This  school,  next  to  that  of  Paris,  after  which  it  was 
modeled,  constituted  the  most  distinguished  seat  of  learning 
on  the  Continent  of  Europe.  It  formed  a  state  within  the 
state.  It  enjoyed  peculiar  privileges  and  extraordinary  im- 
munities. It  grew  to  be  a  Bohemian  republic  of  letters  with 
an  authority  second  only  to  that  of  the  king.  It  was  pervaded 
by  a  literary  spirit,  active,  keen,  thorough,  delighting  in 
disputations  on  the  grandest  scale.  It  embraced  four  faculties, 
one  for  theology,  one  for  law,  one  for  medicine,  and  one  for 
philosophy ;  and  was  divided  into  four  nations,  the  Bohemian, 
the  Bavarian,  the  Polish,  and  the  Saxon.  Its  teachers  and 
students  far  outnumbered  those  of  modern  universities  how- 
ever large.* 

A  school  such  as  this  inspired  Hus  with  enthusiasm.  He 
became  one  of  its  lights.  In  1401  he  was  elected  Dean  of  the 
Philosophical  Faculty,  and  in  1402  Rector  of  the  University. 

evident  from  various  passages  of  his  Bohemian  works  which  bring  out  his 
individuality  in  sharper  lines  than  his  Latin  writings." 

'  Some  authorities  give  fabulous  figures.  It  is  said  that,  about  1408,  there 
were  200  Doctors  and  Masters,  500  Bachelors,  and  more  than  30,000  students. 
Others  assert  that  there  were  never  more  than  4000  students,  and  only  2,500, 
about  1408.  (Lechler,  II.  p.  153.)  But  this  estimate  is  incorrect;  for  we 
have  data  which  show  that  in  that  year,  there  were  64  Doctors  and  Masters 
and  150  Bachelors  belonging  to  the  Bohemian  nation  alone.  Palacky 
thinks  there  must  have  been  more  than  7,000  students.  (Palacky,  IV. 
p.  183.) 


30  THE    HISTORY    OF 

Dire  confusion  reigned  throughout  Latin  Christendom.  For 
more  than  twenty  years  the  Church  had  been  rent  by  a  dis- 
graceful schism.  Two  popes,  each  claiming  to  be  Christ's 
vicar  upon  earth,  the  one  at  Rome,  the  other  at  Avignon,  were 
hurling  anathemas  at  each  other.^  This  was  a  gross  scandal 
that  called  forth  protests  from  the  University  of  Paris,  than 
which  no  literary  seat  exercised  a  higher  authority.  Peter 
D'Ailly,  John  of  Gerson,  Nicholas  of  Clemanges  and  others, 
scrutinously  investigated  the  claims  set  up  by  the  popes,  asserted 
the  supremacy  of  a  General  Council,  and,  in  ringing  tones, 
proclaimed  the  necessity  of  reform.  Nor  did  the  University 
of  Oxford  remain  silent.  Wycliffe  was  dead,  but  his  writings 
were  exercising  a  widely  spread  influence.^  They  found  their 
way  to  Bohemia  through  Bohemian  students  who  studied  at 
Oxford,  and  soon  began  to  play  an  important  part  in  the 
theological  history  of  that  country.^ 

Charles  the  Fourth  died  in  1378,  and  was  succeeded  by 
Wenzel,  his  oldest  son.  He  was  an  incompetent  ruler.  The 
sceptre  fell  from  his  weak  grasp  into  the  hands  of  unworthy 
favorites  who  governed  in  his  name.  Although  not  without 
good  qualities,  he  acted,  for  the  most  part,  in  the  words  of 
Palacky,  like  a  spoiled  child,  offending  his  nobles,  maltreating 
the  clergy,  quarreling  with  his  brother  Sigismund,  and  giving 

^  The  scliisin  began  in  ]  378  by  the  election  of  Urban  the  Fifth  and  Clement 
the  Seventh. 

^  John  de  Wycliffe,  written  also  Wickliffe,  Wyclif,  or  Wiclif,  was  born 
near  Kichmond,  England,  in  1324.  A  controversy  with  the  Mendicants  led 
to  his  illustrious  career  as  a  Keformer  before  the  Reformation.  He  attacked 
some  of  the  most  cherished  dogmas  of  Rome,  such  as  plenary  indulgence 
and  transubstantiation ;  drew  a  sharp  line  between  Biblical  Christianity 
and  Romish  ecclesiasticism ;  translated  the  Bible  into  English  from  the 
Vulgate;  and  labored  by  his  writings,  sermons,  and  lectures  at  Oxford  for 
the  spread  of  the  pure  Gospel.  Protected'  by  the  Duke  of  Lancaster,  he 
withstood  every  persecution,  and  died,  as  parish  priest  at  Lutterworth, 
December  the  thirty-first,  1384.  His  followers  were  the  English  Lollards. 
The  newest  and  best  work  on  Wycliffe  is  Lechler's  Wiclif  und  die  Vorge- 
schichte  der  Reformation.     2  Vols.     Leipzig  and  London,  1873. 

'  In  1382,  Anne,  a  daughter  of  Charles  the  Fourth,  married  Richard  the 
Second.  This  brought  about  a  close  connection  between  Bohemia  and 
England. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  31 

occasion  for  the  appearance  of  a  rival  Emperor  in  the  person 
of  Ruprecht,  who  disputed  the  crown  for  ten  years. 

It  was  in  such  a  period  of  European,  history,  when  no  honest 
mind  could  fail  to  recognize  the  necessity  of  reforming  the 
Church,  that  Hus  began  his  public  career.  His  earliest  lectures 
were  mostly  philosophical.  He  was  a  decided  adherent  of  the 
realistic  school.^  His  theology  received  its  tendency  from 
Matthias  of  Janow  and  WycliflPe.  The  theological  writings  of 
the  latter  were  brought  to  Bohemia  in  1398,  by  Jerome  of 
Prague.  When  Hus  had  overcome  the  prejudice  which  he 
entertained  against  them  and  began  to  study  them,  he  was 
attracted  by  their  reformatory  spirit  and  the  supreme  authority 
which  they  ascribed  to  the  Bible.  The  longer  he  searched 
this  sacred  volume  the  more  he  became  convinced  of  the  cor- 
ruptness of  the  Church  and  the  necessity  of  a  reformation. 
But  he  did  not  set  out  with  the  intention  of  inaugurating  such 
a  work.     Nor  did  he  take  a  position  antagonistic  to  Rome  in 


^  Realism  and  Nominalism  constituted  tlie  two  conflicting  doctrines  of 
scholastic  philosophy.  The  former  taught,  that  general  notions,  such  as  tlie 
notion  of  a  tree,  have  an  objective  existence  and  reality;  in  other  words, 
"  that  genus  and  species  are  real  things,  existing  independently  of  our  con- 
ceptions and  expressions"  (Fleming's  Vocab.  of  Phil.,  p.  422).  The  latter, 
"  that  general  notions,  such  as  the  notion  of  a  tree,  have  no  realities 
corresponding  to  them,  and  no  existence  but  as  names  or  words"  (lb.  p. 
346).  Applied  to  theology,  realism  set  up  the  reality,  that  is,  the  absolute 
truth  of  the  dogmas  of  the  Church,  which  were  binding  upon  all  and  might 
not  be  questioned  by  any.  Nominalism,  on  the  other  hand,  subjected  such 
dogmas  to  critical  investigation,  and  asserted  the  right  of  research  as  a 
necessary  consequence  of  that  capacity  to  investigate  which  has  been  given 
to  every  man.  From  this  point  of  view  the  realism  of  Hus  is  surprising. 
Indeed,  Czerwenka  (I.  p.  59),  denies  its  existence.  But  while  Hus,  in  many 
of  his  theological  views,  was  practically  a  nominalist,  because  he  recognized 
the  authority  of  the  Bible  as  supreme,  yet  in  his  philosophical  views,  which 
had  an  influence  upon  his  theology  also,  he  was  technically,  without  question, 
a  realist.  For  he  took  his  philosophical  views  from  Wycliffe  whose  work 
on  the  "  Reality  of  General  Ideas "  was,  for  years,  a  text-book  in  the 
University  of  Prague.  His  national  feelings,  moreover,  had  much  to  do 
with  this  position.  He  would  not  uphold  a  system  to  which  the  German 
Doctors,  who  were  mostly  nominalists,  adhered,  and  which,  in  itself  con- 
sidered, did  not  satisfy  his  aspirations. 


32  THE    HISTORY    OF 

obedience  to  an  inward  development.  Every  forward  step 
was  induced  by  outward  circumstances. 

His  doctrinal  system  was  circumscribed  in  the  same  way. 
He  searched  for  truth,  and  the  truth  as  found  in  the  Bible 
constituted  the  foundation  on  which  he  built.  But  as  long  as 
he  did  not  recognize  any  discrepancy  between  the  Scriptures 
and  a  dogma  of  the  Church,  he  upheld  the  latter  even  if  it 
was  not  explicitly  taught  in  the  former.  On  the  other  hand, 
whenever  such  a  disagreement  became  j)lain,  he  rejected  the 
dogma  and  followed  the  Scriptures.  "From  the  very  be- 
ginning- of  my  studies,"  he  writes,  "  I  have  made  it  a  rule, 
whenever  I  meet  with  a  sounder  ojjinion,  to  joyfully  and 
humbly  give  up  the  one  I  previously  entertained.  For  I  am 
well  assured,  as  Themistius  says,  that  what  w^e  know  is  far  less 
than  what  we  do  not  know."^ 

The  Bohemian  Doctors  were  not  slow  to  acknowledge  the 
commanding  position  which  Hus  occupied.  A  distinguished 
circle  gathered  around  him.  His  most  intimate  friend  and 
active  coadjutor  was  Jerome  of  Prague,  a  highly  gifted  man, 
an  acute  reasoner  and  eloquent  speaker,  but  of  a  restless  dis- 
position and  fiery  temperament."  He  had  studied  at  Prague, 
Oxford,  Cologne,  Heidelberg  and  Paris,  was  honored  with  two 
degrees,  and  had  visited  many  countries,  including  Palestine. 
Other  associates  of  Hus  were  Stanislaus  of  Znaim,  one  of  his 
teachers,  Peter  of  Znaim,  Stephen  of  Palec,  Christian  of 
Prachatic,  John  of  Jesenic  and  Jacobellus  of  Mies,  a  disciple 
of  Janow  and  the  illustrious  advocate  of  the  cup  in  the  Lord's 
Supper.^  They  were  accustomed  to  meet  at  the  house  of  John 
Protzwa,  the  incumbent  of  St.  Michael's.  The  bond  of 
fellowship  between  them  was  not  only  a  common  philosophical 
tendency  but  also  a  strong  national  feeling.  They  were  pro- 
nounced Czechs  and  looked  upon  German  Bohemians  wdth  no 

^  De  Trinitate  Sancta,  Hist,  et  Mon.,  I.  p.  131. 

^  Jerome  of  Prague,  incorrectly  surnamed  Faulfisch,  which  name  belonged 
to  an  entirely  different  person,  was  a  native  of  Prague,  and  descended  from 
a  noble  family.     He  was  several  years  younger  than  Hus. 

'  Jacob  of  Mies,  called  Jacobellus  on  account  of  his  small  stature,  was 
born  at  Misa  and  graduated  at  the  University  of  Prague. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH  33 

favor.  Hus  himself  was  an  intense  patriot.  He  never  ceased 
to  labor  for  the  development  of  the  Czech  element.^ 

The  mission  of  Hus  was  not  circumscribed  by  his  academical 
labors.  On  the  fourth  of  March,  1402,  after  having  been 
ordained  to  the  priesthood,  he  was  installed  as  the  incumbent 
of  the  Bethlehem  Chapel  at  Prague.^ 

This  historic  edifice  had  been  erected  at  his  own  expense, 
in  1391,  by  John  de  Milheim,  an  enthusiastic  pupil  of  Milic 
and  Janow.  He  called  it  Bethlehem,  because,  in  the  language 
of  the  deed  of  gift,  it  was  to  be  "a  house  of  bread  for  the 
common  people  in  which  they  were  to  be  refreshed  with  holy 
preaching  in  the  vernacular."  Such  an  undertaking  became 
possible  only  because  Milheim  stood  high  in  the  favor  of  the 
King.  It  constituted  one  of  the  signs  of  the  times.  No  other 
church  of  the  capital  afforded  the  same  opportunity  for  teaching 
the  Word  of  God.  While  the  reading  of  mass  was  left  to  the 
discretion  of  the  incumbent,  he  was  bound  to  preach  twice,  on 
every  Sunday  and  feast-day,  and  only  in  Bohemian. 

Hus  entered  upon  the  duties  of  his  office  with  zeal.  It 
opened  a  wide  field  from  which  he  garnered  plentiful  harvests. 
It  brought  him  into  personal  contact  with  the  wants  of  the 
human  soul.  It  led  him  to  search  the  Scriptures,  not  in 
order  to  enrich  scholastic  theology,  but  in  order  to  find  words 
of  eternal  life.  It  carried  him  forward  directly  in  the  way  of 
a  reformation.  It  proved  the  means  whereby  he  fomid  that 
truth  which  renewed  and  sanctified  his  own  heart.^ 

^  The  German  Doctors  of  the  University  devised  the  following  genea- 
logical travesty:  "Stanislaus  of  Znaim  begat  Peter  of  Znairu,  Peter  begat 
Palec,  Palec  begat  Hus." 

^  The  Bethlehem  Chapel  stood  next  to  the  College  of  Lazarus,  on  the' 
street  leading  from  the  bridge  to  the  Ring  of  the  Altstadt.  It  could  seat 
3,000  hearers.  The  pulpit  was  four-cornered,  with  a  staircase  at  the  side 
of  it  leading  to  the  dwelling-room  of  Hus.  Zach.  Theobald,  p.  37.  This 
Chapel  was  eventually  given  to  the  Bohemian  Brethren.  In  the  Anti- 
Reformation  it  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Jesuits.  It  was  closed  in  1786, 
and  subsequently  torn  down.     Since  1868  a  marble  tablet  marks  its  site. 

^  Hus  has  nowhere  recorded  the  time  or  the  particulars  of  his  conversion. 
He  merely  says  that  the  study  of  the  Scriptures  and  especially  the  life  of 
the  Saviour  led  him  to  a  knowledge  of  the  truth. 
3 


34  THE    HISTORY    OF 

As  a  pastor  he  distinguislied  himself  by  self-denying  faith- 
fulness and  an  earnest  desire  to  benefit  his  fellow-men.  It  is 
said  of  him  :  "  He  was  untiring  in  the  confessional,  unwearied 
in  his  efforts  to  convert  sinners,  assiduous  in  bringing  comfort 
to  the  afflicted.  He  sacrificed  everything,  he  sacrificed  himself, 
in  order  to  save  souls."^  His  own  favorite  saying  was  borrowed 
from  St.  Ambrose :  "  Prayer  and  tears  are  the  weapons  of  a 
priest."  Laboring  in  such  a  spirit  he  won  esteem  and  con- 
fidence. Queen  Sophia  chose  him  for  her  confessor ;  he  was 
welcomed  to  the  houses  of  the  nobility ;  the  common  people 
loved  him  as  a  friend. 

His  success  in  the  pulpit  was  extraordinary.  Vast  congre- 
gations thronged  to  hear  him  representing  every  class  of  society, 
except  the  clergy  of  rank,  the  German  Masters  and  the  monks. 
Nobles,  Bohemian  ]\Iasters,  students,  mei'chants,  mechanics  and 
jjeasants,  all  hung  uj)on  his  words.  The  Queen  was  one  of 
his  most  ftiithful  hearers.  And  yet,  according  to  the  standard 
of  our  day,  his  sermons  were  not  eloquent.  They  either  con- 
sisted of  expositions  of  the  appointed  Gospels  and  Epistles 
interwoven  with  practical  applications  and  passages  from  the 
church-fathers,  or  treated  of  doctrinal  points,  or  brought  out 
some  subject  relating  to  the  history  of  the  times.  An  occa- 
sional anecdote  occurred,  but  rhetorical  ornaments  were 
wanting.  Their  biblical  character  and  the  evidences  with 
which  they  abounded  that  they  were  the  outflow  of  personal 
conviction  and  living  faith,  gave  them  power;  while  the  pure 
Bohemian  which  gushed  from  his  lips,  the  idiomatic  phrases 
which  he  used,  and  the  transparent  simplicity  of  his  style 
rendered  them  exceedingly  attractive.^ 


^  Sermo  habitus  in  Bethlehem  a  quodam  Pio,  in  Memoriam  novorum 
Martyrum  M.  Joan.  Hus  et  M.  Hieronymi.     Hist,  et  Mon.,  II.  p.  537. 

2  The  Brethren  who  founded  Ilerrnhut  brought  from  Moravia  the  Postil 
of  Hus  containing  his  Bohemian  sermons.  A  series  taken  from  this  work 
has  been  translated  into  German  by  Dr.  John  Nowotny.  It  was  published 
at  Gorlitz,  in  1854  and  1855,in  four  Parts:  Johannes  Hus  Predigten. 
The  late  lamented  Dr.  Gillett  wrote  a  review  of  these  sermons  in  "The 
New  Englander,"  for  October,  1864. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  35 

One  year  after  his  installation  he  received  another  important 
appointment.  The  first  Archbishop  of  Prague  had  introduced 
not  only  diocesan  synods  but  also  the  preaching  of  synodical 
sermons.  Both  these  institutions  were  kept  up  by  his  suc- 
cessors. In  1403  Zbynek  Zajic  von  Hasenburg  was  elevated 
to  the  see.  He  knew  more  of  the  weapons  of  carnal  warfare 
than  of  the  sword  of  the  spirit,  and  was  better  versed  in 
military  aifairs  than  in  the  things  appertaining  to  the  kingdom 
of  God.  But  his  intentions  were  good.  He  meant  to  purify 
his  diocese  and  elevate  the  moral  standard  of  his  clergy.  Hence 
he  a|)pointed  Hus  synodical  preacher  and  commissioned  him 
to  report  any  abuses  which  might  fall  under  liis  notice. 

The  synodical  sermons  of  Hus  differed  from  his  popular 
discourses.  They  were  delivered  in  Latin,  showed  the  scholar 
and  the  theologian,  were  more  systematically  and  logically 
arranged,  contained  occasional  bursts  of  eloquence  and  keen 
satire,  and  sparkled  with  gems  from  the  church -fathers.  Their 
chief  characteristic,  however,  was  the  moral  heroism  which 
they  displayed,  the  merciless  method  in  which  they  set  forth, 
and  the  terrific  maner  in  which  they  condemned,  the  sins  of 
the  clergy.^ 

The  first  intimation  which  the  public  had  that  the  University 
was  divided  into  two  factions  and  that  there  existed  a  deep- 
rooted  theological  difference  between  them,  was  given  on  the 
twenty-eighth  of  May,  1403.  Walter  Harasser,  who  had 
succeeded  Hus  in  the  rectorship,  called  an  academical  meeting 
and  presented  for  its  examination  forty-five  articles  extracted 
from  the  writings  of  Wycliffe.  A  stormy  debate  followed. 
The  articles  were  condemned  and  the  members  of  the 
University  forbidden  to  teach  them.  This  act,  combined  with 
the  two-fold  commission  which  Hus  had  received  from  the 
Archbishop,  may  be  said  to  have  constituted  the  beginning  of 
the  Bohemian  Reformation.  Its  first  development  was  the 
correction  of  a  scandalous  abuse.  At  Wilsnak,  on  the  Elbe, 
amidst  the  ruins  of  an  old  church,  three  communion  wafers 

^  In  Hist,  et  Mon.,  II.  pp.  35-84,  we  find  eight  so-called  synodical  sermons, 
sonie  of  which,  however,  were  delivered  before  the  people. 


36  THE    HISTORY    OF 

were  found  impregnated  with  what  seemed  to  be  blood.  The 
priests  having  spread  the  report  that  it  was  the  blood  of  Christ 
and  could  cure  all  manner  of  diseases,  pilgrims  came  streaming 
to  the  spot  from  Bohemia  and  Moravia,  from  Hungary  and 
Poland,  and  even  from  Sweden,  Norway  and  Denmark.  At 
the  instance  of  Hus,  the  Archbishop  appointed  a  commission 
to  investigate  the  reported  miracles.  They  proved  to  be  a 
fraud  and  the  pilgrimages  were  forbidden.  This  was  a  hard 
blow  at  the  superstition  of  the  age.  It  opened  the  eyes  of 
many  to  the  priestcraft  by  which  they  were  beguiled,  and 
caused  an  intense  sensation  among  the  clergy. 

Hus  followed  it  up  by  efforts  to  purify  both  the  doctrine  and 
life  of  the  Church.  In  the  University,  where  the  condemna- 
tion of  Wycliffe's  writings  had  remained  practically  a  dead 
letter,  he  devoted  special  attention  to  exegetical  lectures  and 
imbued  the  minds  of  the  students,  and  through  them,  the 
popular  mind,  with  such  a  love  for  the  Holy  Scriptures  as  had 
never  been  known  before.  In  the  Bethlehem  Chapel  he 
discussed  the  essential  doctrines  of  the  Christian  religion, 
setting  forth  the  difference  between  their  biblical  form  and 
that  in  which  they  were  ordinarily  presented,  pointing  out  the 
evils  to  which  such  perversions  had  led,  and  calling,  with  the 
authority  of  a  prophet,  the  people  to  repentance  and  faith.  In 
his  synodical  discourses  he  probed  and  laid  bare  the  moral  sores 
of  the  clergy  to  the  very  bone,  gave  to  every  sin  its  right 
name,  burst  in  upon  it  with  a  tempest  of  indignation,  and  blew 
an  alarm  that  startled  the  hardest  heart.  And  thus  the  work 
went  bravely  on.  Anti-scriptural  usages,  however  time- 
honored,  were  recognized  in  their  real  character.  New  ideas 
sprang  into  life.  The  true  light  began  to  shine.  Men's  re- 
sponsibilities to  God  outweighed  their  duties  to  the  Hierarchy. 
The  people  of  Prague  and  of  all  Bohemia  were  profoundly 
moved. 

On  the  eighteenth  of  October,  1407,  Hus  delivered  a  sermon 
before  the  clergy^  which  was  so  full  of  stinging  invectives  that 

1  This  sermon,  on  Ephesians  vi,  14  and  15,  is  found  in  Hist,  et  Mon.,  II. 
p.  47,  &c. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  37 

it  led  to  his  deposition  from  the  office  of  synodical  preacher. 
This  was  but  one  instance  of  the  hostility  which  his  course 
evoked.  Enemies  met  him  at  every  step.  The  clergy  of 
rank,  the  foreign  Doctors  and  the  monks,  formed  an  unbroken 
phalanx  against  him.  They  were  joined  by  the  Archbishop 
himself.  Instigated  by  John  the  Iron,  Bishop  of  Leitomischl, 
the  leader  of  the  conservative  party,  he  forgot  the  favor  with 
which  he  had  originally  looked  upon  Hus,  denounced  him  a.s 
a  disobedient  son  of  the  Church,  forbade  him  to  preach,  put 
him  under  the  ban,  laid  an  interdict  on  the  city  of  Prague, 
and  made  himself  notorious  throughout  Europe  by  committing 
to  the  flames,  amidst  the  tolling  of  bells  and  the  singing  of 
the  Te  Deum,  more  than  two  hundred  volumes  of  Wycliffe's 
writings,  beautifully  engrossed  and  splendidly  bound,  (July 
the  sixteenth,  1410).  Appeals  and  counter-appeals  to  the 
Pope  followed.  Commissioners  were  appointed  at  Rome  to 
try  Hus;  advocates  were  sent  from  Prague  to  defend  him. 
Papal  bulls  against  him  were  met  by  royal  edicts  in  his  favor. 
Amidst  such  experiences  he  stood  firm  as  a  rock  and  his  work 
went  on.  This  would  have  been  impossible  if  dire  confusion 
had  not  continued  in  church  and  state.  Popes  and  anti-popes 
still  hurled  anathemas  at  each  other.  The  Council  of  Pisa 
accomplished  nothing  (1409).  At  one  time  there  were  three 
Popes  and  three  Emperors.  Old  landmarks  disappeared. 
The  foundations  of  government  and  of  society  were  shaken. 
In  such  a  period  af  history  the  Bohemian  Reformation  grew 
rapidly ;  in  any  other,  it  would  have  been  nipped  in  the  bud. 
It  was,  moreover,  upheld  to  a  certain  extent  by  Wenzel  him- 
self, although  he  understood  neither  its  character  nor  object. 
One  of  his  acts,  in  particular,  gave  a  new  impetus  to  the 
movement.  Contrary  to  the  intentions  of  its  founder,  the 
German  nations  in  the  University  had  gradually  secured 
three  votes  while  the  Bohemian  had  but  one.  This  caused 
great  dissatisfaction  among  the  native  Doctors.  At  their 
instigation,  Nicholas  von  Lobkowic,  the  favorite  adviser  of 
the  King,  induced  him  to  issue  a  decree,  on  the  eighteenth  of 
January,  1409,  which  reversed  the  academic  status.     Three 


38  THE    HISTORY    OF 

votes  were  given  to  the  Bohemian  nation  and  one  to  the  foreign 
nations.  Thereupon  a  large  number  of  German  Professors, 
the  majority  of  whom  belonged  to  the  ultra  wing  of  the  con- 
servative faction,  and  several  thousand  German  students,  left 
Prague  in  indignation.*  The  liberal  party  gained  strength  in 
consequence  of  this  exodus.  At  the  same  time  it  intensified 
the  animosity  of  the  Germans  toward  the  Bohemians,  and 
made  Hus,  who  had  been  active  in  bringing  about  the  change, 
notorious  throughout  Germany. 

While  the  Bohemian  Reformation  outlived  every  attempt 
to  bring  it  to  a  violent  end,  it  nearly  died  a  natural  death. 
In  July,  1411,  the  Archbishop  was  reconciled  both  to  Hus 
and  the  King.  The  ban  and  interdict  were  to  be  annulled,  all 
suits  to  be  quashed,  all  appeals  to  be  withdrawn,  all  disputes 
to  cease.  Hus  consented  to  cleanse  himself  from  the  suspicion 
of  heresy  by  a  public  confession  of  his  faith,  and  Zbynek 
promised  to  report  to  the  Pope  the  complete  pacification  of  the 
Church.  It  is  true  that  the  Archbishop,  persuaded  by  John 
the  Iron,  eventually  refused  to  carry  out  his  part  of  the 
compact.  But  he  died  while  on  his  way  to  claim  the  protection 
of  Sigismund,  the  King  of  Hungary,^  and  his  successor,  Albicus 
von  Unicow,  was  too  intent  upon  hoarding  money  to  find 
time  for  the  theological  questions  of  the  day.  The  storm  of 
the  past  years  seemed  to  have  spent  its  strength.  And  yet 
this  was  merely  a  lull  in  the  tempest. 

1  These  Professors  and  students  subsequently  met  at  Leipzig,  and  founded 
the  celebrated  University  of  that  city. 

*  After  protracted  disputes  and  conflicts  between  Wenzel  and  Sigismund, 
these  two  brothers  entered  into  a  compact  (June,  1411),  according  to  which 
Wenzel  was  to  be  Emperor  and  Sigismund  Koman  King.  After  Wenzel's 
death  Sigismund  was  to  occupy  both  the  Imperial  and  Bohemian  thrones. 
Previous  to  this  compact  the  latter  had  been  chosen  Roman  King  by  some 
of  the  Electors,  now  he  was  unanimously  re-elected  (July  twenty-first,  1411). 
He  was  not  crowned  Emperor  until  1436  ;  Wenzel  was  never  crowned. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  39 


CHAPTER  Y. 
Hus  and  the  Papal  Indulgences.     A.  D.  1412. 


Election  of  Alexander  the  Fifth. — Accession  of  John  the  Twenty-third. — 
Driven  from  Rome  by  Ladislaus  of  Naples. — Crusade  proclaimed 
against  him. — Papal  Indulgences. — Hus  opposes  their  sale. — Sermons 
in  the  Bethlehem  Chapel  and  Disputation  in  the  University. — Speech 
of  Jerome. — The  Students  burn  the  papal  Bull — Execution  of  three 
young  Mechanics. — Hus  extols  them  as  Martyrs. — A  Crisis  in  the 
Reformation. — Hus  excommunicated. — Interdict  at  Prague. — Appeals 
to  Jesus  Christ. — Retires  from  the  City. — Futile  efforts  of  Wenzel  to 
bring  about  a  pacification. 

The  Council  of  Pisa  elected  Alexander  the  Fifth  to 
the  Papal  chair,  after  having  deposed  both  Gregory  the 
Twelfth  and  Benedict  the  Thirteenth  (1409).  Although 
neither  of  them  would  submit,  the  new  pontiff  was  acknowl- 
edged by  the  larger  part  of  Latin  Christendom.  But  he  died 
the  next  year  (1410),  and  was  succeeded  by  Balthasar  Cossa, 
an  atrocious  character,  who  assumed  the  title  of  John  the 
Twenty-third.  In  the  early  part  of  his  reign  he  was  driven 
from  Rome  by  Ladislaus  of  Naples,  who  was  not  only  an 
adherent  of  Gregory  but  had  also  conceived  the  project  of 
consolidating  all  Italy  under  his  own  sway.  The  most  for- 
midable anathemas  were  immediately  fulminated.  Ladislaus 
was  put  under  the  ban  and  branded  as  "  a  perjurer,  schismatic, 
reviler,  heretic,  traitor  and  conspirator;"  a  general  crusade 
was  proclaimed  against  him,  and  those  same  indulgences  for 
sin  which  a  campaign  against  the  Turks  conferred,  were  offered 
to  all  who  would  engage  in  this  holy  war,  or  furnish  troops 
or  money  toward  its  prosecution. 


40  THE    HISTORY    OF 

The  sale  of  such  indulgences  was  intrusted  to  commissioners. 
Two  of  them,  Wenzel  Tiem  and  Pace  de  Bononia,  reached 
Prague  in  the  Spring  of  1412,  and  began  their  work  with 
unblushing  effrontery.  The  papal  bull  was  read  in  the 
churches.  Drummers  appeared  in  the  public  streets,  followed 
by  preachers  of  the  crusade  who  indiscriminately  sold  certifi- 
cates of  pardon.  Three  large  chests  were  set  out  for  the  safe- 
keeping of  the  receipts.  In  the  country  the  indulgences  were 
disposed  of  wholesale,  for  single  parishes  or  entire  districts, 
to  the  highest  bidder  who  retailed  them  at  a  profit.  It  was 
the  most  scandalous  abuse  which  Bohemia  had  ever  seen. 

In  all  his  past  efforts  at  reform  Hus  had  avoided  a  personal 
conflict  with  the  Pope.  He  recognized  him  as  the  head  of 
the  Church,  appealed  to  him,  addressed  him  in  tespectful 
language,  and  showed  him  due  reverence.  Such  a  position 
was  no  longer  possible.  His  soul  revolted  at  the  sale  of  the 
indulgences ;  and  his  duty  to  Christ  and  the  Church  required 
that  he  should  express  this  abhorrence.  He  knew  the  risk. 
He  knew  that  he  was  staking  his  life  on  the  venture.  He 
knew  that  some  of  his  friends  would  desert  him.  He  knew 
that,  even  though  the  papacy  had  lost  much  of  its  prestige,  to 
rouse  it  was  to  rouse  a  dragon  breathing  out  fire  and  smoke. 
But  he  knew  also  that  he  was  right  and  that  the  Lord  God 
Omnipotent  was  on  his  side.  Hence  he  protested,  from  his 
pulpit  and  cathedra,  against  the  sale  of  the  indulgences.  His 
sermons  on  the  subject  were  bold  and  evangelical.  In  one  of 
them  he  says:  "From  all  this  it  appears,  dear  Christian,  that 
a  man  can  receive  the  pardon  of  his  sins  only  through  the 
power  of  God  and  by  the  merits  of  Christ.  Let  who  will 
proclaim  the  contrary,  let  the  Pope,  or  a  bishop,  or  a  priest 
say :  '  I  forgive  thee  thy  sins,  I  absolve  thee  from  their  pen- 
alty, I  free  thee  from  the  pains  of  hell' — it  is  all  vain  and 
helps  thee  nothing.  God  alone,  I  repeat,  can  forgive  sins 
through  Christ,  and  He  pardons  the  penitent  only."^     His 

'  Sermon  preached  on  Sundaj'  Quasimodogeniti.  Hus  Predigten,  Part 
III.  pp.  25  and  39. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  41 

address  in  the  University,  at  a  public  disputation  held  on  the 
seventh  of  June,  1412,  was  "a  model  of  acute  and  striking 
argumentation,"^  and  proved  conclusively  that  the  papal  bull 
ran  counter  to  the  Holy  Scriptures  and  was  an  outrage  upon 
Christianity. 

On  both  these  occasions,  however,  Hus  avoided  everything 
calculated  to  excite  his  hearers.  A  different  course  was 
adopted  by  Jerome  of  Prague.  At  the  disputation  he  de- 
livered a  speech  which  roused  the  feelings  of  the  students  to 
the  highest  pitch.  The  Rector  could  scarcely  maintain  order. 
When  the  meeting  had  adjourned,  they  accompanied  Jerome 
in  a  triumphal  procession  to  his  lodgings.  A  few  days  later 
they  grew  still  bolder.  The  bulls  in  the  hands  of  the  com- 
missioners were  seized  and  fastened  to  the  breast  of  a  student 
disguised  as  a  courtesan.  Seated  in  an  open  wagon,  sur- 
rounded by  armed  men  and  followed  by  a  large  body  of 
students,  he  passed  through  the  city,  sometimes  making  las- 
civious gestures  and  again  pretending  to  impart  the  papal 
benediction,  while,  from  time  to  time,  his  guards  proclaimed : 
"  We  are  carrying  the  writings  of  a  heretic  to  the  stake !" 
Arrived  at  the  pillory  the  bulls  were  committed  to  the  flames. 
Near  by  stood  an  iron  chest  which  the  students  filled  with  dirt 
and  other  foul  things,  as  their  contribution  to  the  crusade. 
Hus  took  no  part  in  these  proceedings. 

On  Sunday,  July  the  tenth,  while  the  priests  of  the  city 
were  preaching  on  the  indulgences  and  encouraging  the  people 
to  buy  them,  three  young  mechanics,  each  in  a  different  church 
and,  no  doubt,  according  to  previous  agreement,  publicly  pro- 
tested against  what  was  said,  exclaiming :  "  Priest,  thou 
liest!  We  have  heard  better  things  from  Master  Hus;  the 
indulgences  are  a  fraud !"  The  offenders  were  instantly 
seized  and  beaten,  hurried  to  the  Council  House  and  stretched 
on  the  rack,  brought  before  the  magistrates  and  condemned 
to  death.     When  Hus  heard  of  this  occurrence  he  presented 


*  This  is  the  testimony  of  a  Koman  Catholic,  Berger,  p.  77.    The  address 
of  Hus  is  found  in  Hist,  et  Mon.,  I.  pp.  215-235. 


42  THE    HISTORY    OF 

himself,  at  the  head  of  two  thousand  students,  before  their 
judges  and  begged  that  the  lives  of  the  young  men  might 
be  spared.  He  said,  that  he  did  not  approve  of  their  course, 
but  that  it  was  the  outgrowth  of  his  teachings  and  that  he 
alone  must  bear  the  blame.  Meantime  the  whole  city  became 
profoundly  agitated.  A  mob  gathered  around  the  Council 
House,  so  that  the  magistrates  were  alarmed  and  begged  Hus 
to  pacify  the  people,  promising  to  grant  his  request.  But 
scarcely  had  he  induced  the  multitude  to  disperse  when  they 
ordered  the  immediate  execution  of  the  culprits.  They  were 
led  to  death  under  a  strong  guard.  When  the  people  dis- 
covered this  breach  of  faith  they  again  rushed  together  from 
every  side,  blocking  the  way  and  rendering  an  advance  im- 
possible. Thereupon  the  offenders  were  summarily  beheaded 
in  the  street.  A  great  cry  of  rage  burst  from  the  multitude. 
Many  pressed  forward  exclaiming:  "  We  are  ready  to  do  and 
suffer  what  these  have  done  and  suffered  !"  Women  dipped 
their  handkerchiefs  in  the  blood  of  the  slain.  A  company 
of  students  headed  by  a  Master  arrived,  seized  their  bodies 
and  reverently  bore  them  to  the  Bethlehem  Chapel,  where 
Hus  buried  them  the  next  day,  with  all  the  rites  of  the 
Church.  In  his  funeral  discourse  he  extolled  the  young  men 
as  martyrs. 

The  stand  which  he  took  against  the  papal  indulgences 
was  a  turning  point  in  the  history  of  the  Bohemian  Reforma- 
tion. A  number  of  his  friends  deserted  him,  as  he  had 
anticipated,  and  some  of  them,  notably  Stanislaus  of  Znaim 
and  Palec,  became  his  most  embittered  enemies.  But  among 
the  nobility  and  the  lower  classes  he  gained  new  su})porters. 
Wenzel  himself,  although  the  three  young  men  had  been 
executed  in  consequence  of  his  own  edict,  was  indignant  that 
it  had  been  so  literally  understood,  and  allowed  Hus  to  pursue 
his  way  unhindered. 

Stanislaus  and  Palec,  together  with  six  other  Doctors  of  the 
University,  made  two  attempts  to  subdue  him,  but  failed. 
He  was  too  completely  armed  with  the  weapons  of  truth  and 
used  them  with  too  much  skill.     Then  the  clergy  of  Prague 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  43 

came  to  their  aid.  Through  the  instruraentality  of  Michael 
of  Deutschbrod,  later  known  as  Michael  de  Causis,^  who  had 
defrauded  the  King,  fled  to  Rome  and  there  become  a  fit 
associate  and  tool  of  John  the  Twenty-third,  they  once  more 
appealed  to  this  Pope, denounced  Hus  as  a  "son  of  iniquity," 
and  pitifully  called  for  protection  from  the  fierce  wolves  that 
had  invaded  the  flock  .^ 

John  the  Twenty-third  hastened  to  the  rescue.  Hus  was 
again  excommunicated,  and  in  the  severest  form  known  to 
the  papacy.  No  man  was  to  associate  with  him ;  no  man  was 
to  give  him  food  or  drink  ;  no  man  was  to  grant  him  a  place 
where  he  might  rest  his  head ;  wherever  he  staid,  religious 
services  were  to  cease;  in  case  of  his  death,  he  was  not  to 
receive  Christian  burial.^  At  the  same  time,  the  interdict  at 
Prague  was  renewed.  Subsequent  decrees  commanded  the 
faithful  to  seize  his  person  and  lay  the  Bethlehem  Chapel  even 
with  the  ground.  An  attempt  to  take  him  was  actually  made, 
on  the  second  of  October,  1412,  while  he  was  preaching,  by  a 
large  body  of  armed  men,  mostly  Germans,  but  the  firm  atti- 
tude of  the  congregation  prevented  this  outrage.  Nor  would 
the  Bohemian  portion  of  the  citizens  permit  the  razing  of  the 
Chapel,  proposed  by  the  Germans.  Over  against  such  ex- 
periences Hus  prepared  an  appeal  from  the  papal  tribunal  to 
Jesus  Christ,  the  righteous  Judge,  which  document  he  read 
from  the  pulpit  and  publicly  posted.^  Meantime  the  interdict 
was  so  strictly  observed  at  Prague,  that  Wenzel  begged  him 


^  John  the  Twenty-third  appointed  him  Procurator  de  causis  fidei,  hence 
this  name. 

*  Supplicatio  cleri  facta  papae  contra  M.  J.  Hus,  Palacky's  Documenta, 
p.  460. 

5  Petri  Cardinalis  S.  Angeli  mandata  de  M.  J.  Hus  excommunicatione, 
Palacky's  Documenta,  pp.  461-464. 

«  Hist,  et  Mon.,  I.  p.  22,  etc.  Palacky's  Documenta,  pp.  464-466.  Ac- 
cording  to  the  sermon  which  Hus  preached  on  the  second  Sunday  after 
Easter,  it  would  appear  that  he  left  Prague  for  a  short  time  immediately 
after  the  attempt  to  seize  him,  prepared  his  appeal  while  absent,  and  read 
it  after  his  return.  (Hus  Predigten,  Part  I.  p.  56.)  Krummel  is  the  only 
authority  that  notices  this  point.     It  seems  to  be  obscure. 


44  THE    HISTORY    OF 

to  retire  from  the  city  for  a  time,  promising  to  use  every  effort 
to  bring  about  a  speedy  pacification.  Hus  obeyed  and  left 
Prague  in  December. 

The  King  kept  his  word.  First  he  consulted  the  College 
of  Twelve  Elders,  the  highest  body  of  advisers  in  the  realm, 
and  at  their  suggestion  a  Provincial  Synod  was  convened  in 
February,  1413,  which,  however,  failed  to  restore  peace. 
Next  he  appointed  a  commission  which  was  as  unsuccessful, 
owing  chiefly  to  the  intractableness  of  Palec  and  Stanislaus. 
Thereupon,  in  great  wrath,  he  banished  both  these  leaders, 
together  with  two  other  prominent  Professors  of  theology. 
This  measure  put  an  end  to  the  disputes  but  not  to  the  two 
parties.  Both  at  the  Synod  and  before  the  commission  Hus 
was  represented  by  John  of  Jesenic. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  45 


CHAPTER  YI. 

Hus  in  Voluntary  Exile  devotes  himself  to  Literai'y  Lohors. 
A.  D.  1412-1414. 


Hus  at  Kozi  Hradek  and  Krakowec. — His  Literary  Labors  in  the  Bohemian 
tongue. — His  Latin  Works. — His  Views  on  the  Bible. — Summary  of 
his  Doctrines. — Natural  State  of  Man. — Predestination. — Faith  and 
Justification. — The  Church. — Its  Head  and  the  Power  of  the  Keys. — 
The  Papacy. — Eights  of  the  Laity. — The  Word  and  Sacraments. — 
The  Virgin  Mary  and  the  Saints. — Purgatory. — Obedience. 

Hus  spent  a  year  and  seven  months  in  voluntary  exile. 
His  first  retreat  was  Kozi  Hradek,  the  castle  of  Baron  John 
von  Austi,  on  the  Luzuik,  near  Austi  -^  his  second,  after 
Baron  von  Austi's  death,  Krakowec,  the  seat  of  Baron  Henry 
von  Lazan.  He  devoted  himself,  in  part,  to  preaching  in 
villages,  forests  and  fields,  whither  the  peasantry  streamed 
from  all  sides  to  hear  him,  but  chiefly  to  literary  labors.  The 
majority  of  his  Bohemian  and  Latin  works  were  produced  in 
this  period. 

Of  the  former  he  wrote  fifteen,  several  of  which  have 
never  been  translated.^  The  most  important  are  his  Postil 
and  a  Treatise  on  Simony.  His  merits  as  a  Bohemian  writer 
can  not  be  overestimated.  What  Luther  did  for  the  German 
language,  and  Calvin  for  the  French,  Hus  accomplished 
for  the  Czech.     Each  was  the  father  of  his  native  tongue  in 

^  This  castle  was  situated  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  the  town  of 
Tabor,  the  celebrated  centre  of  the  Taborites.  Anna  von  Mochow,  Baron 
Austi's  widow,  became  one  of  the  most  ardent  supporters  of  the  Hussite 
cause. 

^  The  Bohemian  works  of  Hus,  entitled  Mistra  Jana  Husi  Spisy  Ceske, 
&c.,  were  published  for  the  first  time  by  K.  J.  Erben,  Prague,  1865-1868. 


46  THE    HISTORY    OF 

its  modern  form.  Hus  purified  the  Czech,  fixed  etymological 
and  syntactical  rules,  and  invented  a  new  system  of  orthogra- 
phy distinguished  for  its  precision  and  simplicity.  This 
system  was  adopted  by  the  Bohemian  Brethren,  who  brought 
it  into  general  use  in  the  sixteenth  century,  since  which  time 
it  has  remained  the  acknowledged  standard.  He  also  revised 
the  Bohemian  Bible  translated  by  an  unknown  hand,  in  the 
fourteenth  century,  and  composed  many  hymns  which  mostly 
appeared   in  the  Hymnals  of  the  Brethren.^ 

His  Latin  works  comprise  theological  treatises,  academical 
discourses  and  polemical  writings.*  The  most  celebrated  of 
them  is  the  Treatise  on  the  Church,  with  its  two  supplements, 
the  one  a  reply  to  Palec,  the  other  a  refutation  of  Stanislaus.^ 
Nearly  one-half  of  these  works  are  reformatory  in  their 
character,  and  afford  a  clear  insight  into  the  doctrinal  system 
of  Hus. 

His  views  with  regard  to  the  Holy  Scriptures  are  of  primary 
importance.  In  all  questions  of  Christian  faith  and  life — so 
he  teaches — the  Bible  is  the  only  infallible  norm.  Hence 
there  is  but  one  proof  which  can  be  acknowledged  as  sufficient 
in  the  case  of  such  doctrines  as  are  essential  to  salvation: 
namely,  "  Thus  say  the  Holy  Scriptures,  either  directly  or 
indirectly.'"'     This  position,  however,  does  not  require  us  to 

3  The  German  Hymn  Book  of  the  Renewed  Church  (edition  of  1778) 
contains  two  hymns,  Nos.  857  and  1124,  ascribed  to  Hus.  The  latter,  found 
also  in  the  new  edition  of  1875  (No.  809),  is  called  a  translation,  by  Luther, 
of  the  Latin  hymn  given  in  Hist,  et  Mon.,  II.  p.  520.  But  it  is  not  a 
translation ;  scarcely  a  paraphrase.  In  the  same  way  the  so-called  English 
version  (Liturgy  and  Hymns,  Am.  ed.,  1877,  No.  637)  differs  greatly  both 
from  the  Latin  and  the  German.  Hus  composed  the  hymn  in  prison,  on 
receiving  his  last  communion. 

*  Many  of  them  are  found  in  Hist,  et  Mon.;  Krummel,  p.  304,  &c.,  counts 
up  seventeen ;  Palacky  in  his  Hofler,  p.  38,  says,  that  not  nearly  all  the 
Latin  writings  of  Hus  are  contained  in  that  collection,  and  that  a  number 
which  are  ascribed  to  him  belong  to  Matthias  von  Jano^.  Hofler  in  his 
second  vol.  adduces  several  that  had  not  previously  been  pablished. 

^  Tractatus  de  Ecclesia,  His.  et  Mon.,  I.  pp.  243-365. 

^  "  Hoc  dicit  Scriptura  Sacra  explicite  vel  implicite.'  Hist,  et  Mon., 
I.  p.  364. 


THE    MORAVIAN   CHURCH.  47 

reject  the  doctrinal  explanations  of  the  fathers,  or  the  decrees 
of  Councils,  or  the  laws  of  the  Church,  provided  that  such 
explanations,  decrees  and  laws  agree  with  the  Word  of  God, 
or  are  deduced  from  the  same  either  explicitly  or  by  implica- 
tion. For  even  that  which  is  merely  implied  may  be  accepted, 
if  it  be  not  contraiy  to  the  explicit  instructions  of  the  sacred 
volume.  Hence  what  the  fathers,  the  Councils  and  the 
Church  teach,  constitutes,  as  long  as  it  is  in  harmony  with 
the  Scriptures,  merely  the  old  truth  in  a  new  dress.^  At  the 
same  time,  however,  the  Bible  remains  the  only  source  of  truth. 
This  is  the  fundamental  position  of  Hus  to  which  he  always 
returns  and  from  which  he  investigates  the  doctrines  of  the 
Church.* 

Those  relating  to  God  and  His  attributes,  to  the  creation, 
preservation  and  government  of  the  world,  to  the  Trinity,  to 
the  person  and  work  of  Christ,  and  to  the  Holy  Ghost  and 
His  operations,  he  accepts  in  their  authorized  form.  With 
regard  to  others  he  differs,  more  or  less  decidedly,  from  the 
views  of  the-  Church,  Krummel  says,  that  the  reformatory 
tenets  of  Hus  led  him  back  to  the  side  of  Augustine  from 
whose  position  the  Church  of  the  Middle  Ages  had  lapsed  f 
Lechler,  that,  like  an  ellipse,  these  tenets  contained  two  foci, 
the  one  of  which  was  the  law  of  Christ,  that  is,  God's  Word, 
the  other,  the  true  Church.^" 

A  brief  summary  of  the  views  of  Hus  will  serve  to  prepare 
the  way  for  a  correct  understanding  of  the  doctrines  of  the 
Brethren  who,  in  many  instances,  followed  him  closely.^^ 

■f  Krummel,  pp.  360-368. 

*  His  views  with  regard  to  the  authority  of  the  Scriptures  are  set  forth 
fully  in  De  sufficientia  Legis  Christi,  Hist,  et  Mon.,  I.  p.  55,  &c.,  which 
treatise  he  prepared  as  a  part  of  his  defence  before  the  Council  of  Constance. 

9  Krummel,  p.  376. 

1"  Lechler,  II.  p.  233. 

"  Authorities  for  this  summary  are  the  Tractatus  de  Ecclesia  and  other 
theological  writings  of  Hus  in  the  Hist,  et  Mon.;  Lechler,  II.  pp.  233-270 ; 
Czerwenka,  I.  pp.  89-92;  Schwabe's  Reformat.  Theologie  des  J.  Hus; 
Friedrich's  Lehre  des  J.  H.;  and  especially  Krummel's  excellent  review  in 
his  15th,  16th  and  17th  chapters. 


48  THE    HISTORY    OF 

We  begin  with  the  natural  state  of  man.  "  Man,  on 
account  of  sin  is  blind,  impotent,  full  of  error  and  exceedingly 
poor.  He  is  blind,  because  he  does  not  properly  recognize 
God ;  impotent,  because  he  is  unable  to  accomplish  anything 
in  the  way  of  his  own  salvation  ;  full  of  error,  because  he 
does  not  walk  in  the  holy  laws  of  God,  which  are  the  way 
of  God ;  and  poor,  because  he  has  lost  everything  which  he 
possessed.'"^  He  cannot  fulfill  the  divine  laws  without  pre- 
venient  grace.^^  In  consequence  of  the  fall,  "Adam  lost  his 
dominion  over  nature,  met  death  and  subjected  all  his  pos- 
terity, even  the  new  Adam,  to  death. "^^  There  is  a  difference 
between  original  and  actual  sin.  No  personal  guilt  attaches 
to  the  former,  nevertheless  in  as  much  as  all  men  fall  into 
actual  sin,  the  human  family  is,  by  nature,  lost,  ruined  and 
depraved. ^^  The  natural  man  can  accomplish  nothing  really 
good  and  virtuous. 

Proceeding  to  the  doctrines  involving  salvation,  we  find, 
in  the  first  place,  that  there  are  sayings  of  Hus  which  imply 
predestination  in  its  gross  form  ;^^  but  on  comparing  them 
with  others  relating  to  the  same  subject,  his  position  becomes 
milder  and  more  scriptural.  Thus  he  teaches  that  the  grace 
of  God  is  universal ;  that  it  is  God's  will  that  all  men  should 
be  saved ;  that  He  does  what  He  can,  consistently  with  their 
free  will,  to  bring  about  their  salvation ;  that  the  lost  are 
condemned  in  consequence  of  their  unbelief  which  makes  them 
unwilling  to  accept  salvation,  and    that,  hence,  the  fault  is 


»'  Hus  Predigten,  II.  p.  30. 

'^  "Nisi  praeveniens  ejus  adjuvet  charitas."  Com.  Ps.  118,  Hist,  et 
Mon  ,  II.  p.  433. 

^*  De  Decimis,  Hist,  et  Mon.,  I.  p.  162. 

'^  Com.  Chap,  iv  of  1  Cor.,  Hist,  et  Men.,  II.  p.  148.  Hus  uses  the  expres- 
sive term,  borrowed  from  Augustine,  "massa  perdita,"  or  "massa  perdi- 
tionis." 

'^  For  instance:  "Christ  loves  His  Church,  which  is  His  spouse,  always 
and  will  love  her  after  the  day  of  judgment,  and  in  the  same  way  He 
hates  every  one  who  has  been  foreknown  as  lost  (quemcunque  praescitum), 
and  will  hate  him  always  after  the  day  of  judgment."  De  Ecclesia,  Hist, 
et  Mon.,  I.  p.  250. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  49 

altogether  their  own.  He  never  speaks  of  a  decree  of  repro- 
bation, and  unites  predestination  with  the  foreknowledge  of 
God.i^ 

His  views  on  faith  and  justification  bring  us,  in  the  next 
place,  to  a  position  which  is  evangelical  in  a  surprising  degree.^^ 
True  faith  works  by  love  and  endures  to  the  end ;  there  is  a 
dead  faith  which  even  the  devils  have  and  tremble.  The  former 
alone  saves.^^  Faith  "is  a  state  of  mind  in  which  eternal  life 
begins  in  us  and  induces  our  understanding  to  assent  to  the 
unseen  but  irrefutable  truths  which  the  inspired  Scriptures 
reveal  in  a  divine  way."'"  "  It  is  the  foundation  of  the  other 
virtues  with  which  the  Church  of  Christ  is  in  fellowship. "^^ 
Such  faith  alone  justifies.  "Through  the  law  no  one  is  justi- 
fied, but  through  faith  in  Christ,  because  He  removes  from 
us  the  way  of  iniquity  through  the  law  of  grace."^^  "  Jesus 
Christ  is  the  Mediator  of  our  salvation,"^  "  the  ground  of  all 
merit  in  the  members  of  His  Church."^  Krummel  adds : 
"  The  mode  in  which  Hus  represents  the  theory  of  justifica- 
tion is,  however,  very  diifereut  from  that  of  the  later  Re- 
formers. He  does  not  conceive  justification  to  be  a  merely 
objective  occurrence,  a  judicial  act  of  God,  but,  being  con- 
nected with  faith,  he  looks  upon  it  also  as  a  subjective  occur- 
rence in  man.  Thus  he  says :  '  If  there  is  no  time  to  do 
good  works,  faith  alone  is  sufficient,  as  is  shown  by  the  case 
of  the  malefactor  on  the  cross.  But  if  there  is  time,  then  not 
faith  alone,  and  not  works  alone,  but  both  together  are  neces- 

"  Ibid. 

^*  It  is  interesting  to  note,  that  while  Krummel,  following  Schwabe,  asserts 
the  position  of  Hus  on  the  subject  of  justification  to  be  "  wholly  Protestant," 
Lechler,  following  Friedrich  (a  Catholic),  maintains  that  it  is  wholly  Koman 
Catholic ! 

^^  De  Ecclesia,  Hist,  et  Mon.,  I,  p.  259. 

^"  Com.  on  Chap.  I.  of  St.  James,  Hist,  et  Mon.,  II.  p.  182. 

21  De  Ecclesia,  Hist,  et  Mon.,  I.  p.  259. 

22  (1  pgj  legem  nemo  justificatur,  sed  per  fidem  Christi,  quia  amovet  viam 
iniquitatis,  et  de  lege  gratiae."  Com.  Ps.  xviii  (xix),  Hist,  et  Mon.,  II.  p. 
144. 

*^  Com.  Chap,  i,  of  1  Corinthians,  Hist,  et  Mon.,  II,  p.  132. 
2*  Sermo,  lb.,  p.  79. 
4 


50  THE    HISTORY    OF 

sary  for  salvation  and  justification.'  Justification  and  sancti- 
fication,  faith  and  love,  he  conceives  to  be  one.  Grace, 
which  produces  faith,  produces  also  in  man  a  religious  moral 
regeneration,  in  the  strength  of  which  he  loves  God  and  man 
with  all  his  heart  and,  of  necessity,  performs  good  works."^^ 

In  regard  to  the  Church  Hus  expresses  his  views  at  great 
length.^"  The  representation  given  in  the  twenty-fifth  chapter 
of  St.  Matthew  shows,^  that  the  Church  is  the  communion  of 
all  men  under  Christ  as  their  King.  Hence  it  consists  both 
of  sheep  and  of  goats.  The  holy  catholic  or  universal 
Church,  on  the  contrary,  comprises  those  only  who  have  been 
predestinated  unto  everlasting  life  by  the  omniscient  God. 
It  includes  such  as  live  on  earth,  such  as  are  dead,  and  such 
as  are  yet  to  be  born ;  all  these  are  the  sheep.  Distinct  from 
them  are  the  wicked  who  live  in  impenitence,  whether  they 
are  outwardly  in  fellowship  with  the  true  members  or  not ; 
these  are  the  goats. 

The  holy  catholic  Church  is  composed  of  three  parts  :  the 
militant,  or  the  predestinated  on  earth ;  the  sleeping,  or  the 
predestinated  in  purgatory;  and  the  triumphant,  or  the  saints 
in  their  eternal  rest.  This  is  the  only  true  Church,  and  no 
human  agency,  but  God  alone,  can  make  a  man  a  member 
of  it.  For  there  is  a  great  difference  between  being  of  the 
Church  and  in  the  Church.  The  predestinated  are  its  mem- 
bers, and  Christ  is  its  only  head.  He,  too,  constitutes  its  sole 
foundation ;  not  Peter,  nor  the  Popes.  Christ  is  the  rock 
on  which  the  Church  is  built ;  Peter  is  the  Church,  which  has 
received  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  The  power  of 
the  keys  is  general  and  particular.  In  virtue  of  the  former, 
every  Christian  has  the  right  to  engage  in  spiritual  work, 
such  as  teaching,  advising,  warning  and  comforting ;  in  virtue 

^^  Kruramel  pp.  389  and  390.  This  was  essentially  the  position  of  the 
Brethren  in  the  time  of  Bishop  Luke  of  Prague. 

^'^  Tractatus  de  Ecclesia,  in  23  chapters. 

^'  "And  before  Him  shall  be  gathered  all  nations;  and  He  shall  separate 
them  one  from  another,  as  a  shepherd  divideth  his  sheep  from  the  goats." 
Matt   XXV,  32. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  51 

of  the  latter,  the  clergy  preach  the  word  and  administer  the 
sacraments.  The  whole  system  of  the  Romish  papacy  is 
radically  wrong.  It  rests  upon  the  false  assumption  that 
Christ  made  Peter  pope.  Christ  never  transferred  His 
authority  to  one  apostle ;  Peter  never  claimed  the  primacy. 
A  single  man,  mortal  and  fallible,  cannot  possibly  govern 
the  Church  scattered  over  the  whole  earth.  This  tendency 
to  centralization  is  dangerous.  There  ought  to  be  national 
churches,  not  one  ecclesiastical  government  in  the  heart  of 
Italy. 

The  laity  have  rights  and  privileges  in  the  Church  as  well 
as  the  clergy  and  the  civil  rulers.  It  is  the  duty  of  civil 
rulers  to  help  the  laity  to  secure  these  rights,  so  that  their 
voice,  too,  may  be  heard  in  the  management  of  ecclesiastical 
affairs.  Remembering  the  age  in  which  he  lived,  this  position 
of  Hus  is  very  remarkable. 

Among  the  means  of  grace  which  have  been  appointed  in 
the  Church,  the  Word  and  the  Sacraments  attract  his  special 
attention. 

As  regards  the  former,  its  divine  origin,  power  and  suffi- 
ciency, and  the  fact  that  it  has  been  given  for  the  salvation 
of  man,  captivate  his  whole  heart.  He  urges  that  it  must  be 
absolutely  free;  that  neither  the  Pope  nor  a  Bishop,  nor  any 
other  man,  has  the  right  to  prevent  humble  ministers  from 
preaching ;  that  papal  or  episcopal  permission  to  proclaim  the 
Gospel  need  not  be  given  to  a  Presbyter  or  Deacon;  that 
such  priests  as  renounce  this  duty  through  fear  of  excommu- 
nication, or  such  laymen  as,  constrained  by  the  same  fear, 
desist  from  hearing  the  Word,  betray  Christ ;  that  an  excom- 
municated minister  is  not  bound  to  relinquish  preaching  until 
it  has  been  fully  established  that  there  are  sufficient  grounds 
for  his  excommunication.^  This  last  point  Hus  consistently 
carried  out  in  his  own  case. 

^^  Defensio  quorundam  Art.  J.  Wicliff.  In  primo  Actu.  Determinatio 
J.  H.,  de  Praedicatione  et  Auditione  Verbi  Dei,  Hist,  et  Mon.,  I.  pp. 
139-146.  As  this  title  shows,  the  most  of  the  above  points  were  either 
articles  of  Wycliffe  defended  by  Hus,  or  deductions  from  such  articles. 


52  THE    HISTORY    OF 

His  conviction  of  the  inestimable  price  of  the  Word  and 
of  the  transcendent  importance  of  proclaiming  it  is  further 
shown  by  the  interesting  fact,  which  Lechler  has  pointed  out,^ 
that  the  earliest  letter  extant  from  his  hand  urges  upon  the 
Archbishop  of  Prague  the  necessity  of  providing  for  the 
preaching  of  the  Gospel,  and  that  his  last  letter,  written  a 
week  before  his  death,  closes  with  the  solemn  admonition, 
addressed  to  Hawlik,  his  pupil,  in  charge  of  the  Bethlehem 
Chapel:  "Preach  the  Word  of  God." 

As  concerns  the  sacraments,  Hus  recognizes  seven  of  them, 
namely.  Baptism,  the  Lord's  Supper,  Penance,  Confirmation, 
Ordination,  Marriage  and  Extreme  Unction,  and  defines  them 
in  the  authorized  way;^**  but  he  protests  against  ascribing 
efficacy  to  them  as  an  opus  operatum,  and  teaches  that  God, 
not  the  priest,  gives  them  efficacy,  of  which  faith  on  the  part 
of  the  recipient  is  an  absolute  condition.  Hence,  in  the  ease 
of  the  Lord's  Supper,  while  he  accepts  the  doctrine  of  tran- 
substantiation,  he  sets  forth  the  believer  as  the  only  worthy 
partaker  of  this  sacrament,  who  alone  receives  the  essence 
of  it,  that  is,  the  grace  of  being  united  with  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  f^  and,  in  the  case  of  penance,  ascribes  the  real  power 
to  forgive  iniquities  exclusively  to  God,  and  looks  upon 
genuine  contrition  of  heart  and  a  sincere  confession  of  sin  as 
essential. ^^ 

The  views  of  Hus  on  the  Virgin  Mary  and  the  saints  are 
undecided.     Sometimes  he  teaches  the  Eomlsh  doctrine  and 


29  Lechler,  II.  p.  234. 

^"  The  scholastic  divinity  of  tUe  age  in  which  Hus  lived  accepted  seven 
sacraments;  they  were  not  sanctioned  by  the  Church  until  1439,  at  the 
Council  of  Florence.     Lechler,  II.  pp.  248  and  249. 

^1  "Rem  sacramenti,  quae  est  gratia,  qua  unitur  Domino  Jesu  Christo.'' 
De  Sacramento  corporis  et  sanguinis  Domini,  Hist,  et  Mon.,  I.  p.  51. 
Also,  De  Corpore  Christi  in  Sacramento  Altaris,"  Hist,  et  Mon.,  II.,  pp. 
511-512.  After  Hus  had  gone  to  Constance,  Jacobellus  of  Mies  began  to 
advocate  the  giving  of  the  cup  to  the  laity,  and  Hus  approved  of  this 
position,  in  several  letters  and  in  a  treatise  entitled :  De  Sanguine  Christi 
sub  specie  vini  a  Laicis  sumendo.     Hist,  et  Mon.,  I.  pp.  52-54. 

32  De  Ecclesia,  lb.  I.  p.  267. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  53 

then  again  seems  to  reject  it;  at  all  times,  however,  he  warns 
against  the  abuses  to  which  the  invocation  of  the  Virgin  and 
the  saints  may  lead,  and,  in  particular,  against  the  idolatry- 
practiced  with  pictures  and  relics.  Adoration,  in  the  true 
sense,  is  never  to  be  given  to  a  creature.^^ 

He  believes  also  in  the  existence  of  purgatory  and  does 
not  condemn  prayers  for  souls  that  are  there  undergoing 
purification.  The  Bible,  he  says,  gives  no  warrant  for  such 
intercessions,  but  they  naturally  grow  out  of  the  communion 
of  saints.  In  this  case  too,  however,  he  protests  against  the 
evils  which  the  usage  produces,  and  denounces  the  sale  of 
masses  for  the  dead  and  the  avariciousness  of  the  priests  in 
encouraging  this  practice.  Nor  does  he  fail  to  teach  that 
salvation  can  be  gained  on  earth  alone  and  that  the  surest 
way  to  eternal  life  is  to  follow,  in  this  life,  the  instructions  of 
Christ  and  the  Apostles.^^  "  But  who  knows  of  a  single  soul 
that  has  been  freed  from  purgatory  by  thirty  masses  ?"^^ 

Finally  we  find  that  Hus  treats,  with  much  force,  of 
obedience  and  brings  it  into  connection  with  the  papacy .^^ 
"  Nothing,"  he  says,  ''  constitutes  a  more  essential  part  of 
religion  than  the  obedience  which  men  owe  to  God."^''  But 
there  is  a  difference  between  true  and  false  obedience.  True 
obedience  is,  to  do  the  will  of  God ;  false  obedience,  to  do 
what  is  contrary  to  the  will  of  God.  True  obedience  consists 
in  refusing  to  fulfill  any  command  which  is  injurious  to  the 
Church,  or  interferes  with  the  worship  of  the  Lord,  or  stands 
in  the  way  of  one's  own  salvation.  Even  the  Pope  and  his 
college  of  Cardinals  may  err;  he  may  be  deceived  by  avarice, 
or  mistaken  through  ignorance.  To  resist  the  Pope,  when 
he  errs,  is  to  obey  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 


^'  De  Adoratione,  Hist,  et  Mon.,  II.  pp.  512-515.     "Vera  adoratio 

nuUo  modo  debemus  in  aliquara  creatiiram  dirigere,"  pp.  513  and  514. 

^*  Sermo  de  exequiis  sen  suffragio  Mortuorum,  Hist,  et  Mon.,  II.  pp. 
76-84. 

3'  Ibid,  p.  81 . 

3«  De  Ecclesia,  Cap.  xvii,  &c ,  Hist,  et  Mon.,  I.  p.  287,  &c. 

"  Ibid,  p.  302. 


54  THE    HISTORY    OF 

Such  is  a  brief  review  of  the  doctrinal  system  of  Hus.  It 
is  imperfect,  but  contains  all  the  elements  of  a  body  of  pure 
divinity  and  develops  some  of  them  to  evangelical  complete- 
ness. Had  his  days  been  prolonged,  he  would  have  attained 
to  a  still  clearer  insight  into  the  truth,  and  might,  perhaps, 
have  anticipated  the  position  and  even  the  work  of  Martin 
Luther. 


THE   MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  55 


CKA.PTER  VII. 
Hus  and  the  Council  of  Constance.     A.  D.  1414-1415. 


Alarming  State  of  the  Church. — A  General  Council  called  at  Constance. — 
Hus  invited  by  Sigismund  to  appear  before  this  Body. — The  royal 
Promise. — Preparations  for  the  journey. — Arrival  at  Constance. — The 
Safe-Conduct. — Arrest  and  Imprisonment  of  Hus. — Confined  in  the 
Dominican  Monastery. — Arrival  of  Sigismund. — Persuaded  by  the 
Cardinals  to  leave  Hus  in  their  Hands. — His  Sufferings  in  the  Castle 
of  Gottlieben. — His  Trial  and  its  three  Hearings. 

The  state  of  tlie  Church  was  continually  growing  worse. 
Not  only  did  the  schism  remain  a  disgraceful  source  of  con- 
fusion, but  the  general  corruption  of  the  clergy  and  the 
wickedness  which  showed  itself  among  the  laity  were  also 
bringing  about  the  most  alarming  results.  Iniquity  in  many 
shapes,  each  more  hideous  than  the  other,  stalked  abroad 
unchecked  and  defiant.^  Under  such  circumstances  the  better 
classes  of  Latin  Christendom  were  unanimous  in  urging  the 
convocation  of  a  General  Council.  They  found  a  warm 
supporter  in  Sigismund,  who  both  in  virtue  of  his  office  as 
Roman  King  and  from  personal    conviction  took  energetic 

'  As  evidence  we  adduce  the  testimony  of  Pileus  of  Genoa,  a  R.  C. 
Archbishop,  who  writes:  "The  Eoman  Catholic  Church  has  become  a  step- 
mother. The  vices  which  show  themselves  openly  are  these:  tyranny 
among  the  clergy,  confusion  in  the  churches,  quarrels,  lawsuits,  suppression 
of  the  liberty  of  the  Church,  a  despising  of  all  virtue  and  morals,  neglect 
of  learning,  ridiculing  justice,  oppressing  the  people,  endless  wars  between 
the  princes,  sacrilege,  profanation  of  that  which  is  holy,  adultery,  murder, 
theft,  simony,  in  a  word,  everything  that  can  be  called  infamous."  Von  der 
Hardt,  II.  p.  70.  Schwabe,  pp.  170-186,  gives  an  appalling  array  of 
testimony  gathered  from  many  writers  and  showing  the  corruption  of  the 
clergy  in  particular. 


56  THE    HISTORY    OF 

measures  to  bring  about  the  desired  end.  The  negotiations 
were  protracted  and  delicate,  especially  with  Pope  John  the 
Twenty-third,  who,  in  view  of  his  own  character  and  course, 
had  reason  to  hesitate;  but  they  proved  successful  at  last. 
On  the  thirtieth  of  October,  1413,  a  call  was  issued  convening 
a  Council  on  the  first  of  November,  1414,  at  Constance. 

Before  this  Council  Sigismund  invited  Hus  to  plead  his 
cause.  He  promised  him  a  safe-conduct,  a  fair  hearing,  and 
a  free  return  to  Bohemia  even  in  the  event  of  his  not  sub- 
mittincr  to  the  decision  of  the  Fathers.  Barons  Henry  Left  von 
Lazan  and  Mikes  von  Jemnist  were  the  bearers  of  this 
message.^ 

In  spite  of  the  warnings  of  some  of  his  friends  and  of  one 
of  the  King's  own  messengers,^  Hus  unhesitatingly  accepted 
the  invitation.  The  prospect  of  meeting,  in  the  presence  of 
the  representatives  of  the  entire  Western  Church,  the  charges 
which  had  been  brought  against  him  and  of  explaining  his 
views,  filled  him  with  joy.     There  was  nothing  which   he 

^  Palacky,  IV.  p.  306;  Kramrael,  p.  429.  The  above  promise  of 
Sigismund  is  set  forth  by  Hus  himself  in  a  letter  to  his  friends  in  Bohemia 
sent  from  Constance,  subsequent  to  the  eighth  of  June,  1415.  Speaking  of 
Sigismund  he  writes  :  "  Had  he  at  least  said,  '  Behold  I  have  given  him  a 
safe-conduct ;  if  he  therefore  does  not  wish  to  submit  to  the  decision  of  the 
Council  I  will  send  him  to  the  King  of  Bohemia  with  our  sentence  and  the 
testimony,  and  he  and  his  clergy  may  judge  him  !'  For  he  (Sigismund) 
made  known  to  me  by  Henry  Lefl  and  others,  that  he  intended  to  secure 
for  me  a  sufficient  hearing,  and  that,  if  I  would  not  submit  to  the  judgment 
pronounced,  he  intended  to  send  me  back  in  safety,"  (vellet  me  dirigere 
salvum  vice  versa).  Documenta  Hus,  Ep.  No.  70,  p.  114:  Hist,  et  Mon., 
I.  pp.  87  and  88.  Berger,  pp.  92-94,  the  object  of  whose  entire  work  is  to 
screen  Sigismund,  asserts  that  the  King  could  not  have  given  such  a 
promise,  and  that  Baron  Lizan  either  said  more  than  he  was  authorized  to 
say,  or  that  the  memory  of  Hus  failed  him  when  he  wrote  the  above  letter ! 
Both  of  these  suppositions  are,  in  the  highest  degree,  unlikely.  Would  the 
messenger  of  Sigismund,  in  a  case  of  such  importance,  venture  to  deliver 
anything  but  the  exact  message?  Is  it  credible  that  Hus  would  forget  the 
exact  tenor  of  a  promise  on  which  his  life  depended  ? 

^  Mikes  von  Jemnist,  who  said  to  him:  "  Know  of  a  certainty,  Master, 
that  thou  wilt  be  condemned."  "I  think  he  knew  the  intention  of  the 
King,"  Hus  remarked  when  a  prisoner  at  Constance.  Documenta  Hus, 
p.  114. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  57 

desired  more  :  nay,  might  he  not,  when  the  object  of  his  work 
in  Bohemia  came  to  be  understood,  be  permitted  to  co-operate 
with  the  Fathers  in  reforming  the  Church  ? 

Conrad  von  Vechta,  the  new  Archbishop  of  Prague,  who 
had  succeeded  Albicus  on  the  retirement  of  the  latter,  having 
convened  a  Diocesan  Synod  (August,  1414,)  Hus,  who  had 
meantime  returned  to  the  city,  asked  permission,  through  his 
advocate  Jesenic,  to  appear  before  this  body  in  order  to  give 
an  account  of  his  faith.  Although  this  request  was  declined 
the  Archbishop  verbally  bore  testimony  to  his  orthodoxy,  and 
the  Papal  Inquisitor,  Nicholas,  Bishop  of  Nazareth,  gave  him 
a  written  testimonial  to  the  same  effect.  Having  posted  a 
placard  which  called  upon  all  who  charged  him  with  heresy 
to  meet  him  at  the  Council  and  sent  a  letter  to  Sigismund 
expressive  of  his  gratitude  for  the  promised  hearing,  he  went 
back  to  Krakowec*  There  he  composed  a  refutation  of  the 
articles  drawn  up  by  his  enemies,  as  soon  as  his  intention  of 
going  to  Constance  had  become  known ;  addressed  a  touching 
letter  to  his  pupil  Martin,  which  was  to  be  opened  only  in  case 
of  his  death  and  which  set  forth  several  small  legacies  f  and 
wrote  a  farewell  epistle  to  the  Bohemians  full  of  apostolic 
unction,  instinct  with  the  spirit  of  godliness,  and  earnest  in  its 
requests  for  their  prayers,  that  God  would  give  him  strength 
to  glorify  the  Gospel,  if  it  need  be,  even  by  his  death.®  The 
nearer  the  time  of  his  departure  from  Bohemia  approached, 
the  more  he  realized  the  risk  which  he  was  assuming,  and  the 
less  he  expected  a  favorable  reception  on  the  part  of  the 
Council. 

The  expenses  of  his  journey  were  assumed  by  his  friends ; 
in  order  to  cover  the  cost  of  the  prosecution,  those  of  the 
clergy  of  Bohemia  and  Moravia  who  were  opposed  to  him 

*  The  letter  is  found  in  Documenta  Hus,  pp.  69-71.  That  Berger,  p.  94, 
bases  upon  this  letter,  which  says  nothing  of  the  King's  promise  of  personal 
safety  but  expresses  the  willingness  of  Hus  to  die  for  the  truth,  a  new 
argument  to  show  that  such  a  promise  was  never  made,  is  another  instance 
of  the  illogical  deductions  with  which  his  work  abounds. 

^  Documenta  Hus,  No.  38,  p.  47. 

6  Ibid,  No.  37,  pp.  71-73. 


58  THE    HISTORY    OF 

eagerly  contributed  a  large  amount.  Sigismund  and  Wenzel 
conjointly  furnished  an  escort,  consisting  of  Barons  John  von 
Chlum,  Wenzel  von  Duba  and  Henry  von  Chlum/  John 
von  Chlum  was  accompanied  by  his  secretary,  Peter  of 
Mladenowic;^  and  Kardinalis  of  Reinstein,  a  priest  and  friend 
of  Hus,  together  with  several  other  Bohemians,  joined  the  party. 
On  the  eleventh  of  October  they  left  Prague  with  more  than 
thirty  horsemen  and  three  wagons,  in  one  of  which  Hus  rode 
in  his  priestly  robe.  Their  route  lay  through  Bernau,  Sulz- 
bach,  Hersbruck,  Lauf  and  Nuremberg.  To  his  surprise  the 
inhabitants  of  these  towns,  Germans  though  they  were,  gave 
him  a  friendly  reception.  He  had  frequent  discussions  on 
theological  questions  with  the  clergy  and  caused  posters  to  be 
affixed  to  the  church  doors,  inviting  such  as  had  charges 
against  him  to  present  them  to  the  Council.  From  Nurem- 
berg, where  the  streets  were  crowded  with  people  eager  to  see 
him.  Baron  Duba  traveled  to  the  Phine  to  get  the  safe-conduct 
from  Sigismund,  while  the  rest  of  the  party  went  directly  to 
Constance.  They  arrived  on  the  third  of  Nov^ember,  and 
entered  the  city  amidst  a  great  concourse.  Hus  took  lodgings 
with  a  pious  widow,  named  Fida,  on  St.  Paul  Street.^ 

'  Henry  von  Chlum,  called  Lazembock,  did  not  join  the  escort  until  after 
its  arrival  at  Constance. 

®  Peter  of  Mladenowic,  a  Bachelor  of  the  University  of  Prague,  wrote  a 
full  account  of  all  that  happened  to  Hus  at  Constance  :  Relatio  de  J.  Hus 
causa  in  Constantiensi  Concilio  acta,  found,  in  its  original  form,  in 
Documenta  Hus,  pp.  237-324.  It  has  also  been  given  by  Hofler,  I.  pp. 
in-3"20,  who  has,  however,  fallen  into  a  multitude  of  errors,  as  Palacky 
has  abundantly  shown  (Palacky's  Hofler,  pp.  22-37.)  The  narrative 
contained  in  Hist,  et  Mon  ,  I.  pp.  1-37,  as  also  in  the  second  part  of 
Epistolae  Hus,  edited  by  Luther,  is  a  free  rendering,  with  interpolations 
and  omissions,  of  the  author's  work  and  belongs  to  the  sixteenth  century. 

*  Hus  gave  an  account  of  his  journey  in  letters  to  his  friends  in  Bohemia. 
Documenta  Hus,  pp.  66-83;  Hist,  et  Mon.,  pp.  72  etc.;  Bonnechose,  pp. 
86-88.  The  house  in  which  he  lodged  is  still  standing,  No  328,  St.  Paul 
Street.  It  is  three  stories  high,  with  an  attic,  and  has  two  wings.  On  the 
outside  wall  is  a  picture  of  Hus  and  the  following  inscription  :  "Herberge 
des  Bohmischen  Reformators  Mag.  Joh.  Hus,  ira  Jahr  1414;"  to  the  left 
of  the  picture  is  a  bust  of  Hus,  put  up  toward  the  end  of  the  last  century, 
with  another  inscription  in  German  ;  to  the  right  a  Bohemian  inscription. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  59 

The  grandest  ecclesiastical  pageant  which  the  Middle  Ages 
saw  was  the  Council  of  Constance.  It  continued  for  nearly 
four  years,  and  brought  together  the  Roman  King,  the  Pope, 
thirty  Cardinals,  four  Patriarchs,  thirty-three  Archbishops, 
one  hundred  and  fifty  Bishops,  several  hundred  Doctors  of 
Theology  and  inferior  clergy,  four  Electors,  twenty-four 
Princes  and  Dukes,  seventy-eight  Counts  and  six  hundred  and 
seventy-six  Barons,  together  with  a  multitude  of  retainers, 
merchants,  artizans  and  visitors,  so  that  the  number  of 
strangers  was  never  less  than  fifty  thousand.^"  Booths  were 
erected  outside  of  the  walls  for  the  accommodation  of  those 
who  could  not  find  room  in  the  city  itself. 

Constance  is  beautifully  situated  on  the  Swiss  bank  of  the 
Rhine  and  occupies  a  projecting  angle  of  ground  at  the 
western  extremity  of  the  Bodensee.  At  the  time  of  the 
Council  it  was  a  free  imperial  town,  with  fifty  thousand  in- 
habitants ;  now  it  belongs  to  Baden,  and  its  population,  as 
though  the  curse  of  God  had  lighted  upon  the  place,  has 
dwindled  to  ten  thousand. 

Barons  Chlum  and  Lazembock  notified  the  Pope  of  the 
arrival  of  Hus  and  asked  that  he  might  be  protected.  "  Not 
if  he  had  killed  my  own  brother,"  was  the  answer  of  John 
the  Twenty-third,  "would  I,  in  any  wise,  wish  to  molest  him, 
or  permit  him  to  be  molested.  He  must  be  safe  while  he  is 
at  Constance.""  On  the  following  day,  November  the  fifth, 
which  sa^v  the  opening  of  the  Council,  Duba  reached  the  city 
and  brought  the  safe-conduct. 

This  document  has  given  rise  to  a  protracted  controversy.^^ 
Did  it,  or  did  it  not,  guarantee  personal  safety  under  all 
circumstances  ?  The  latest  and  most  astute  champion  on  the 
Romish  side  of  this  question  is  Dr.  William  Berger,  in  his 
Johannes  Hus  ufid  Konig  Sigismund.     He  tries  to  prove,  and 

i»  Palacky,  IV.  p.  307,  Note  420. 

"  Mladenowic  Relatio,  Doc.  Hus,  p.  246. 

''^  The  safe-conduct  was  written  in  Latin.  Its  original  text  is  given  in 
full  in  Hist,  et  Mon.,  I.  p.  2;  Documenta  Hus,  pp.  237  and  238;  and 
Berger,  pp.  178  and  179.     Krummel,  p.  452,  furnishes  a  German  version. 


60  THE    HISTORY    OF 

in  SO  far  as  its  mere  wording  is  concerned,  successfully,  we 
think,  that  the  paper  furnished  by  Sigismund  was  a  passport, 
drawn  up  in  the  style  of  other  passports,  protecting  Hus  from 
illegal  interference  and  violence,  but  not  from  the  consequences 
of  a  legal  sentence  pronounced  by  competent  authority ;  and 
shows  further,  that  ''judicial  safe-conducts,"^^  which  absolutely 
guaranteed  personal  safety  for  a  limited  period,  were  written 
in  a  different  form.  Yet,  even  if  we  concede  these  points, 
which  are  not  new  but  have  in  substance  been  urged  by  earlier 
writers,  Sigismund  remains  branded  with  disgrace  and  the 
Council  guilty  of  infamy.  For  the  passports  issued  in  view 
of  its  convocation,  by  the  Roman  King,  as  the  head  of  the 
Empire,  declaring  their  bearers  to  be  under  its  "  protection 
and  tutelage,"  had,  in  every  instance,  a  wider  significance  than 
ordinary  documents  of  this  kind  ;  in  the  case  of  Hus,  however, 
who  had  been  formally  assured  of  personal  safety  by  two 
royal  deputies,  the  paper  set  a  seal  to  this  promise  and  assumed 
the  force  of  a  judicial  safe-conduct.  That  Sigismund  himself 
took  this  view  of  the  case,  is  evident  from  the  indignation 
which  he  manifested  on  finding  that  the  instrument  had  not 
been  respected ;  that  Hus  supposed  himself  to  be  under  the 
aegis  of  a  royal  pledge,  his  letter  proves  which  we  have  cited 
in  another  connection ;  that  his  countrymen  at  home  interpreted 
the  document  in  the  same  way,  becomes  clear  from  the  solemn 
protest  against  his  breach  of  faith,  forwarded  to  the  King, 
by  two  hundred  and  fifty  Bohemian  noblemen,  and  their 
unanimous  demand  that  Hus  should  be  set  at  liberty,  have  a 
public  hearing,  and  then  be  sent  back  to  Bohemia  ;^*  that  even 
the  Council  practically  conceded  the  point  at  issue,  is  shown 
by  its  resolutions  exonerating  Sigismund.  Moreover,  the 
very  argument  which  Dr.  Berger  urges,  recoils  upon  himself. 
Hus,  he  says,  held  a  passport  which  was  to  defend  him  from 
illegal  interference  and  violence.  What  could  have  been  more 
illegal  than  his  arrest  and  imprisonment,  and  cruel  sufferings, 

^*  "  Das  gerichtliche  Geleite,"  p.  105. 

'*  Letter  in  full,  in  original  Bohemian,  translated  into  Latin  by  Palacky, 
dated  May  12,  1415,  given  in  Documenta  Hus,  pp.  550-553. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  61 

without  a  hearing,  without  a  trial,  without  a  sentence,  before 
the  Council  had  even  taken  up  his  case?  To  attempt  a 
justification  of  the  treatment  which  the  Bohemian  Reformer 
received  at  Constance,  is  an  intellectual  feat  that  can  be 
performed  only  by  the  pliant  mind  of  a  Roman  Catholic 
reasoner. 

Hus  was  relieved  from  his  sentence  of  excommunication 
and  permitted  to  go  about  the  city ;  but  he  j)referred  to  remain 
in  his  lodgings,  where  he  prepared  for  his  defence  before  the 
Council.  Meanwhile  his  personal  enemies,  and  among  them 
especially  Michael  de  Causis  and  Wenzel  Tiem,  bestirred 
themselves.  About  the  middle  of  November,  they  were  joined 
by  Stephen  Palec,  John  the  Iron  and  others,  who  arrived 
from  Bohemia  with  his  latest  writings.  These  men  posted 
placards  denouncing  him  as  a  most  obstinate  and  dangerous 
heretic ;  they  spread  false  reports,  that  he  intended  to  preach 
against  the  clergy  and  that  he  had  tried  to  escape  from  the 
city  in  a  covered  wagon ;  they  hurried  from  bishop  to  cardinal, 
and  from  cardinal  to  bishop,  urging  his  immediate  arrest. 

On  the  twenty-eighth  of  JN^ovember  he  was  cited  to  an 
interview  with  the  Cardinals.  Baron  Chlum,  who  happened 
to  be  with  him  when  their  messengers  arrived,  vehemently 
protested  against  his  going  but  Hus  declared  his  willingness 
to  obey  the  summons.  His  hostess,  in  great  anxiety,  met  him 
in  the  hall  and  wept  as  he  gave  her  his  blessing.  On  leaving 
the  house  he  found  the  street  full  of  soldiers,  who  immediately 
surrounded  him  and  conveyed  him  to  the  episcopal  palace, 
where  the  Cardinals  awaited  his  coming.  They  interchanged 
a  few  words  with  him  and  then  retired,  leaving  him  in  the 
hands  of  a  guard.  Chlum  staid  at  his  side.  The  afternoon 
passed  in  a  painful  suspense.  Toward  evening  a  papal  officer 
appeared  and  dismissed  the  Baron  ;  Hus,  he  said,  must  remain 
in  the  palace.  Shameful  perfidy  !  He  was  a  prisoner,  in  spite 
of  the  safe-conduct,  in  spite  of  the  King's  pledge  and  the 
Pope's  promise.  When  this  breach  of  faith  had  been 
determined  on,  at  a  meeting  of  the  Cardinals  held  at  four 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  Palec,  Michael  and  other  enemies  of 


62  THE    HISTORY    OF 

Hus,  who  were  present,  danced  round  the  apartment  exclaim- 
ing: "  Ha,  ha,  now  we  have  him  !  He  shall  not  escape  until 
he  has  paid  the  uttermost  farthing  !"^^ 

Chlum,  burning  with  indignation,  hastened  to  the  Pope, 
whose  lodgings  were  in  the  palace,  reminded  him  of  his 
promise,  threatened  him  with  the  displeasure  of  the  King,  and 
said  that  he  would  proclaim  to  all  the  world  how  grossly  the 
safe-conduct  had  been  violated.  But  John  the  Twenty-third 
cast  the  responsibility  upon  "  his  brethren,"  as  he  called  the 
Cardinals,  and  privately  assured  him  that  his  own  relations  to 
them  were  of  such  an  uncertain  character  as  to  render  any 
interference  on  his  part  impossible.  "  But  he  deceived  him," 
pithily  remarks  the  chronicler.^^ 

At  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening  Hus  was  taken  to  the  house 
of  the  precentor  of  the  cathedral,  where  he  remained  a  week, 
closely  guarded.  On  the  sixth  of  December  he  was  removed 
to  the  Dominican  monastery,  on  the  shore  of  the  lake.  From 
the  windows  of  this  building  the  eyes  of  the  monks  could 
range  far  over  the  placid  waters  and  see,  in  the  distance,  the 
snow-clad  peaks  of  the  Appenzell  Alps  glittering  in  the  sun, 
or  covering  their  sheen  with  a  soft  and  transparent  veil  of 
mist.  But  the  harassed  soul  of  Hus  was  not  to  be  cheered 
with  such  manifestations  of  God's  glory.  A  few  feet  from 
the  water's  edge  rose  a  round  tower,  containing  a  dark  and 
gloomy  dungeon.^^  Into  this  he  was  mercilessly  cast.  The 
drain  of  the  convent  passed  close  by,  poisoning  the  air  with  its 
exhalations ;  he  fell  ill  and  was  brought  to  the  brink  of  the 
grave.  At  the  instance  of  the  physicians  whom  the  Pope 
sent — that  a  natural  death  might  be  prevented — he  was  con- 
fined in  a  more  healthful  cell  (January  the  eighth,  1415),  and 
treated  with  less  rigor,  being  allowed  to  read  and  write  and 


'^  Mladenowic  Relatio,  Documenta  Hus,  p.  250. 

'"  Documenta  Hus,  p.  252.  John  the  Twenty-third  hoped  to  win  the  favor 
of  the  Cardinals  by  imprisoning  Hus.  In  a  letter  which  he  wrote  to  the 
University  of  Paris,  after  his  deposition,  he  boasted  of  what  he  had  done. 

"  "  Opacum  vel  tenebrosum  carcerem."     Documenta  Hus,  p.  252. 


THE    MOEAVIAN    CHURCH.  63 

receive  visitors.  In  this  convent  he  remained  for  two  months 
and  a  half.^^ 

The  Council  appointed  a  commission  of  three  prelates  to 
investigate  the  charges  against  him.  "Weak  and  helpless 
though  he  still  was,  they  began  to  worry  him  with  questions 
and  brought  witnesses — on  one  day  not  less  than  fifteen — who 
were  sworn  in  his  presence,  as  the  canonical  law  required. 
His  request  that  he  might  be  allowed  the  services  of  an 
advocate  was,  at  first,  granted '  but  subsequently  refused.  A 
man  accused  of  heresy,  said  the  commissioners,  had  no  right 
to  expect  the  protection  of  the  law.  "  Then  let  the  Lord 
Jesus  be  my  advocate,"  replied  Hus,  "  He  will  soon  judge 
you.  To  Him  I  have  committed  myself,  as  He  committed 
Himself  to  God  the  Father."'^ 

While  the  representatives  of  the  Council  were  dealing  thus 
unjustly  with  him,  his  friends  continued  to  urge  his  liberation. 
John  von  Chlum  was  particularly  active.  He  wrote  to  the 
King,  importuned  the  Pope,  tried  to  rouse  all  Constance ;  but 
his  efforts  were  fruitless.  Sigismund,  indeed,  sent  a  message 
requiring  the  immediate  release  of  Hus,  and  when  he  arrived 
in  person,  on  the  Eve  of  Christmas,  and  found  that  his  order 
had  not  been  obeyed,  repeatedly  and  vehemently  demanded  of 
the  Cardinals  that  they  should  respect  his  safe-conduct, 
threate"bing  to  leave  the  city,  if  they  would  not  yield.  He 
actually  did  withdraw  for  a  short  time.  But  they  remained 
inflexible.  Faith,  they  asserted,  need  not  be  kept  with  a 
heretic ;  the  Council  could  free  him  from  his  obligations ;  he 
had  no  right,  without  its  consent,  to  give  Hus  a  safe-conduct; 
if  he    left  Constance,  they   would    instantly   break    up   the 

'^  The  Dominican  Monastery  at  Constance  is  now  the  Insel  Hotel,  but 
retains  some  vestiges  of  its  ancient  character.  The  long  cloisters,  surround- 
ing an  open  court,  remain  intact,  and  the  old  refectory,  with  scarcely  any 
changes,  is  used  as  a  restaurant  whose  doors  open  upon  a  narrow  terrace 
extending  to  the  water's  edge.  On  this  terrace,  around  the  very  tower  in 
which  Hus  languished,  refreshments  are  served  in  summer.  The  Gothic 
chapel  of  the  convent  is  the  dining  saloon,  the  walls  of  which  are  hmig  with 
tapestry  that  can  be  removed,  displaying  the  original  frescoes  underneath. 

19  Hist,  et  Mon.,  I.  y,.  92,  Ep.  xlix;  Hofler,  I.  p.  141. 


64  THE    HISTORY    OF 

Council.  The  King  allowed  himself  to  be  persuaded,  and  on 
New  Year's  day,  1415,  formally  withdrew  his  protest,  declaring 
that,  in  all  matters  of  faith,  the  Fathers  should  be  free  to  act 
as  they  might  think  best.  He  sacrificed  Hus  for  the  sake  of 
the  Council.^" 

This  body,  however,  did  not  at  once  take  up  his  case.  It 
was  the  schism  which  first  engaged  its  attention ;  and  the  idea 
gained  ground  that  all  the  three  Popes  should  be  set  aside. 
In  the  case  of  John  the  Twenty-third  other  considerations 
also  came  into  play.  Latin  Christendom,  as  with  one  voice, 
had  brought  charges  against  him.  His  deposition  was  im- 
minent. In  order  to  avoid  this  he  resigned  his  crown,  March 
the  second,  but  subsequently  fled  to  SchafFausen.  Thereupon 
the  keepers  of  Hus,  who  were  John's  servants,  delivered  the 
keys  of  the  cell  to  Sigismund  and  followed  their  master. 
This  was  the  King's  opportunity ;  he  could  now  redeem  his 
word  and  wipe  a  foul  blot  from  his  escutcheon.  Chlum, 
Duba  and  others,  besought  him  to  do  so ;  and  their  entreaties 
were  supported  by  the  most  urgent  letters  which  he  had 
previously  received  from  Bohemia,  Moravia  and  even  Poland. 
But  influenced  again  by  the  Cardinals,  he  declined,  and 
sanctioned  their  decision  to  commit  Hus  into  the  keeping  of 
the  Bishop  of  Constance. 

About  four  miles  from  the  city  this  prelate  had  a*  castle, 
on  the  Phine,  called  Gottlieben,  with  two  quadrangular  towers 
nearly  two  hundred  feet  high.  In  the  night  of  Palm  Sunday, 
the  twenty-second  of  March,  Hus,  heavily  fettered,  was  taken, 
in  a  boat,  to  this  castle  and  made  to  ascend  its  western  tower 
to  the  very  top,  his  chains  clanking  dismally  as,  with  weary 
steps,  he  mounted  the  long  stairs.  Immediately  beneath  the 
roof  was  a  small  wooden  structure,  or  cage,  divided  into  two 
compartments.  Into  one  of  these  he  was  thrust;  his  feet 
were  chained  to  a  block  ;  at  night  his  right  arm  was  pinioned 
to  the  wall.     In  this  miserable  plight  he  remained  for  more 

'■"'  This  Sigismund  himself  practically  confessed  in  a  letter,  dated  Paris, 
March  the  twenty-first,  1416,  written  to  the  Bohemian  nobles.  Documenta 
Hus,  p.  612. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  65 

than  two  months,  cruelly  suifering  from  hunger  and  cold  and 
painful  attacks  of  hemorrhage,  neuralgia  and  stone,  brought 
on  by  the  damp  spring-winds  which  swept  through  the 
windows  of  the  tower.^^ 

For  a  time  his  friends  knew  not  what  had  become  of  him ; 
when  they  discovered  the  place  of  his  imprisonment,  they 
bribed  his  keepers  and  tried  to  alleviate  his  sufiFerings.  Nor 
did  they  fail  to  protest  against  the  cruel  treatment  he  was 
enduring.  At  several  formal  interviews,  in  the  latter  half  pf 
May,  with  representatives  of  the  Council,  they  demanded  that 
he  should  be  set  free,  offering  bail  to  any  amount  and  in  any 
form,  and  that  he  should  have  a  public  trial.  Such  a  trial 
was  promised  and  fixed  for  the  fifth  of  June ;  as  regarded  his 
liberation,  however,  it  was,  the  Fathers  said,  not  to  be  thought 
of,  even  if  bail  were  given  "  a  thousand  times."  Nevertheless 
he  was  removed  from  Gottlieben,  about  the  beginning  of  June, 
brought  back  to  the  city,  and  confined,  with  far  less  rigor,  in 
the  Franciscan  Monastery. 

'^  Dr.  Berger — impartial  historian  ! — describes  the  cruelties  which  Has 
suffered  in  this  tower  as  follows:  "  Dort  wurde  Has  in  einem  luftigen 
Gemache  und  viel  scharfer  bewacht  als  zuvor."  (Berger,  p.  143.)  The 
present  Castle  of  Gottlieben  is  comparatively  a  modern  building  and  fronts 
the  Rhine,  but  the  two  ancient  towers,  which  flank  the  rear  and  are  covered 
with  ivy,  remain  unchanged.  In  the  western,  first  a  wooden  stairway,  then 
a  circular  one  of  stone,  and  next  two  more  wooden  stair-cases,  lead  to  the 
prison  of  Hus  which  is  still  to  be  seen,  each  of  its  two  compartments  being 
in  the  form  of  a  parallelogram.  Gottlieben  is  the  property  of  Count 
Larrasch,  of  Vienna.  In  the  museum  of  the  Rosen- Garten,  at  Constance, 
interesting  relics  are  preserved :  the  block  of  stone  to  which  Hus  was 
chained,  which  is  about  one  foot  thick  and  two  feet  square ;  the  wooden 
door  of  his  dungeon,  with  its  massive  lock,  huge  bolt  and  staple  for  a 
padlock,  having  a  smaller  door  in  the  middle,  twelve  inches  long  and  four 
inches  wide,  according  to  our  own  measurement,  with  a  clasp  for  another 
padlock,  through  which  smaller  door  his  food  was  handed  him  ;  the  bricks 
with  which  his  prison  was  paved  and  on  which  he  traced  words  that  are 
now  illegible;  and  a  large  stone,  three  feet  long,  containing  a  narrow 
opening  eighteen  inches  in  length,  crossed  by  two  iron  bars,  which  opening 
constituted  his  only  window.  This  last  relic  evidently  belonged  to  the 
dungeon  in  the  Dominican  Monastery,  as  did,  in  all  probability,  the  bricks 
also,  and  perhaps  the  door. 
5 


66  THE    HISTORY    OF 

A  new  commission  of  four  prelates  had  meantime  been 
named,  under  whose  direction  the  trial  began  on  the  day- 
appointed.  The  first  sitting  was  disgraceful.  No  sooner  did 
he  attempt  a  defence  than  "  immediately,  with  one  voice,  many- 
cried  out  against  him."^^  "  They  all  screamed  above  measure," 
he  himself  writes,^^  besetting  him  on  every  side,  so  that  he 
was  obliged  to  turn  continually  and  meet  the  vociferations 
uttered  on  his  right  hand  and  on  his  left,  behind  his  back  and 
before  his  face.  He  attempted  to  show  that  the  articles 
drawn  from  his  writings  had  been  misrepresented — "  Stop 
your  sophistry,  answer  yes,  or  no !"  was  the  cry.  He  cited 
the  church-fathers — "  That  does  not  belong  here,"  called  out 
some.  He  was  silent — "  Now  you  are  silent,"  exclaimed 
others,  "  that  shows  that  you  really  entertain  the  errors  laid  to 
your  charge  !""^  Amidst  all  this  wild  confusion  Hus  main- 
tained a  dignified  bearing  and  showed  a  manly  self-possession. 
As  soon  as  order  had,  to  some  extent,  been  restored,  he 
remarked  in  a  loud  voice  that  rang  through  the  apartment : 
"  I  supposed,  that  in  a  Council  like  this  there  would  be'more 
dignity,  order  and  piety."  "  What  do  you  say  ?"  answered 
the  President,  the  Cardinal  Bishop  of  Ostia,  "you  spoke  more 
humbly  in  the  Castle."  "Because,  in  the  Castle,  no  one 
screamed  at  me,"  replied  Hus,  "  but  here  you  all  scream  at 
once."^^  This  rebuke  told.  The  Council  deemed  an  imme- 
diate adjournment  to  be  the  only  way  of  escape  from  its 
disgraceful  position. 

Two  more  hearings  took  place,  on  the  seventh  and  eighth 
of  June,  at  both  of  which  Sigismund  was  present  and  better 
order  observed.  On  the  last  occasion,  however,  a  tumult 
again  broke  out  and  grew  so  stormy  that  Hus,  who  had 
suffered    all    night    long    from    neuralgia,    nearly    fainted.^^ 

^^  Documenta  Hus,  p.  275. 
^*  Hus  Briefe,  p.  6. 

^*  The  above  is  reproduced  almost  literally  from  the  Mladenowic  Relatio, 
Documenta  Hus,  p.  275. 

2'  Hist.,  et  Mon.,  I.  pp.  77  and  78.    Ep.  xii. 
26  Hist,  et  Mon.,  I.  p.  31. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  67 

"  They  pressed  upon  me,  with  threats  and  deceitful  words,  to 
induce  me  to  recant,"  he  wrote  to  his  friends  in  Bohemia.^ 

Although  it  cannot  be  denied  that  an  opportunity  was  given 
him,  at  these  two  hearings,  to  defend  his  views,  yet  there  was 
a  total  lack  of  equity.  His  explanations,  however  biblical, 
were  disregarded ;  doctrines  were  brought  forward  which  he 
had  never  taught;  an  absolute  recantation  was  demanded, 
without  the  least  regard  to  the  authority  or  genuineness  of  the 
articles ;  and — most  shameful  of  all ! — their  condemnation  as 
heretical  had  been  agreed  upon  and  actually  committed  to 
writing  before  the  trial  began.^  "  We  do  not  recognize  a 
single  trace  of  impartiality  or  real  justice,"  writes  Lechler.^^ 
A  century  later,  Erasmus  of  Rotterdam  forcibly  said  :  "  John 
Hus  was  burned,  not  convicted."^" 

The  trial  closed  with  a  solemn  asseveration  on  the  part  of 
Hus,  that  he  could  not  retract  articles  which  he  had  never 
taught,  but  that  he  would  recant  such  as  were  his  own,  provided 
they  were  shown  to  be  false.  On  being  led  out,  John  von 
Chlum  warmly  pressed  his  hand ;  Sigismund,  on  the  contrary, 
not  perceiving  that  the  Bohemian  Barons  were  still  present, 
urged  that  Hus,  unless  he  recanted,  should  be  burned  alive, 
and  that,  even  in  the  event  of  a  recantation,  he  should  be 
deprived  of  his  priestly  office  and  forbidden  to  return  to 
Bohemia.^^ 

"  Ibid,  p.  78. 

"8  Krumme!,  p.  509 ;  Lechler,  II.  p.  216. 

»»  Lechler  Ibid. 

'"  "  J.  Hus  exustus  non  convictus." 

*'  Documenta  Hus,  pp.  314  and  315. 


68  THE   HISTORY   OF 


CHAPTEK  YIII. 

The  Condemnation  and  Martyrdom  of  Hus.     A.  D.  1415. 


Injustice  of  the  Council. — Reasons  why  Hus  was  condemned. — Sentence 
delayed.— The  Letters  of  Hus  as  an  Evidence  of  his  Faith  and 
Courage. — His  written  Prayer. — Attempts  to  induce  him  to  recant. — 
The  fifteenth  General  Session  of  the  Council  in  the  Cathedral.— Hus 
brought  before  this  Meeting.— The  Sermon. — Reading  of  the  Articles 
reputed  as  heretical. — Comments  of  Hus. — The  Blush  of  Sigismund. — 
The  Sentence. — Hus  degraded.— Delivered  to  the  secular  Authorities. 
—On  the  way  to  Execution.— His  last  Words  and  Death.— His  Ashes 
cast  into  the  Rhine.— Martyrdom  of  Jerome  of  Prague.— Reflections. 

The  eyes  of  John  Hus  were  now  opened.  He  saw  the 
great  gathering  of  the  heads  of  the  Latin  Church,  the  repre- 
sentatives of  its  learning  and  piety,  from  whom  he  had 
expected  at  least  an  impartial  hearing,  swayed  by  the  grossest 
injustice,  practically  rejecting  the  Bible  as  the  norm  of  faith, 
clinging  to  traditional  dogmas  of  human  invention,  stooping 
to  the  despicable  trick  of  foisting  on  his  system  articles  which 
he  had  never  taught,  and  treating  him  as  a  common  criminal. 
And  yet  the  purpose  for  which  this  Council  was  convoked 
and  the  end  which  he  had  in  view,  were  identical.  Both 
desired  to  bring  about  a  reformation  of  the  Church  ;  and  he 
had  not  gone  farther,  or  been  bolder,  in  denouncing  its  sins 
than  some  of  tlie  Fathers  who  sat  in  judgment  upon  him. 
Why  was  it  that  he  was  rejected  and  that  they  were  honored  ? 
The  premises  from  which  the  Council  and  Hus  severally 
proceeded  were  discrepant  and  irreconcilable.  The  one  upheld 
the  traditional  authority  of  the  Church  to  which  authority 
the  individual  must  unconditionally  submit  in  matters  of 
doctrine  and  faith ;  the  other  maintained  the  right  of  private 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  69 

research  and  criticism.  The  one  wished  to  reform  the  Church 
organically  out  of  itself  and  through  itself;  the  other  contended 
for  a  reformation  according  to  the  image  of  primitive  Chris- 
tianity as  set  forth  in  the  New  Testament.^  Hence  the  re- 
peated protestations  of  Hus,  that  he  was  willing  to  be 
"  instructed/'^  meant  nothing  less  than  a  refutation  of  his 
doctrinal  articles  from  the  Holy  Scriptures. 

But  even  this  view  of  the  case  does  not  offer  a  sufficient 
explanation;  there  were  other  forces  at  work  also.  The 
inveterate  animosity  of  the  Bohemian  clergy  whose  sins  he 
had  mercilessly  uncovered,  the  unceasing  machinations  of  his 
personal  foes,  the  bitter  antagonism  of  the  realistic  and 
nominalistic  schools  of  philosophy,  the  national  prejudices 
of  the  Germans  against  the  Bohemians,  intensified  by  the 
German  exodus  from  the  University  of  Prague,  for  which 
occurrence  Hus  was  held  mainly  responsible — all  these  things 
had  much  to  do  with  his  condemnation. 

Its  formal  sentence  was  delayed  for  an  entire  month,  Hus 
remaining  a  prisoner  in  the  Franciscan  Monastery.  He  knew 
that  death,  in  a  cruel  form,  was  approaching,  and  prepared 
for  it  with  the  fortitude  of  the  early  martyrs.  Sometimes  a 
faint  hope  that  God  might  yet  see  fit  to  deliver  him,  came 
into  his  mind,  but  it  was  like  a  dim  ray  of  sunlight  struggling 
through  the  clouds.  He  wrote  to  his  friends  and  bade  them 
farewell.  These  letters  as  well  as  others,  sent  from  the 
Dominican  Monastery,  bring  out  his  character  in  beautiful 
features  and  his  faith  in  all  its  manly  strength.^ 

The  patience  which  he  exercises   amidst  his  sufferings  is 

1  Palacky,  IV.  pp.  308  and  309. 

*  The  word  which  Hus  invariably  used  was  informari. 

^  Four  of  these  letters  a^e  found  in  Luther's  German  publication  (Hus 
Briefe);  a  number  of  them  in  his  Latin  Collection  (Epistolae  Hus);  the 
most  of  them  in  Hist,  et  Mon.,  pp.  72-108 ;  and  all  of  them,  as  far  as  they 
are  known  to  exist,  in  Documenta  Hus,  pp.  83-150,  where  they  are  given 
in  their  only  correct  form.  In  the  other  works  the  translation  of  the 
Bohemian  letters  is  often  faulty.  Tlie  title  which  Luther  assigns  to  his 
Latin  collection  is  characteristic:  Epistolae  quaedam,  etc.,  J.  H.,  quae 
solae  satis  declarant  Papistarum  pietates,  esse  Satanae  furias. 


70  THE    HISTORY    OF 

wonderful.  "They  are,"  he  says,  "a  deserved  punishment 
on  account  of  my  sins,  and  a  sign  of  God's  love."^  He 
forgives  his  personal  enemies  and  moves  Palec  to  tears  by 
begging  his  pardon  for  the  sharp  words  with  which  he  has 
addressed  him.  The  smallest  favors  excite  his  deepest 
gratitude.  He  can  never  forget  the  grasp  of  Baron  Chlum's 
hand  at  the  Council ;  he  loves  to  tell  of  the  kindness  of  his 
keepers,  especially  of  one  Robert,  at  whose  request  he  com- 
poses, while  the  theologians  of  the  Church  are  denouncing 
his  writings  as  full  of  pernicious  errors,  short  religious  treatises 
which  instruct  this  unlettered  man  and  fill  his  heart  with  joy. 
The  ordeal  that  is  drawing  ever  nearer  leads  him  to  Christ. 
He  does  not  rely  upon  himself,  but  upon  divine  grace  and 
strength.  "O  holy  Lord  Christ!"  he  writes,  two  weeks 
before  his  death,  in  closing  a  letter  to  his  friends  at 
Constance,  "draw  us  after  Thee.  We  are  weak,  and  if 
Thou  dost  not  draw  us,  we  cannot  follow  Thee.  Give  us  a 
strong  and  willing  spirit,  and  when  the  weakness  of  the  flesh 
appears,  let  Thy  grace  go  on  before  us,  accompany  and 
follow  us.  For  without  Thee  we  can  do  nothing,  least  of 
all  suffer  a  cruel  death  for  Thy  sake.  Grant  a  willing  spirit, 
a  fearless  heart,  true  faith,  steadfast  hope,  perfect  love,  that 
for  Thy  sake  we  may,  with  patience  and  joy,  surrender  our 
life.     Amen."^ 

It  was  the  hope  entertained  both  by  the  Council  and 
Sigismund  that  Hus  would,  in  the  end,  recant,  which  delayed 
the  formal  sentence.  A  recantation  would  give  the  victory  to 
the  Fathers ;  the  intelligence  of  the  growing  excitement  in 
Bohemia  and  Moravia  could  not  but  impress  the  King. 
Frequent  attempts  were  made,  by  individual  members  of  the 
Council,  to  induce  Hus  to  yield  to  its  decision ;  and,  on  the 
first  of  July,  a  number  of  prelates  and  eminent  divines 
officially  urged  him  to  take  this  step.  His  answer  was  a 
written  declination.  Four  days  later,  July  the  fifth,  Sigis- 
mund sent  deputies  in  his  own  name  to  make  a  last  attempt. 

*  Hist,  et  Mon.,  I.  p.  88.     Ep.  xxxvii. 

*  Documenta  Hus,  p.  131,  Ep.  82. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  71 

Hus  referred  them  to  the  paper  with  which  ho  had  furnished 
the  first  deputation ;  that  paper,  he  said,  contained  his  final 
reply.  The  next  day,  Saturday,  July  the  sixth,  was  his  forty- 
sixth  birthday;  he  celebrated  it  at  the  stake,  sealing  his 
testimony  with  his  blood. 

The  Council  met  in  the  Cathedral,^  and  held  its  fifteenth 
general  session  with  extraordinary  pomp.  A  strong  guard 
brought  Hus  to  the  portal,  where  he  was  obliged  to  wait  until 
the  service  of  mass  had  been  concluded,  so  that  the  holy 
mysteries  might  not  be  profaned  by  his  presence.  On  entering 
he  found,  in  the  middle  of  the  church,  a  small  platform  erected, 
with  a  table  and  wooden  rack  on  which  hung  the  vestments  of 
a  priest.  He  was  assigned  a  place  in  front  of  this  platform, 
and  immediately  knelt  in  silent  prayer.'^  That  prayer  was 
heard.  Hus  was  not  only  about  to  enter  the  noble  army  of 
martyrs,  but  also  showed  that  he  deserves  to  be  counted 
among  those  heroes  of  faith  "  of  whom  the  world  was  not 
Avorthy,"  "who  through  faith  subdued  kingdoms,  wrought 
righteousness,  obtained  promises."  In  that  cathedral  an 
ordeal  awaited  him  which  was  calculated  to  torment  his  mind 
as  severely  as  the  fire  would  torment  his  body.  He  looked 
around  and  saw  an  august  and  imposing  assembly.  There 
was  the  King  on  an  elevated  throne,  surrounded  by  the 
magnates  of  the  Empire — the  Elector  Palatine  Louis  with 
the  imperial  globe,  the  Count  of  Nuremberg  with  the  sceptre, 
the  Duke  of  Bavaria  with  the  crown,  a  Hungarian  prince 
with  the  sword,  and  many  other  nobles  in  splendid  armor 
and  nodding  plumes.  There  were  the  President  of  the 
Council,  the  Cardinal  Bishop  of  Ostia,  the  other  Cardinals 
and    many  prelates,  robed    in    rich  vestments   and    wearing 

^  The  Cathedral  of  Constance,  begun  in  1048,  is  a  large  Gothic  but  other- 
wise unsightly  building,  which  has  been  greatly  changed  since  the  time  of 
the  Council,  both  internally  and  externally,  presenting  therefore  a  very 
diferent  appearance  now  from  what  it  did  then. 

''  Krummel,  p.  537,  says  that  Hus  was  made  to  ascend  the  platform  as 
soon  as  he  entered  the  church,  and  that  he  remained  there  until  his  degra- 
dation. Mladenowic,  who  is  our  principal  authority,  particularly  says. 
Doc.  Hus,  p.  317,  that  he  took  his  stand  in  front  of  the  platform. 


72  THE    HISTORY    OF 

scarlet  hats  or  jeweled  mitres.  There  was  an  array  of 
learned  doctors  of  theology,  of  abbots  and  priests  and  monks, 
from  almost  every  part  of  the  Christian  world.  There, 
finally,  appeared  a  throng  of  citizens  and  visitors  all  eager 
to  see  and  hear,  and  filling  the  church  to  its  utmost  capacity. 
In  the  presence  of  this  assembly  Hus  was  to  be  sentenced 
and  degraded.  Every  eye  was  upon  him,  but  he  flinched 
not ;  and,  as  occasion  offered,  uttered  words  so  telling,  so  full 
of  trust,  so  mighty  in  their  power,  that  they  have  inspired 
the  good  and  the  true  in  all  the  centuries  since.  For  it  was 
not  he  that  spoke,  but  the  Spirit  of  his  Father  spoke  in  him.^ 
The  proceedings  began  with  a  sermon,  preached  by  the 
Bishop  of  Lodi,  on  the  words  of  St.  Paul,  "  that  the  body 
of  sin  might  be  destroyed,"^  which  words  he  applied  to  Hus 
as  the  heretic  who  was  to  be  destroyed  and  to  Sigismund  as 
God's  agent  in  so  glorious  a  work,  which  would  bring  him 
"  perpetual  praise."  Thereupon  a  report  of  the  past  proceed- 
ings was  communicated,  including  the  articles  extracted  as 
heretical  from  the  writings  of  Hus.  As  soon  as  the  first  of 
these  articles  had  been  read,  he  protested  that  it  did  not 
correctly  set  forth  his  views,  but  was  ordered  to  remain  silent ; 
and  although  he  begged,  for  God's  sake,  to  be  allowed  to 
speak,  this  request  was  refused  and  the  vergers  were  told  to 
silence  him  by  force,  if  necessary.  When  he  heard  this,  he 
fell  upon  his  knees  and  lifted  up  his  folded  hands  in  mute 
appeal  to  heaven.  The  reading  continued,  but  so  flagrantly 
untrue  were  some  of  the  accusations,  that  he  made  another 
effort  to  be  heard  and  succeeded  in  interposing  several  com- 
ments, adding,  in  a  loud  voice,  while  his  eyes  were  fixed  full 
upon  Sigismund,  that  in  reliance  on  the  safe-conduct  granted 
him  by  the  King,  which  was  to  protect  him  from  violence,  he 
had  come  to  Constance  of  his  own  free  will,  in  order  to  give 
an  account  of  his  faith.     As  he  uttered  these  words  a  deep 


« Matt.  X,  20. 

*  Rom.  vi,  6.     The  sermon  is  given  in  full  in  Hist,  et  Mon.,  I.  pp.  33 
and  34. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  73 

blush  overspread  the  royal  countenance.^"  Additional  formal- 
ities having  been  gone  through  with  according  to  canonical 
law,  Antonius,  Bishop  of  Concordia,  an  aged  prelate  of  vener- 
able aspect,  ascended  the  pulpit  and  published  the  formal 
sentence :  The  writings  of  Hus  were  to  be  publicly  committed 
to  the  flames ;  he  was  to  be  degraded  from  the  priesthood  and 
to  be  punished  as  a  heretic."  "  Lord  Jesus,"  he  said  as  soon 
as  this  sentence  had  been  read,  "  forgive  mine  enemies !  Thou 
knowest  that  they  have  borne  false  witness  against  me.  For- 
give them  for  Thy  great  mercy's  sake!"  At  this  prayer  the 
eyes  of  many  prelates  flamed  with  indignation  and  a  mocking 
laugh  burst  from  their  lips. 

The  ceremony  of  degradation  had  been  committed  to  six 
Bishops,  who  now  commanded  Hus  to  ascend  the  platform 
and  array  himself  in  the  priestly  vestments  which  were  hang- 
ing there.  When  fully  robed  they  once  more  exhorted  him 
to  recant  and  abjure  his  errors.  Facing  the  vast  assembly 
he  spoke  touching  words,  in  a  voice  almost  choked  with 
emotion.  *'  Behold,  these  Bishops  demand  of  me  that  I  shall 
recant  and  abjure.  I  fear  to  do  this.  For,  if  I  complied, 
I  would  be  false  in  the  eyes  of  God  and  sin  against  my 
own  conscience  and  divine  truth ;  seeing  that  I  have  never 
taught  what  has  been  falsely  charged  against  me,  and  that  I 
have  rather  written  and   preached   the  contrary.     There  is 

^°  Lechler,  Berger  and  others  omit  the  incident  of  the  blush ;  Alzog,  in 
his  Roman  Catholic  Manual  of  Universal  Church  History,  Cincinnati, 
1876,  Vol.  II.  p.  964,  denies  it  and  pronounces  it  to  be  an  invention  of  the 
Bohemians,  basing  this  assertion  upon  the  fact  that  Mladenowic  says 
nothing  of  it  in  his  Relatio.  Mladenowic,  however,  does  report  the  inci- 
dent, not  in  his  Relatio,  but  in  his  brief  Bohemian  chronicle  which,  as 
Palacky,  IV.  p.  364,  Note  470,  tells  us,  is  found  in  a  Latin  version  in  Hist, 
et  Mon.,  II.  pp.  515-520  (Vide  p.  518).  Von  der  Hardt,  IV.  p.  393,  also 
relates  the  occurrence,  but  has  evidently  taken  it  from  the  Latin  version 
of  Mladenowic's  chronicle,  for  he  uses  the  very  words  there  found.  Of 
modern  authorities,  besides  Palacky,  Krummel,  p.  541,  Gillett,  II,  p.  55, 
Czerwenka,  I.  p.  105,  and  Neander,  IV.  p.  488,  all  accept  the  incident  as 
historic. 

"  The  sentence  which  was  very  lengthy,  the  first  part  relating  to  the 
writings  of  Hus  and  tiie  second  to  himself,  is  given  in  full  in  Hist,  et 
Mon.,  I.  pp.  35  and  36. 


74  THE    HISTORY    OF 

another  reason  why  I  cannot  recant.  I  would  thereby  offend 
not  only  the  many  souls  to  whom  I  have  proclaimed  the 
Gospel,  but  others  also  who  are  preaching  it  in  all  faithful- 
ness."^^ "  Now  we  see,"  exclaimed  the  Bishops,  "  how 
hardened  he  is  in  his  wickedness  and  obstinate  in  his  heresy !" 
Ordering  him  to  descend,  they  pressed  around  him  and 
snatched  from  his  hand  the  chalice,  saying  :  "  We  take  from 
thee,  thou  cursed  Judas,  who  hast  forsaken  the  council  of 
peace  and  become  one  with  the  Jews,  this  cup  of  salvation  !" 
"  But  I,"  he  answered,  "  confide  in  the  Lord  God  Almighty, 
for  whose  name  I  patiently  bear  this  blasphemy,  and  who  will 
not  take  from  me  the  cup  of  salvation,  but  will  permit  me,  I 
am  firmly  persuaded,  to  drink  it,  this  day,  in  His  kingdom." 
Then  they  tore  from  his  person  the  priestly  vestments,  piece 
by  piece,  each  with  a  more  fearful  malediction,  Hus  replying 
with  words  of  faith  and  hope.  When  the  tonsure  was  to  be 
effaced,  a  most  unseemly  wrangle  occurred  as  to  the  manner 
in  which  this  should  be  done,  and  whether  a  razor  or  shears 
should  be  used;  at  last  it  was  cut  in  four  directions  with 
shears,  and  thus  the  last  symbol  of  his  priestly  office  dis- 
appeared. A  paper  cap,  a  yard  high,  in  the  shape  of  a 
pyramid,  displaying  the  hideous  picture  of  three  devils 
struggling  with  one  another  for  his  soul,  and  the  words  Hie 
est  haeresiarcha^^  was  then  put  upon  his  head,  the  Bishops 
saying:  "Thus  we  deliver  your  soul  to  the  devil !"  Clasping 
his  hands  and  lifting  his  eyes  to  heaven  Hus  replied  :  "  But 
I  commit  it  to  my  most  gracious  Lord  Jesus  Christ !  For 
my  sake  He  bore,  though  innocent,  a  much  harder  and 
heavier  crown  of  thorns;  why  should  I  poor  sinner  not  wear 
this  lighter  though  blasphemous  one  for  His  name's  and 
truth's  sake  ?" 

A  formal  announcement  followed,  that  the  degradation  was 
completed  and  that  Hus  no  longer  had  part  in  the  Church, 
but  was  delivered  to  the  secular  arm  for  punishment.     Sigis- 

^^  Mladenowic  Relatio,  Doc.  Hus,  p.  320.     Other  sources  give  the  address 
in  a  somewhat  different  form. 
"  "  This  is  the  Arch-heretic." 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  75 

raund  charged  the  Elector  Palatine  with  its  execution ;  the 
Elector  told  the  burgher-master  of  Constance  to  issue  the 
necessary  orders  ;  the  burgher-master  commanded  his  bailiffs 
and  the  executioners,  who  were  in  waiting,  to  convey  Hus 
to  the  stake  and  forthwith  burn  him  alive.  When  these 
directions  had  been  severally  given,  the  Council  continued  its 
session. 

He  was  led  first  to  the  square  in  front  of  the  Cathedral, 
that  he  might  witness  the  burning  of  his  writings.  This 
spectacle  provoked  but  a  smile ;  for  he  well  knew  that  how- 
ever many  copies  might  be  destroyed  at  Constance,  there  were 
far  more  at  Prague  and  throughout  Bohemia.  Then,  walking 
between  two  servants  of  the  Elector,  guarded  by  more  than 
one  thousand  armed  men,  and  followed  by  a  great  multitude, 
he  went  forth  to  die.  His  step  was  firm,  his  bearing  manly, 
his  countenance  full  of  joy.  "  He  proceeded  to  his  punish- 
ment as  to  a  feast.  Not  a  word  escaped  him  which  gave 
indication  of  the  least  weakness."^^  About  eleven  o'clock  the 
procession  reached  the  fatal  spot.  It  was  a  meadow,  known 
as  the  Bruhl,  outside  of  the  city  walls,  to  the  left  of  the  road 
to  Gottlieben.  As  soon  as  he  came  near  to  the  stake  he 
knelt  and  prayed  the  thirty-first  and  fifty-first  Psalms,  with 
great  fervency  of  heart,  so  that  the  people  standing  by  were 
deeply  moved.  While  thus  engaged  the  paper  cap  fell  from 
his  head ;  one  of  the  bailiffs  replaced  it  with  a  brutal  jest. 
The  executioners  now  ordered  him  to  rise.  He  obeyed, 
saying :  "  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  this  cruel  and  terrible  punish- 
ment I  will  cheerfully  and  humbly  bear  for  the  sake  of  Thy 
holy  Gospel  and  of  the  preaching  of  Thy  blessed  Word !" 
His  wish  to  address  the  people  was  refused  by  the  Elector, 
who   commanded  him  to  be  burned  without  further  delay, 

^*  This  is  the  testimony  of  that  elegant  Roman  Catholic  writer  Aeneas 
Sylvius,  afterward  Pope  Pius  the  Second.  He  speaks  both  of  Hus  and 
Jerome  of  Prague,  and  adds :  "  In  the  midst  of  the  flames  they  sang 
hymns  uninterruptedly  to  their  last  breath.  No  philosopher  ever  suffered 
death  with  such  constancy  as  they  endured  the  flames."  Aen.  Syl.  Cap. 
xxxvi,  p.  33. 


76  THE    HISTORY   OF 

granting  him  time  merely  to  bid  farewell  to  his  keepers.  He 
was  bound  to  the  stake  with  seven  moistened  thongs  and  a 
heavy  chain,  which  was  wound  round  his  neck.  "  Willingly," 
he  said,  "  do  I  suifer  myself  to  be  bound  with  this  chain  for 
the  sake  of  the  holy  name  of  my  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who, 
for  my  sake,  was  far  more  cruelly  bound."  Some  of  the 
bystanders  remarking  that  his  face  was  turned  to  the  East — 
a  thing  unseemly  in  the  case  of  a  heretic — his  position  was 
changed  so  that  he  looked  to  the  West.  Fagots  of  dry  wood 
and  straw  saturated  with  pitch  were  now  piled  about  him  up 
to  his  chin.  Everything  was  ready  for  the  torch.  In  that 
supreme  moment  Count  Oppenheim,  the  Marshal  of  the 
Empire,  accompanied  by  the  Elector,  rode  up  to  the  stake 
and  offered  him  his  life,  if  he  would  recant.  "  What  shall 
I  recant,"  was  his  answer,  in  a  voice  clear  and  loud,  "not 
being  conscious  of  any  errors  ?  I  call  God  to  witness  that  I 
have  neither  taught  nor  preached  what  has  been  falsely  laid 
to  my  charge,  but  that  the  end  of  all  my  preaching  and 
writings  was  to  induce  my  fellow-men  to  forsake  sin.  In  the 
truth  which  I  have  proclaimed,  according  to  the  Gospel  of 
Jesus  Christ  and  the  expositions  of  holy  teachers,  I  will,  this 
day,  joyfully  die."  At  these  words  both  the  nobles  clapped 
their  hands  and  rode  off.  It  was  the  signal  for  the  execution. 
The  torch  was  applied.  As  soon  as  Hus  saw  the  smoke  rising 
he  began  to  sing  : 

Christe,  fill  Dei  vivi,  miserere  nobis  ! 
Christe,  fili  Dei  vivi,  miserere  mei  / 
Qui  natus  es  ex  Maria  virgine — ^* 

here  the  wind  drove  the  flames  into  his  face.  His  lips  con- 
tinued to  move,  but  his  last  words  had  been  spoken.  The 
agony  was  short,  and  then 

"  Hus,  the  victim  of  perfidious  foes, 
To  heaven  upon  a  fiery  chariot  rose." 

^'  "Christ,  Thou  Son  of  the  living  God,  have  mercy  upon  us! 
Christ,  Thou  Son  of  the  living  God,  have  mercy  upon  me! 
Thou  who  wast  born  of  the  Virgin  Mary — " 

— Mladenowic  Relatio,  Documenta  Hus,  p.  323. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  77 

When  the  fire  had  spent  its  strength,  there  appeared  a 
charred  post  and  hanging  to  it  a  ghastly  corpse.  Both  were 
torn  down  by  the  executioners.  They  crushed  the  bones, 
cleft  the  skull,  heaped  up  fresh  fuel,  and  reduced  these 
remains  and  the  stake  to  ashes.  The  heart  they  stuck  on  a 
spear  and  held  it  in  the  flames  until  it  was  consumed.  Every 
article  of  the  martyr's  dress  and  the  paper  cap,  which  the 
wind  had  blown  away,  were  burned  ;^^  and,  at  last,  the  ashes 
were  gathered  and,  together  with  the  ground  into  which  the 
stake  had  been  driven,  cast  into  the  Rhine.  There  remained 
not  the  smallest  memento  of  the  Bohemian  Reformer ;  but  his 
countrymen  came,  dug  out,  on  the  place  where  the  stake  had 
stood,  a  quantity  of  earth  and  carried  it  as  a  sacred  relic  to 
their  native  land.^'' 

Nearly  a  year  later,  on  the  thirtieth  of  May,  1416,  Jerome 
of  Prague  suffered  martyrdom  on  the  same  spot.^®  It  is 
marked  by  a  boulder  on  which  are  graven  simply  the  names 
of  the  two  friends  and  the  dates  of  their  death.  Ivy  and 
flowering  creepers  twine  about  the  stone.  Near  by  stands  a 
Protestant  church.'^ 

^*  There  is  a  discrepancy  in  the  chronicles  with  regard  to  the  clothing, 
some  saying  that  Hus  was  burned  in  his  clothes,  others  that  they  were 
stripped  off  before  the  execution  and  afterward  burned. 

"  Aen.  Syl.,  Cap.  xxxvi,  p.  33. 

'*  True  to  the  chivalry  of  his  nature  and  the  loyalty  of  his  friendship 
Jerome  came  to  Constance  to  aid  Hus  and  plead  his  cause  before  the 
Council,  but  was  advised,  by  his  friends,  to  return  to  Bohemia  as  quickly 
as  possible.  On  the  way  he  was  arrested,  delivered  to  the  Council,  and 
cruelly  imprisoned.  Weakened  by  sickness  and  the  protracted  sufferings 
of  his  dungeon  he  was  induced  to  recant,  but  soon  retracted  his  recantation 
and  died  with  the  same  fortitude  as  Hus. 

^^  The  incident  given  by  Croeger,  I.  p.  35,  of  an  old  peasant  woman 
dragging  a  faggot  to  the  stake  and  eliciting  from  Hus  the  exclamation, 
"Sancta  simplicitas  !" — as  also  his  reputed  prophecy  respecting  the  coming 
of  Luther,  are  legends  without  historic  foundation. 

An  important  source  for  the  history  of  Hus  while  at  Constance  is  "  Ulrich 
Eichtental's  Bericht  iiber  J.  Hus,"  a  manuscript  diary  written  in  quaint  old 
German.  The  substance  of  this  diary  was  twice  printed,  in  1536  and  1575; 
recently  the  oldest  manuscript,  that  of  Aulendorf,  profuselv  illustrated  with 
pen  and  ink  sketches  by  the  author,  has  been  photographed.  The  Malin 
Library  at  Bethlehem  contains  a  copy  of  this  work. 


78  THE    HISTORY    OF 

Thus  perished  John  Hus,  in  the  prime  of  manhood,  in  the 
midst  of  his  work,  a  noble  man,  a  valiant  confessor,  the  illus- 
trious forerunner  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum.  The  full  account 
which  we  have  given  of  his  life  and  labors  belongs  to  its 
history.  This  Church  would  never  have  arisen  if  he  had 
not  promulgated  principles  which  led  to  its  birth.  What  he 
taught,  the  Brethren  reproduced  in  their  confessions  and 
catechisms.  What  he  preached,  served  their  preachers  as  a 
model  or  was  communicated  to  their  congregations  by  lay- 
readers.  The  hymns  which  he  composed,  they  sang  with  deep 
devotion.  Even  the  new  forms  in  which  he  clothed  his 
native  tongue  became  chiefly  their  heritage.  The  Reformation 
which  he  began,  they,  and  not  the  Hussites,  developed  to  its 
legitimate  end.  The  martyr  spirit  which  he  manifested,  they 
upheld.  His  weapons  were  theirs — not  carnal,  but  the  two- 
edged  sword  of  the  Word  and  the  whole  armor  of  God. 
Well,  therefore,  may  the  Brethren's  Church  still  commemorate 
the  day  of  his  death  and  sing,  in  the  course  of  its  memorial 
office,  with  special  reference  to  Hus  and  those  of  its  fathers 
who,  like  him,  sealed  their  testimony  w^ith  their  blood : 

"  For  all  Thy  saints,  O  Lord, 
Who  strove  in  Thee  to  live, 
Who  followed  Thee,  obeyed,  adored, 
Our  grateful  hymn  receive. 

For  all  Thy  saints,  0  Lord, 

Accept  our  thankful  cry. 
Who  counted  Thee  their  great  reward, 

And  strove  in  Thee  to  die." 


THE   MORAVIAN   CHUKCH.  79 


PERIOD   III. 

THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  HUSSITES. 
A.  D.  1415-1457. 


CHAPTER    IX. 
The  Hussite  Wars  and  Factions.     A.  D.  1415-1434. 


Disturbances  in  Bohemia. — Letter  of  the  Diet  to  the  Council. — The  Hussite 
League. — Adjournment  of  the  Council. — Gathering  of  Hussites  on 
Mt.  Tabor. — Councilors  killed  at  Prague. — Death  of  Wen zel.— First 
Crusade  against  the  Hussites. — Zizka. — Victory  at  the  Witkowberg. — 
The  Articles  of  Prague. — The  Diet  renounces  allegiance  to  Sigismund. 
— The  Utraquists. — The  Taborites. — The  Orphans. — Further  Crusades 
against  the  Hussites  and  Victory  at  Tauss. — The  Council  of  Basle  opens 
Negotiations  with  them. — The  Compactata  of  Basle.— Defeat  of  the 
Taborites  at  Lipan. 

The  fire  of  the  stake  at  which  John  Hus  suffered,  kindled 
a  conflagration  that  raged  for  years  with  insatiable  fury.^  As 
soon  as  the  news  that  he  had  been  executed  reached  Bohemia, 
all  classes  were  profoundly  moved.  Many  who  had  been 
undecided  in  their  views,  or  timid  in  expressing  them,  openly 
jained  his  followers  ;  the  Roman  Catholic  priests  were  quickly 
expelled  from  their  parishes  which  were  given  to  Hussites ; 
the  houses  of  his  personal  enemies  among  the  clergy  at 
Prague  were  plundered,  and  siege  was  laid  to  the  palace  of 

^  Sources  for  this  and  the  next  chapters  are :  Palacky,  Vols.  IV.  V.  and 
VI.;  Krummel's  Ut.  u.  Tab.;  Bezold  Husitentum ;  Czerwenka,  I.;  Hofler's 
three  Vols.;  Palacky's  Hofler;  Lechler,  II,  Chap.  VI.  We  present,  in 
outlines,  the  history  of  the  Hussites  merely  in  so  far  as  it  is  preparatory  to 
the  history  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum. 


80  THE    HISTORY    OF 

the  Archbishop,  who  fled  in  dismay.  The  efforts  of  the 
Council  to  restore  order  increased  the  commotion.  Letters 
which  it  issued  justifying  the  execution  of  Hus,  warning 
against  his  doctrines,  and  threatening  his  adherents  with  the 
severest  discipline  of  the  Church,  called  forth  a  defiant  answer 
from  the  Diet  (September  the  second,  1415,)  signed  by  four 
hundred  and  twenty  five  barons  and  knights,  full  of  reproaches 
and  counter-menaces.  Three  days  later,  a  Hussite  League  was 
formed,  whose  members  pledged  themselves  to  act  in  unison, 
to  allow  free  preaching  of  the  Gospel  on  their  estates,  to  obey 
episcopal  mandates  in  so  far  only  as  they  were  in  harmony 
with  the  Holy  Scriptures,  to  resist  all  unjust  bans,  and  to 
uphold  the  decisions  of  the  University  of  Prague.^  Although 
the  Fathers  were  encouraged,  by  the  speedy  organization  of  a 
Catholic  League,  to  persevere  in  their  denunciations  and  to 
enforce  them  with  the  ban,  the  Hussites  were  not  overawed. 
Nearly  three  years  passed  by  without  effecting  a  change ;  so 
that  when  the  Council  finally  adjourned,  on  the  twenty-second 
of  April,  1418,  Bohemia  and  Moravia  were  still  fired  with 
excitement  which  was  ready,  at  any  moment,  to  burst  into 
flames.  Nor  had  anything  been  accomplished  at  Constance  in 
the  way  of  reform.  The  new  Pope,  Martin  the  Fifth,  elected 
on  the  eleventh  of  November,  1417,  disregarding  the  hopes 
of  all  Christendom,  postponed  this  work  to  the  next  Council. 
Impotent  end  of  the  august  convocation  that  had,  for  nearly 
four  years,  deliberated  on  ways  and  means  to  purify  the 
Church ! 

A  peculiar  feature  of  the  Hussite  movement  was  the 
preaching  of  itinerant  evangelists,  in  private  houses  or  open 
fields.  They  attracted  large  congregations;  and  when 
Wenzel,  in  1419,  ordered  the  restoration  of  the  catholic 
priests  to  the  parishes  from  which  they  had  been  expelled, 
such  congregations  began  to  undertake  pilgrimages  to  neigh- 
boring or  more  distant  churches,  where  they  could  enjoy  the 
Holy  Communion  under  both  kinds.     A  hill,  in  the  vicinity 


2  Krummel's  Ut.  u.  Tab.,  p.  8;  Palacky,  IV,  p.  376. 


THE   MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  81 

of  Austi,  constituted  a  favorite  gathering  place  and  received 
the  name  of  Mt.  Tabor .^  It  was  dotted  with  the  tents  of  the 
Hussite  clergy  who  had  been  driven  from  Austi,  but  continued 
to  minister  to  the  people  that  came  to  them  in  crowds. 

On  that  hill,  at  the  instance  of  Nicholas  von  Pistna/  an 
extraordinary  meeting  was  held  on  the  twenty-second  of  July. 
In  the  early  hours  of  the  morning  there  began  to  arrive,  from 
all  parts  of  Bohemia  and  Moravia,  solemn  processions  carrying 
banners  and  the  emblems  of  the  Holy  Sacrament,  until  a 
multitude  of  not  less  than  forty-two  thousand  people  was 
assembled.  They  gave  each  other  a  jubilant  welcome  as 
brethren  and  sisters  in  the  Lord.  To  worship  Him,  under 
the  open  canopy  of  His  own  heaven,  was  their  common 
object.  Accordingly  they  divided,  each  sex.  by  itself,  into 
numerous  congregations  of  which  the  priests  took  charge. 
Some  preached,  while  others  heard  confessions,  or  adminis- 
tered the  Lord's  Supper  under  both  kinds.  At  noon  the 
entire  assembly  partook  of  a  simple  meal ;  the  rest  of  the  day 
was  spent  in  religious  conversation  and  social  fellowship. 
The  utmost  decorum  prevailed ;  no  levity  or  worldly  amuse- 
ments were  allowed.  It  was  a  primitive  camp-meeting  on 
a  grand  scale.  Toward  evening  the  pilgrims  bade  each  other 
farewell,  with  mutual  pledges  to  uphold  the  holy  cause  of  the 
Cup  and  of  free  preaching;    then  each  company,   again    in 

^  According  to  the  latest  researches  of  Palacky,  Mt.  Tabor  was  not  that 
hill  which  subsequently  constituted  the  site  of  the  town  of  Tabor,  but  was 
situated  somewhere  in  the  region  between  this  town  and  Bechin  and 
Bernartic  (Benarditz).     Palacky,  V.  p.  85,  and  Note  64. 

*  Nicholas  von  Pistna,  also  called  von  Hus,  or  von  Husinec,  in  view  of 
his  appointment  as  royal  burggrave  of  the  Castle  of  Hus,  was  attached  to 
the  court  of  Wenzel,  who  employed  him  in  various  afiairs  of  state.  In 
1419  he  fell  under  the  displeasure  of  the  King,  because  he  asked  that  more 
churches  might  be  granted  to  the  Hussites,  and  was  banished  from  Prague. 
Thereupon  he  became  one  of  their  leaders  and  an  agitator  among  the 
peasantry  in  particular,  working  in  unison  with  Zizka.  He  took  part  in 
the  first  Hussite  campaign  against  the  imperial  crusaders,  and  died  at 
Prague,  on  the  twenty-fourth  of  December,  1420.  He  was  not  the  heredi- 
tary lord  of  the  Castle  of  Hus,  and  John  Hus  was  not  his  vassal,  as  some 
writers  maintain.  Palacky,  IV.  p.  416,  Note  525. 
6 


82  THE    HISTORY    OF 

procession,  took  its  way  homeward  and  made  the  long 
summer-twilight  vocal  with  sacred  song.  The  owners  of  the 
fields,  where  the  gathering  had  taken  place,  were  liberally 
indemnified  for  the  losses  which  it  had  occasioned.  Similar 
meetings  were  subsequently  held  at  the  same  place.^ 

An  event  of  a  different  and  most  alarming  character 
occurred  at  Prague.  On  Sunday,  the  thirtieth  of  July,  a 
Hussite  procession,  led  by  John  of  Selau,^  the  priest  of  the 
church  of  Maria-Schnee,  while  passing  the  Council  House  of 
the  Neustadt,  was  insulted  by  some  of  the  councilors  and  their 
servants.  A  fearful  tumult  ensued  ;  men  rushed  together 
from  all  sides  with  arms  in  their  hands ;  the  Council  House 
was  stormed  and  whoever  attempted  to  oppose  the  mob  was 
cut  down  without  mercy ;  eleven  councilors  escaped,  but  seven 
others  were  hurled  from  an  upper  window  and  impaled  on  the 
spears  and  lances  of  the  multitude  below.  Amidst  peals  of 
alarm  the  riot  spread  throughout  the  Neustadt,  which  was 
seized  by  the  populace.  Wenzel,  who  was  at  the  castle  of 
Wenzelstein,  when  informed  of  what  had  happened  gave 
way  to  so  terrible  a  burst  of  anger  that  a  slight  attack  of 
apoplexy  ensued ;  on  the  sixteenth  of  August  he  had  a 
second  and  severe  attack,  in  consequence  of  which  he  died  in 
a  few  hours. 

According  to  the  compact  of  1411,  Sigismund  was  to  be 
his  successor.  Blind  to  his  own  interests  and  obstinate  in 
his  resolution  to  crush  the  disturbances  in  Bohemia  by  force, 
lie  did  not  come  to  claim  the  kingdom,  but  appointed  Queen 

*  There  are  two  original  and  very  valuable  sources  giving  an  account  of 
the  meeting  on  Mt.  Tabor  and  of  many  other  events  in  the  history  of  the 
Hussites.  The  one  is  Brezowa's  Diarium  Belli  Hussitici,  and  the  other  the 
Chronica  of  Pilgram,  the  Taborite  Bishop.  Both  are  frequently  quoted 
by  Palacky. 

®  John  was  a  monk  who  had  escaped  from  the  Premonstrant  Monastery 
of  Selau.  He  became  prominent  during  the  hegemony  of  Prague,  and  for 
two  years,  1420  to  1422,  practically  ruled  Bohemia.  In  the  latter  year  a 
party  was  formed  against  him,  and  he  was  secretly  executed.  Although 
originally  a  demagogue  and  fanatic,  he  showed,  when  in  power,  great 
moderation  both  in  his  measures  and  theology,  and  labored  hard  to  unite 
the  two  great  parties  among  the  Hussites. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  83 

Sophia  his  regent  and  persuaded  the  Pope  to  inaugurate  a 
crusade  against  the  Hussites.  Thus  began  one  of  the  most 
remarkable,  and  at  the  same  time  terrific,  wars  the  world  has 
seen.  For  sixteen  years  Bohemia  single  handed  defied  all 
Europe. 

The  truth  which  history  sets  forth,  more  or  less  clearly,  in 
every  age,  that  when  a  nation  is  passing  through  a  crisis  it 
produces  the  man  for  the  crisis,  was  anew  established  at  the 
opening  of  this  war.  A  greater  general,  a  mightier  man  of 
valor,  a  more  invincible  leader  than  John  Zizka  von  Troconow, 
never  drew  sword.  He  created  armies.  He  originated  the 
most  novel  and  successful  tactics.  He  never  lost  a  battle. 
Through  his  indomitable  energy,  peasants  and  mechanics, 
armed  with  lances  and  slings,  iron-pointed  flails  and  clubs, 
were  trained  to  beat  down  the  mail-clad  knights  of  Europe 
like  straw  and  to  scatter  them  like  chaif.  His  barricades  of 
wagons,  now  motionless  as  a  rampart,  and  again  circling  over 
the  field  of  battle  in  bewildering  evolutions,  were  a  notable 
instance  of  his  military  genius ;  and  the  battle  hymn,  "  Ye 
who  the  Lord  God's  warriors  are,"  etc.,  which  he  is  said  to 
have  composed  and  which  his  men  were  accustomed  to  sing 
when  advancing  to  the  fight,  shows  that  he  made  religion  the 
source  of  their  irresistible  courage.  Intolerant,  fanatical  and 
cruel,  he  was  nevertheless  a  true  patriot,  disinterested  and 
humble,  striving  to  lead  a  godly  and  righteous  life.  Deeming 
himself  an  avenger  of  the  divine  law,  he  mercilessly  destroyed 
all  whom  he  believed  to  be  its  foes,  and  in  the  spirit  of 
Israel's  stern  leader,  "  hewed  in  pieces  before  the  Lord."^ 

'  1  Sam.  XV,  33.  Zizka  was  born,  probably  about  1354,  at  Trocnow,  now 
included  in  Forbes,  about  ten  miles  South  East  of  Budweis,  and  was  the 
owner  of  several  small  estates.  He  belonged  to  the  lower  order  of  nobility, 
is  supposed  to  have,  at  one  time,  served  under  the  king  of  Poland,  and 
subsequently  found  a  place  at  the  court  of  Wenzel  with  whom  he  stood  in 
high  favor.  He  left  the  court  and  espoused  the  cause  of  the  Hussites.  At 
an  earlier  time  he  lost  one  of  his  eyes,  in  what  way  is  not  known ;  at  the 
siege  of  Raby,  in  1422,  the  other  was  destroyed  by  an  arrow.  Totally 
blind  though  he  now  was,  he  continued  in  command  of  the  army  ;  in  time 
of  battle  he  mounted  a  wagon  and  stood  under  the  folds  of  his  banner 


84  THE    HISTORY    OF 

The  first  crusade  against  the  Hussites  laid  the  foundation 
of  his  fame.  On  the  fourteenth  of  July,  1420,  at  the 
Witkoivberg,  now  known  as  the  Zizka  Hill,  half  a  mile  to 
the  East  of  Prague,  he  totally  defeated,  with  a  far  less 
numerous  force,  the  imperialist  army  of  more  than  one 
hundred  thousand  men.  Sigismund  fled  in  dismay  from 
Bohemia,  while  the  Archbishop  of  Prague  went  over  to  the 
Hussites. 

About  the  same  time  they  issued  the  celebrated  Four 
Articles  which  set  forth  the  principles  for  which  they  were 
contending.     These  articles  were  the  following  : 

I.  The  Word  of  God  is  to  be  preached,  in  a  proper  way, 
by  priests  of  the  Lord,  without  let  or  hinderance,  throughout 
the  Kino-dom  of  Bohemia. 

II.  The  sacrament  of  the  Holy  Eucharist  is  to  be  admin- 
istered, under  each  kind,  of  bread  and  wine,  according  to  the 
institution  of  the  Saviour,  to  all  believers  not  disqualified  to 
receive  it  by  reason  of  mortal  sin. 

III.  The  secular  dominion  exercised  by  the  clergy  over 
worldly  goods  and  possessions,  to  the  prejudice  of  their 
spiritual  office  and  the  damage  of  civil  authority,  is  to  be 
taken  away  from  them,  and  the  clergy  are  to  be  brought  back 
to  the  evangelical  rule  and  apostolic  practice  of  Christ  and 
His  disciples. 

TV.  All  mortal  sins,  especially  such  as  are  public,  as  also 
all  other  irregularities  contrary  to  the  divine  law,  in  whatever 
estate  they  may  appear,  are  to  be  punished  by  those  to  whom 
it  pertains.^ 

These  four  Articles  of  Prague,  as  they  are  commonly  called, 
supported  by  many  citations  from  Scripture  and  references  to 

whose  device  was  the  cup.  He  died,  October  the  eleventh,  1424,  while 
besieging  the  Castle  of  Pribislaii,  and  was  buried  first  at  Koniggriitz  and 
then  at  Caslau.  Malin's  Zizka,  pp.  133-134;  Millauer's  Diplomatisch- 
hist.  Aufsiitze  uber  J.  Z,  Prag,  1S24;  Palacky,  IV.  pp.  414-415,  and  V. 
pp.  358-371 ;  Krummel's  Ut.  u.  Tab.,  pp.  11,  69  and  70. 

*  Hofler,  I.  pp.  380-384,  in  Brezina  de  Gestis  et  variis  accidentibus  regni 
B.,  and  II.  p.  480,  etc.,  in  Pelhrizimow's  Chronicon  ;  Palacky,  V.  pp.  136- 
138 ;  Krummel,  Ut.  u.  Tab  ,  pp.  34-38  ;  Gillett,  II.  pp.  442-444. 


THE    MORAVIAN   CHUECH.  85 

the  early  Fathers  of  the  Church,  were  drawn  up  in  Latin, 
Bohemian  and  German,  and  sent  to  all  parts  of  Europe.  In 
June,  of  1421,  they  were  formally  ado23ted  by  the  Diet  of 
Caslau,  which  body  at  the  same  time  renounced  allegiance  to 
Sigismund  and  appointed  twenty  Regents  to  administer  the 
government. 

But  there  was  no  harmony  among  the  Hussites.  At  an 
early  day  two  principal  parties  arose,  the  Calixtines,  or  Utra- 
quists,  and  the  Taborites.^ 

The  former  received  their  tendency  from  the  University  of 
Prague.  They  were  conservative  and  aristocratic,  and  as  they 
continued  to  hold  to  the  Romish  doctrines  and  usages,  except 
in  so  far  as  these  were  at  variance  with  the  Four  Articles  of 
Prague,  they  hoped  for  an  eventual  reconciliation  with  the 
Church,  after  it  would  have  been  purified  and  reformed. 
There  resulted  a  policy  which  was  both  unstable  and  crooked. 

The  leaders  of  this  party,  to  which  the  higher  order  of  the 
nobility  mostly  belonged,  were  John  of  Jesenic,  Jacobellus  of 
Mies,  Christian  of  Prachtic,  John  Kardinalis  of  Reinstein, 
Simon  of  Tisnovic,  John  of  Rokycana,  John  of  Pribram, 
Prokop  of  Pilsen,  and  Peter  Payne,  an  English  man,  kuovvn 
as  Master  English.'" 

The  germs  of  the  Taborite  party  were  planted  in  1415,  at 
Austi,  where  a  rich  weaver,  one  Pytel,  opened  his  house  to 
several  Hussite  leaders  whose  extreme  views  had  given  offence 
at  Prague  and  who  began  to  exercise  an  influence  in  opposi- 

»  Palacky,  V.  pp.  191-193  ;  Krummel's  Ut.  u.  Tab.,  pp.  87-96;  Lechler, 
II.  pp.  472-474.  The  name  Calixtines  was  derived  from  Calix,  the  cup  in 
the  Lord's  Supper,  which  cup  became  the  symbol  of  all  the  Hussites,  and 
the  name  Utraquists  from  the  words  sub  utraque,  that  is,  the  Communion 
under  both  kinds. 

'"  He  was  expelled,  as  a  follower  of  Wycliffe,  from  the  University  of 
Oxford  and  received  by  the  University  of  Prague  in  1417.  Next  to 
Jacobellus  he  was  the  leading  theologian  of  the  Hussites,  but  remained 
true  to  WyclifFe's  doctrines,  never  fully  joining  any  of  the  Bohemian  fac- 
tions, although  he  was  reckoned  first  as  a  Utraquist,  then  as  an  Orphan, 
and  finally  as  a  Taborite.  His  name  occurs  for  the  last  time  in  1452. 
Palacky,  VII.  p.  453,  &c. 


86  THE    HISTORY    OF 

tion  to  its  University,  drawing  together  a  large  number  of 
adherents.  In  1420  Tabor  was  founded,  by  order  of  Zizka, 
which  town  gave  to  the  entire  faction  its  name  and  became 
its  chief  and  formidable  seat.^^ 

The  tendency  of  this  party  was  progressive,  radical  and 
democratic,  leaning,  in  its  political  aspect,  toward  a  republican 
form  of  government  with  an  abolition  of  all  differences  of 
rank,  and  taking  a  theological  position  which  was  far  in 
advance  of  the  Articles  of  Prague  and,  in  almost  every  point, 
at  variance  with  the  Romish  Church.  The  Taborites  accepted 
the  Bible  as  the  only  source  of  faith  and  rule  of  practice, 
recognizing  in  Christ  the  only  Lawgiver  of  His  people.  They 
acknowledged  Baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper  as  the  only 
sacraments,  and  taught  that  the  latter  may  be  celebrated  in 
any  place  and  not  merely  in  a  consecrated  church  or  chapel, 
but  that  the  ministration  of  a  priest  guilty  of  mortal  sin  is 
not  valid ;  they  rejected  transubstantiation,  purgatory,  prayers 
and  alms  for  the  dead  and  the  invocation  of  the  saints ;  they 
denounced  fasting  as  a  penance,  the  idolatry  practiced  with 
relics,  images  and  pictures,  the  use  of  priestly  vestments,  the 
singing  of  the  hymns  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  and  the 
distinction  which  it  made  between  bishops  and  jjriests,  claim- 
ing that  priests  have  the  right  to  elect  and  ordain  bishops. 

The  leaders  of  this  party,  which  embraced  nobles  of  low 
rank,  burghers  and  the  great  mass  of  small  land-holders  and 
peasants,  were  Nicholas  Pelhrimow  or  Pilgram,  the  only 
Bishop  whom  the  Taborites  appointed,  Wenzel  Koranda  of 

"  Tabor,  which  was  not  far  from  Austi,  was  situated  on  a  broad  hill 
crowned  with  the  Castle  of  Hradist  and  bounded,  on  one  side,  by  the 
Luznic  and,  on  the  other,  by  a  tributary  stream.  Steep  rocks  surrounded 
the  place,  and  the  only  passage  to  it  was  a  narrow  neck  of  land  but  a  few 
paces  in  width.  This  natural  position  which  rendered  the  town  almost 
impregnable  was  strengthened  by  massive  fortifications.  Within  these 
walls  war  and  religion  maintained  a  strange  fellowship  and  gave  to  Tabor 
a  character  wholly  its  own.  The  inhabitants  were  divided  into  a  "  Field 
and  a  House  Community,"  the  former  carrying  on  war,  the  latter  engaging 
in  the  pursuits  of  peace.  At  regular  intervals  the  members  of  these  Com- 
munities, each  of  which  had  its  commanders,  inspectors  and  captains,  inter- 
changed places. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  87 

Pilsen,  Markold,  John  Capek,  John  Nemez  of  Saaz,  John  of 
Jicin,  Ambrose  of  Koniggratz  and  Prokop  the  Great. 

AVhile  the  system  of  the  Taborites,  in  not  a  few  particulars, 
bore  a  scriptural  character  that  has  re-appeared  in  Protest- 
antism, it  was  marred  by  extreme  views  and,  at  times,  by 
gross  fanaticism.  As  instances  of  the  former  we  may  mention 
their  opposition  to  the  Latin  language  and  a  collegiate  course 
of  education,  although  they  carefully  trained  their  children  in 
the  common  branches  and  in  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the 
Bible;  their  tenet,  that  to  give  or  receive  an  academical 
degree  constituted  a  mortal  sin;  the  loose  notions,  which 
occasionally  showed  themselves,  with  regard  to  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  Lord's  Supper  by  unordained  men  and  even  by 
women  ;^^  and  the  tendency  to  emancipate  women,  in  other 
respects  also,  from  the  rule  laid  down  by  the  apostle  in 
connection  with  public  worship.^^  Examples  of  fanaticism 
were  the  chiliastic  errors  into  which  they  fell,  under  the 
leadership  of  Martin  Hauska,  and  the  gross  excesses  which 
followed  ;^^  the  community  of  goods  established  at  Tabor 
during  a  period  of  nearly  two  years,  when  the  possession  of 
private  property  was  pronounced  to  be  a  mortal  sin ;  and  the 
wanton  destruction  of  churches,  chapels  and  altars,  with  all 
their  beautiful  works  of  art.  For  the  blasphemy  and  shameful 
immoralities  of  the  Adamites,  who  grew  out  of  the  scum  of 
the  chiliasts,  the  Taborites  must  not  be  held  responsible. 

A  third  faction,  occupying  a  middle  position  between  the 
Utraquists  and  Taborites,  became  prominent  after  Zizka's 
death.  This  faction  consisted  of  his  immediate  followers,  who 
assumed  the  name  of  Orphans.  There  were  several  other 
parties  of  minor  note, 

'2  Palacky,  V.  193 ;  Bezold,  p.  39 ;  Hofler,  T.  p.  482. 

"  Bezold,  pp.  38-44. 

'*  Martin  Hauska,  a  learned  and  eloquent  man,  surnamed  Loquis  on 
account  of  his  eloquence,  but  the  boldest  of  radicals,  was  expelled  from 
Tabor  in  consequence  of  his  offensive  views  on  the  Lord's  Supper.  About 
300  adherents  followed  him,  with  whom  he  wandered  about  Bohemia  until 
Zizka  attacked  and  dispersed  them.  Hauska  was  taken  prisoner  and  cruelly 
executed  in  1421.     The  chiliastic  errors  continued  for  only  about  two  years. 


iSS  THE    HISTORY    OF 

Efforts  were  not  wanting,  although  they  proved  unsuc- 
cessful, to  put  an  end  to  these  divisions  and  unite  the  Hussites. 
The  only  common  ground  they  occupied  was  their  acceptance 
of  the  Articles  of  Prague.  When  engaged  in  war,  however, 
they  forgot  their  differences.  It  continued  in  all  its  fury  and 
was  disgraced  by  horrible  cruelties  on  both  sides,  but  especially 
on  the  part  of  the  Catholics.  Four  more  crusades  were  under- 
taken by  the  imperialists,  in  all  of  which  they  were  ignobly 
defeated.  In  1427,  led  by  Procop  the  Great,^^  who  took  the 
place  of  Zizka,  the  Hussites  began  offensive  campaigns  and 
invaded  Austria,  Silesia,  Bavaria,  Hungary,  Franconia  and 
Saxony,  filling  these  countries  with  the  terror  of  their  name. 
Their  most  wonderful  victory  was  gained  at  Tauss,  where  they 
routed  one  hundred  and  thirty  thousand  crusaders,  led  by  the 
Margrave  of  Brandenburg  and  the  Cardinal  Legate  Julian 
(August  the  fourteenth,  1431).  All  Europe  stood  aghast. 
It  seemed  as  though  God  Himself  had  sent  confusion  into  the 
midst  of  one  of  the  most  puissant  hosts  that  had  ever  been 
marshalled.  It  fled,  in  abject  terror,  as  soon  as  the  noise  of 
the  war-wagons  and  the  sound  of  the  battle  hymn,  heralding 
the  approach  of  the  Hussites,  were  heard  in  the  distance. 
They  had  but  to  pursue  and  slay  and  spoil.  After  this  no 
more  crusades  were  proclaimed  against  them.  Sigismund 
unwillingly  confessed  that  the  Bohemians  could  be  con- 
quered by  Bohemians  only;  Julian  declared  that  the  sole 
hope  remaining  was  the  Council  which  had  been  appointed 
to  meet  at  Basle.  Well  might  he  say  this !  The  Roman  King 
and  the  Roman  Pontiff  had  exhausted  the  strength  of  arms, 
the  power  of  anathemas,  expedients  of  every  kind,  including 
even  a  menacing  letter  which  the  Maid  of  Orleans  was  induced 
to  issue^^ — the  Bohemians  remained  unsubdued. 


'^  Procop,  called  Weliky,  the  Great,  or  Holy,  the  Bald,  was  a  married 
priest,  a  man  of  clear  understanding,  free  from  blind  fanaticism,  thoroughly- 
versed  in  the  Scriptures  and  bitterly  opposed  to  Rome.  Bezold,  pp.  70 
and  71. 

'*  This  letter,  dated  Suliaci,  March  the  twenty-third,  1430,  threatened  the 
Bohemians  with  the  divine  vengeance  if  they  did  not  at  once  return  to  the 
obedience  due  to  the  Church.     Palacky,  V.  p.  481  and  Note  488. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  89 

Hastening  to  Basle,  where  he  assumed  the  presidency  of 
the  Council,  Cardinal  Julian  induced  this  body  to  invite  the 
Hussites  to  take  part  in  its  deliberations,  to  the  end  that  peace 
might  be  restored.  The  invitation  was  accepted,  after  the 
vehement  opposition  of  the  Taborites  had  been  overcome. 
In  January  of  1433,  a  delegation  representing  the  Utraquists, 
the  Taborites  and  the  Orphans,  reached  Basle  and  was  wel- 
comed with  every  token  of  amity  and  respect.  And  now 
began  a  spectacle  unprecedented  in  the  history  of  the  Church 
of  Rome.  For  nearly  two  months  the  Hussite  delegates 
engaged  in  disputations  with  the  Council,  using  the  utmost 
boldness  of  speech,  uncovering  the  sins  of  the  Hierarchy, 
exalting  Hus  and  Jerome  of  Prague  as  witnesses  of  the  truth, 
and  maintaining,  with  masterly  skill  and  unflinching  deter- 
mination, the  principles  set  forth  in  the  Articles  of  Prague. 
In  May,  accompanied  by  deputies  of  the  Council,  they 
returned  to  Bohemia.  The  negotiations  were  continued  at 
Prague  and  resulted,  after  a  second  delegation  of  Hussites 
had  visited  the  Council  and  a  second  deputation  from  the 
Council  had  come  to  Bohemia,  in  the  Compactata  of  Basle, 
which  substantially  conceded  the  Four  Articles  of  Prague. 
On  the  thirtieth  of  November,  1433,  these  Compactata  were 
ratified  by  the  Diet.  The  Taborites  and  Orphans,  however, 
manifested  the  utmost  dissatisfaction  and  insisted  on  further 
concessions.  But  their  power  was  rapidly  waning.  Weary 
of  the  ceaseless  strife  of  the  past  years  and  instigated  by  the 
Utraquists,  the  nobility  formed  a  league  with  which  all  men 
of  rank,  irrespective  of  party,  united  and  which  had  for  its 
object  the  forcible  pacification  of  Bohemia  and  Moravia. 
This  league  raised  a  formidable  body  of  troops;  the  Taborites 
and  Orphans  gathered  their  forces.  On  the  thirtieth  of  May, 
1434,  the  two  armies  met,  at  Lipan,  in  a  fierce  and  deadly 
conflict.  The  Taborites  and  Orphans  were  totally  defeated. 
Prokop  the  Great  and  tliirteen  thousand  of  his  warriors  lay 
dead  on  the  field. 


90  THE    HISTORY    OF 


CHAPTER  X. 

Rohycana  and  the  Utraquist  National  Chureh. 
A.  D.  1434-1453. 


Bohemia  and  Moravia  in  the  Hands  of  the  Utraquists. — John  Rokycana, 
Archbishop  elect. — Sigismund  acknowledged  King  of  Bohemia. — 
Begins  a  Eeaction.— His  Death. — Albert's  Death. — Interregnum  and 
Leagues. — Baron  Ptacek. — Convention  of  Kuttenberg. — Utraquists  the 
National  Church  of  Bohemia. — Disputation  at  Kuttenberg  and  Diet  at 
Prague. — End  of  the  Taborites. — George  Podiebrad  Regent. — Union 
with  the  Greek  Church  projected. — Accession  of  Ladislaus  Posthumus. 
— Rokycana's  sermons  against  Rome. — State  of  Morals  and  Religion 
in  Bohemia  and  Moravia. — Sects. — Societies. 

The  battle  of  Lipan  was  a  turning  point  in  the  history  of 
the  Hussites,  It  put  Bohemia  and  Moravia  into  the  hands 
of  the  Utraquists,  and  enabled  them  to  cany  out  their  plans 
unhindered.  The  man  who  was  foremost  in  shaping  events 
and  who  became  more  and  more  prominent,  until  he  exercised 
a  commanding  influence,  was  John  of  Rokycana. 

Born  at  Rokitzan,  near  Pilsen,  a  child  of  poverty  but 
endowed  with  rare  gifts,  he  passed  through  the  University  as 
a  charity-student,  attained  a  Master's  degree,  and,  in  1425, 
was  appointed  to  the  Thein  Church  at  Prague.  This  position 
gave  him  power  and  his  eloquence  won  him  fame.  He  was 
one  of  the  leading  Bohemian  delegates  at  the  Council  of  Basle 
and  stood,  by  common  consent,  at  the  head  of  the  Utraquists. 
But  he  was  vain,  greedy  of  popularity,  and  inordinately 
ambitious.  To  become  the  spiritual  ruler  of  all  Bohemia 
was  the  goal  toward  which  he  pressed.  With  this  object  in 
view  he  was  mainly  instrumental  in  bringing  about  the  civil 
war  which  led  to  the  overthrow  of  the  Taborites  as  a  military 
power,  and  now  labored  incessantly  to  uproot  them  as  a  re- 


■^^^...'Pr.g.-. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  91 

Hgious  bodj.  At  the  Diet  of  1435  he  was  unanimously  elected 
Archbishop,  and  Martin  Lupac  of  Chrudim  and  Wenzel  of 
Hohenmauth  were  appointed  his  suiFragans. 

Meantime  Sigismund  endeavored  to  regain  his  kingdom. 
The  Diet  made  demands  Avhich  were  stringent  and  humiliating ; 
but  he  pledged  himself  to  fulfill  them,  and  on  the  fifth  of 
July,  1436,  at  a  meeting  held,  with  great  pomp  and  solemnity, 
in  the  market  place  of  Iglau,  was  formally  acknowledged  as 
King  of  Bohemia.  On  the  same  occasion,  the  Compactata 
were  anew  ratified  and  the  Bohemians  re-admitted  to  the 
fellowship  of  the  mother  church.  But  scarcely  had  Sigis- 
mund reached  his  capital  when  he  began  so  serious  a  reaction 
in  favor  of  Rome  that  Rokycana  secretly  left  the  city  and 
retired  to  a  castle  near  Pardubic  (1437).  The  King's 
treachery  was,  however,  cut  short  by  the  hand  of  death,  on 
the  ninth  of  December,  of  the  same  year,  at  Znaim,  while  on 
his  way  to  Hungary ;  and  his  successor  and  son-in-law,  Albert 
of  Austria,  followed  him  to  the  grave  in  1439,  in  the  midst 
of  a  campaign  against  the  Turks.  Bohemia  was  left  without 
a  ruler,  for  Albert  had  no  children  except  a  posthumous  son. 
A  time  of  anarchy  began  and  various  leagues  arose,  the  most 
powerful  of  which  stood  under  Baron  Ptaeek.  It  was  a 
fortunate  circumstance  that  he  proved  to  be  a  man  of  sound 
judgment  and  liberal  views,  who  endeavored  to  prevent  law- 
lessness and  unite  the  religious  factions.  He  caused  a  Diet  of 
his  party  to  meet  at  Caslau  in  1441,  where  measures  looking 
to  the  public  good  were  adopted,  and,  in  the  same  year, 
called  an  ecclesiastical  convention  at  Kuttenberg  (October  the 
fourth).  This  convention  brought  about  far-reaching  results. 
Three  hundred  priests  were  in  attendance.  Rokycana  was 
acknowledged  as  Archbishop  elect,  the  supreme  direction  of 
ecclesiastical  affairs  was  committed  into  his  hands,  the  priests 
promised  him  obedience,  and  twenty-four  doctrinal  and  con- 
stitutional articles  were  adopted  which  laid  the  foundation  of 
the  Utraquist  Church  as  the  National  Church  of  Bohemia, 
But  the  Taborites  stood  aloof.  Two  more  conventions  were 
held  without  effectiug  a  change  in  their  position.     At  last  a 


92  THE    HISTORY   OF 

disputation  was  agreed  upon,  the  results  of  which  were  to  be 
referred  to  the  Diet  for  final  decision.  After  the  Taborites 
had  reluctantly  consented  to  give  a  written  pledge,  to  which 
the  seals  of  their  cities  were  attached,  that  this  decision  should 
be  binding,  the  disputation  took  place,  on  the  eighth  of  July, 
1443,  at  Kuttenberg.  The  Diet  met  on  the  eighth  of 
January,  of  the  following  year,  at  Prague.  But  few  Taborites 
attended.  The  doctrinal  formulas,  embracing  the  results  of 
the  disputation,  were  read  and  referred  to  a  committee  that 
brought  in  a  report  wholly  Utraquist  in  its  character.  It 
was  adopted  by  an  overwhelming  majority.  The  Taborites 
suffered  a  worse  defeat  than  at  Lipan;  with  every  show  of 
fairness  their  cause  was  condemned  by  the  Diet  of  their 
country.  They  lost  all  prestige ;  their  towns,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  Tabor,  passed  out  of  their  hands;  their  membership  was 
scattered  and  a  large  part  of  it  joined  the  National  Church. 

In  the  following  summer  Ptacek  died  and  George  Podiebrad 
succeeded  him  as  the  head  of  the  league.  Although  a  young 
man  of  only  twenty-four  years,  he  displayed  the  sagacity  of 
an  experienced  statesman  and  was  distinguished  by  the  virtues 
of  a  patriot.  In  1448  a  bold  stroke  made  him  master  of 
Prague  and  constituted  him  practically  Regent  of  all  Bohemia; 
four  years  later  his  regency  was  formally  acknowledged.  He 
was  a  warm  friend  of  Pokycana  whose  consecration  he  en- 
deavored to  bring  about.  The  Archbishop  elect,  who  returned 
to  Prague  as  soon  as  it  fell  into  the  hands  of  Podiebrad,  was 
no  less  eager  to  be  consecrated,  and  entertained  high  hopes  of 
conciliating  the  Pope  and  reaching  the  goal  of  his  ambition. 
But  when  he  perceived  that  these  hopes  were  not  well  founded 
and  gradually  realized  that  he  would  never  receive  the  mitre 
from  papal  hands,  he  began  to  favor  a  project  which  had  been 
suggested  by  others  and  which  he  had  opposed,  as  long  as  he 
deemed  it  expedient  to  foster  the  good  will  of  Rome.  The 
Bohemian  Church  was  to  cut  itself  loose  altogether  from  the 
Roman  Catholic  and  unite  with  the  Greek  Church.  With 
this  end  in  view  negotiations  were  actually  begun  in  1452,  but 
came  to  an  abrupt  close  in  the  following  year,  in  consequence 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  93 

of  the  fall  of  Constantinople.  About  the  same  time  Ladis- 
laus  Posthumus,  Albert's  son,  assumed  the  crown,  Podiebrad 
remaining  Regent.  The  latter  continued  the  friend  of 
Rokycana ;  the  former,  who  was  a  Catholic,  conceived  a 
strong  dislike  to  him. 

As  soon  as  Rokycana  had  given  up  the  hope  of  conciliating 
Rome,  he  began  to  preach,  with  great  power  and  eloquence, 
against  its  corruptions;  his  sermons  grew  vehement  and 
intensely  bitter  when  Pope  Nicholas  the  Fifth  sent  Nicholas 
of  Causa,  one  of  his  most  learned  Cardinals,  and  John 
Capistran,  a  brilliant  orator  and  reputed  worker  of  miracles, 
to  bring  the  Bohemians  and  Moravians  back  unconditionally, 
with  no  further  thought  of  the  Compactata,  under  the  sway 
of  the  Hierarchy.^ 

But  the  Roman  Catholic  was  not  the  only  church  that 
deserved  strictures.  Rokycana  could  not  shut  his  eyes  to  the 
sins  of  his  own  people.  Iniquity  abounded  in  Bohemia  and 
Moravia.  The  wars  begot  an  evil  progeny.  That  puritanic 
severity  of  morals  which  had  distinguished  Zizka  and  the  early 
Taborites  no  longer  gave  tone  to  the  nation.  It  is  true  that 
religious  questions  still  constituted  a  general  subject  of  thought 
and  topic  of  conversation,  and  that  the  Church,  the  Papacy, 
the  Lord's  Supper,  the  Cup  and  the  Word  of  God,  were  every- 

^  In  order  to  understand  this  effort  we  must  glance  at  the  history  of  the 
papacy.  Martin  the  Fifth,  who  had  unwillingly  convened  the  Council  of 
Basle  and  appointed  Julian  its  President,  died  In  1431,  and  was  succeeded 
by  Eugene  the  Fourth,  who  dissolved  it  in  the  following  year.  But  the 
Fathers  continued  their  sessions  in  spite  of  him,  and  an  open  rupture  took 
place  which  was  subsequently,  to  some  extent,  healed,  so  that  Eugene  was 
induced  to  accept  the  Compactata.  In  1437,  however,  he  again  dissolved 
the  Council  and  called  another  at  Ferrara.  Thereupon  a  number  of  the 
Fathers  left  Basle  and  went  to  Ferrara;  those  that  remained  deposed 
Eugene,  in  1438,  and  elected  Felix  the  Fifth  in  his  place.  Thus  there  were 
again  two  Popes  and  even  two  Councils.  But  the  larger  part  of  the  Church 
acknowledged  Eugene  ;  the  Council  of  Basle,  greatly  reduced  in  numbers, 
came  to  an  end  in  1443.  Eugene  died  four  years  later  (1447)  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Nicholas  the  Fifth,  in  whose  favor  Felix  abdicated.  Nicholas 
refused  to  sanction  the  Compactata  and  looked  upon  them  with  extreme 
disfavor,  as  the  production  of  a  schismatic  Council. 


94  THE    HISTORY    OF 

where  discussed  ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  vices  of  all  kinds  were 
increasing  both  openly  and  in  secret,  the  Hussite  period,  in 
spite  of  its  democratic  tendencies,  had  not  elevated  the  peas- 
antry but  rather  put  a  heavier  yoke  of  serfdom  upon  their 
necks,  the  poor  were  oppressed,  violence  and  robbery  were 
common,  avarice,  ostentation  and  pride  of  birth  disgraced  the 
higher  classes ;  vanity  and  extravagance  in  dress,  luxurious 
tables,  inordinate  pleasures  were  features  of  their  daily  life.^ 
The  clergy  were  degenerating  and  religious  affairs  generally 
sinking  into  confusion.  The  Utraquist  Church,  indeed,  was 
established,  but  no  harmony  of  aim  and  fellowship  of  heart 
existed.  There  were  differences  of  doctrine  and  many  spirits, 
each  antagonistic  to  the  other  and  deeming  its  own  position 
to  be  exclusively  correct.^  As  regarded  the  Taborites,  their 
last  seat,  Tabor  with  its  impregnable  walls,  surrendered  at  the 
call  of  Podiebrad  in  1452 ;  yet  this  very  circumstance  gave 
rise  to  new  sects.  Not  a  few  earnest  Taborites  remained  true 
to  their  faith  and  lived  in  quietness ;  but  the  restless  spirits 
that  had,  after  the  battle  of  Lipan,  fled  to  Tabor  for  refuge, 
now  began  to  wander  through  the  country.  False  teachers 
arose  who  proclaimed  antiscriptural  doctrines,  the  Nikolaites 
appeared  claiming  direct  revelations  from  God,  remnants  of 
the  Adamites  showed  themselves,  and  numerous  societies,  each 
with  views  and  regulations  of  its  own,  were  organized  at 
Wilemow,  Diwisow,  Saaz,  Kolin,  Koniggratz,  Leitomysl, 
Eeichenau  and  other  places. 

All  these  strange  and  unsatisfactory  results  were,  however, 
the  outcome  of  the  Hussite  movement,  not  of  the  testimony 
borne  by  Hus  himself.  His  martyr-blood  had  not  been  shed 
in  vain.  In  a  better  sense  than  that  which  Utraquism 
afforded,  it  was  to  be  the  seed  of  the  Church ;  for  the  time 
drew  on  which  would  reveal  his  true  followers.  They  became 
known  mainly  through  the  instrumentality  of  Peter  Chelcicky. 

"^  Palacky,  VII.  pp.  535-544,  who  presents  copious   extracts   from   the 
writings  of  Peter  Chelcicky  describing  the  morals  of  the  age. 
3  Ibid,  p.  465,  Note  381,  Extract  from  Chelcicky's  Postil. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  95 


CKA.PTER  XI. 

Peier  Cheleiehy  and  the  Men  who  founded  the  Unitas  Fratrum. 
A.  D.  1454-1457. 


Peter  Chelcicky. — His  Character,  Life  and  Writings. — Independent  Posi- 
tion.— Views  on  the  Lord's  Supper. — His  Ethical  Principles. — Protest 
against  War. — Extreme  Views. — Eokycana  and  Chelcicky. — The 
Founders  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum. — Gregory  the  Patriarch. — The 
Spiritual  Seed  of  Hus. — Rokycana's  Earnest  Sermons. — Chelcicky's 
Influence  on  the  Founders  of  the  Church. — They  urge  Rokycana  to 
begin  a  Reformation. — He  declines. — Waiting  and  Praying  for  the 
Lord's  Help. 

Among-  the  Bohemian  writers  of  the  fifteenth  century  no 
one,  except  HiiSj  ranked  higher  than  Peter  Chelcicky.^  With- 
out the  advantages  of  a  theological  or  even  a  classical  training, 
having  but  an  insufficient  knowledge  of  the  Latin  language,  a 
simple  layman  and  small  landholder  of  the  village  of  Chelcic, 
near  Wodnan,  he  watched,  with  a  keen  eye,  the  events  that 
were  transpiring  around  him,  investigated,  with  an  indepen- 
dent mind  and  a  fearless  criticism,  the  great  questions  of  his 
age,  acknowledged  no  authority  but  the  Bible,  and  unfolded 
an  originality  of  thought  and  power  gf  diction  that  made  him, 
in  spite  of  the  obscureness  of  his  position,  a  master  among  the 
learned  and  a  teacher  among  the  unlettered.  The  time  of  his 
birth  is  unknown  and  his  personal  history,  for  the  most  part, 


^  Sources:  Palacky,  VII.  pp.  465-482;  Gindely,L  pp.13-17;  Cerwenka, 
II.  pp.  6-14;  Gillett's  Taborites  and  the  Germ  of  the  Moravian  Church 
in  Am.  Presb.  and  Theo.  Review,  1864. 


96  THE    HIS10RY    OF 

remains  shrouded  in  mystery.^  We  first  meet  with  him  in 
the  Bethlehem  Chapel  of  Prague,  in  1420,  engaged  in  a  dis- 
putation with  Jacobellus  of  Mies  on  the  unfitness  of  appealing 
to  arms  in  matters  of  religion.  His  activity  as  a  writer  did 
not  begin  until  a  number  of  years  later,  probably  between 
1433  and  1443.  The  pen  was  thrust  into  his  hand  by  his 
friends,  but  when  he  had  grasped  it,  he  employed  it  with 
unwearied  diligence.  Three  of  his  works — The  Net  of  Faith, 
a  Postil,  containing  expositions  of  the  Gospel  Lessons,  and 
The  Picture  of  Antichrist — were  printed  in  the  sixteenth 
century ;  the  rest  remain  in  manuscript.^ 

The  position  which  Chelcicky  assumed  in  these  writings, 
was  wholly  independent.  He  walked  in  no  man's  footsteps. 
He  criticised  even  John  Hus.  He  took  sides  with  neither  of 
the  Hussite  factions.  What  the  Utraquists  taught  in  relation 
to  indulgences,  transubstantiation,  the  invocation  of  the  saints, 
purgatory  and  the  power  of  the  keys  as  claimed  by  the  priest- 
hood, he  utterly  rejected ;  against  the  Taborite  doctrine  of  tlie 
Lord's  Supper — that  bread  and  wine  are  mere  symbols  of  the 
body  and  blood  of  Christ — he  earnestly  and  solemnly  protested. 
His  own  view  in  this  respect  is  important,  because  it  shaped 
the  teachings  of  the  Brethren's  Church  on  the  subject.  He 
accepted  the  simple  words  of  Scripture  and  believed,  on  the 
one  hand,  that  in  the  sacrament  Christ's  body  is  not  born,  not 
begotten  and  not  created ;  yet,  on  the  other,  that  God,  by  His 


^  He  is  supposed  to  have  been  born  about  1390,  and  it  is  said  that  he 
intended  to  enter  a  convent  but  was  deterred  by  the  unsettled  state  of  the 
Church.  That  he  studied,  for  a  time,  at  Prague,  without  finishing  his 
course,  seems  to  be  certain. 

^  Gindely,  I.  pp.  489-490,  Note  4,  adduces  eleven  works  of  Chelcicky, 
besides  a  collection  of  seven  tracts.  In  addition  to  the  three  mentioned  in 
the  text,  the  most  important  are:  A  Reply  to  Rokycana;  A  Reply  to  Nich- 
olas, the  Taborite  Bishop,  found  at  Herrnhut,  in  the  L.  F.,  II,  pp.  221-229 
and  endorsed,  in  the  handwriting  of  Comenius,  with  the  words,  a  "  golden 
letter;"  A  Treatise  on  the  Body  of  Christ;  and  The  Foundation  of  human 
Law.  The  Net  of  Faith  was  published  at  Wilimow,  in  1521 :  the  Postil,  at 
Prague,  in  1522  and  again  in  1532 ;  the  Picture  of  Antichrist  is  no  longer 
extant.    Copies  of  his  MS.  works  are  preserved  at  Paris,  Prague  and  Olmiitz. 


THE   MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  97 

power  and  through  the  words  of  institution  spoken  by  the 
priest  in  faith,  causes  it  to  be  spiritually  present  along  with  the 
substance  of  the  bread. 

It  was,  however,  not  doctrine  which  chiefly  engaged  the 
attention  of  Chelcicky,  but  ethics.  He  looked  upon  Chris- 
tianity rather  as  a  life  than  a  creed,  and  his  entire  system 
shows  that  the  dogmatic  was  made  subordinate  to  the 
practical. 

To  imitate  the  example  of  Christ — so  he  teaches — is  the 
most  exalted  rule  of  life ;  to  love  God  above  all  and  one's 
neighbor  as  oneself,  the  supreme  law.  Such  love  implies 
hearty  obedience  to  the  divine  commandments,  willingness  to 
suffer  injustice,  and  an  unwavering  determination  never  to 
repay  evil  with  evil.  The  show  of  virtue  without  the  sub- 
stance, hypocrisy  and  Phariseeism,  attaching  importance  to 
mere  outward  rites,  ceremonies  and  usages  of  the  Church, 
without  fostering  holiness  of  heart  and  seeking  a  reformation 
of  life,  he  denounces  in  the  strongest  terms.  Under  all 
circumstances  the  divine  law  is  sufiicient;  and  Christianity 
constitutes  the  kingdom  of  liberty.  In  this  kingdom  the 
spiritual  part  of  man  lives  and  strives  for  that  which  is  good, 
undisturbed  by  discord,  violence,  or  war.  The  realm  of 
heathenism,  on  the  contrary,  is  the  outgrowth  of  his  carnal 
nature  and  hence  full  of  wickedness  which  must  be  coerced. 
If  all  men  were  true  Christians  there  would  be  no  necessity 
for  kings  or  lords.  Worldly  government  originates  in  sin  and 
is  an  evil,  but  a  necessary  evil  over  against  iniquity.  The 
nobility  are  base  tyrants ;  doctors  of  theology,  masters  of  art 
and  priests  "  satraps  of  the  Emperor,"  who  strive  to  exalt  the 
secular  power  to  an  article  of  faith. 

Nothing,  however,  excites  the  indignation  and  horror  of 
Chelcicky  so  much  as  war.  It  is  absolutely  inadmissible ;  a 
warrior  is  a  murderer;  to  shed  human  blood,  even  in  the 
way  of  self-defence  or  of  capital  punishment,  constitutes  an 
abominable  sin.  His  literal  interpretation  of  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount  leads  him,  moreover,  to  forbid  his  followers  to 
a.ppeal  to  the  secular  arm,  to  take  an  oath,  or  to  fill  a  civil 
7 


98  THE    HISTORY    OF 

office.  They  must  humbly  and  patiently  bear  injustice,  never 
avenge  themselves,  neither  murmur  nor  be  profane,  but 
imitate  Christ  who  was  brought  as  a  lamb  to  the  slaughter 
and  opened  not  His  mouth. 

In  setting  forth  such  views  he  often  adopted  the  tone  of 
the  satirist,  and  his  invectives  cut  like  a  two-edged  sword. 
"  There  are,"  says  Gillett,  "  passages  of  his  writings  which 
well  entitle  him  to  the  epithet  of  the  Christian  Juvenal." 

In  course  of  time  his  followers  constituted  themselves  into 
a  Society,  known  as  the  Brethren  of  Chelcic. 

A  character  so  original  and  independent  attracted  the 
attention  of  Rokycana.  He  opened  a  correspondence  with 
Chelcicky,  called  him  "  his  beloved  brother,"*  visited  him  at 
his  home,  entertained  him  at  Prague,  and  was  the  means  of 
brinofino:  him  into  connection  with  the  men  whom  God  had 
foreordained  to  take  the  lead  in  founding  the  Unitas  Fratrum, 
but  who  did  not,  as  yet,  recognize  their  mission. 

They  were  members  of  the  Thein  parish  and  among  the 
most  faithful  of  Rokycana's  hearers.  His  eloquence  capti- 
vated their  minds  and  his  earnestness  touched  their  hearts. 
When  he  preached  they  took  notes  of  his  sermons  and  after- 
wards committed  them  to  writing,  that  they  might  study  them 
at  their  leisure.  Painfully  recognizing  the  pictures  which  he 
drew  of  the  corruptness  of  the  Church  and  the  evil  of  the 
times  as  startling  copies  of  what  was  transpiring  before  their 
very  eyes,  they  endeavored  to  regulate  their  own  lives  by  the 
divine  law  and  to  save  themselves  from  the  "untoward 
generation"  by  which  they  were  surrounded.  Earnest  men 
they  were,  seeking  the  truth,  thirsting  for  God. 

Foremost  among  them  was  Rokycana's  nephew,  Gregory 
the  Patriarch,  as  he  is  commonly  called — a  man  of  strict 
morals  and  deep  piety,  active,  ready  to  undertake  and  endure 
all  things  for  God's  honor,  but  humble,  without  ambition, 
seeking  not  his  own.  In  his  youth  he  entered  a  monastery 
of  the  Cordeliers  and  attained  a  high  reputation  for  sanctity. 

*  A  letter  of  Eokycana  to  Chelcicky  is  found  in  L.  F.  II.  pp.  224-227. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  99 

The  Hussite  disturbances  put  an  end  to  his  monastic  life.  At 
the  time  when  he  became  prominent  he  was  about  fifty 
years  of  age.^ 

Rokycana  asserted  that  Antichrist  had  corrupted  even  the 
sacraments  of  the  Church,  so  that  the  peojjle  partook  of  them 
to  their  own  condemnation.  It  was  this  jjosition  which  filled 
Gregory  and  his  friends  with  the  deepest  anxiety.  If  the 
sacraments  were  thus  corrupted,  how  could  they,  through 
them,  obtain  a  seal  to  their  acceptance  in  the  sight  of  God  and 
be  nourished  unto  life  ?  This  and  other  cognate  questions 
they  discussed  among  themselves  and  with  Rokycana,  uniting 
in  frequent  prayer  that  they  might  be  led  in  the  Avay  of  truth. 

But  these  men  were  not  alone  in  their  aspirations.  Others 
of  like  mind  were  found  in  many  parts  of  Bohemia  and 
Moravia,^  true  followers  of  Hus  who  had,  for  years,  been  lost 
among  the  Hussite  factions.^  In  the  language  of  Lasitius, 
they  were  the  young  sprouts  which  appeared  when  the  forest 
had  been  cut  down.*  That  they  sought  and  found  fellowship 
among  themselves  was  a  necessaiy  consequence  of  the  attractive 
force  which  inheres  in  tlie  communion  of  saints.  The  bond 
of  union  grew  continually  stronger,  imtil  there  existed, 
thoughout  Bohemia  and  Moravia,  what  might  be  called  an 
invisible  church  of  the  genuine  seed  of  Hus,  unconsciously 
preparing,  by  God's  appointment  and  under  the  leadership  of 
Gregory  and  his  associates  at  Prague,  for  a  manifestation  in 
visible  form. 

In  the  early  part  of  1 454  Rokycana,  wounded  by  the  con- 

^  Gregory's  father  was  a  Bohemian  knight  and  his  mother  the  sister  of 
Kokycana,  as  Gindely,  I.  p.  21,  sets  forth.  Palacky,  VII.  p.  484  and  Note 
394,  calls  this  relationship  into  question ;  but  the  only  evidence  which  he 
adduces  seems  Xo  us  to  be  quite  insufficient.  Blahoslaw,  in  his  Summa 
quaedam,  &c.,  MS.  L.  F.  VIII.  pp.  157-171,  says :  "  Quorum  non  postremus 
fuit  Gregorius,  sororis  Kokycanae  filius."  There  exists  no  sound  reason 
why  the  usual  view  should  be  abandoned. 

^  Jaffet's  Geschichte  der  Enstehung  de  Briider-Einigkeit,  p.  33,  &c.,  MS., 
H.  A.,  found  in  Keichel's  Zusatze,  pp.  10  and  12. 

'  Blahoslaw's  Summa  quaedam,  MS.  L.  F.  VIII. 

*  Croeger,  I.  p.  49. 


100  THE    HISTORY    OF 

tinued  coldness  of  young  Ladislaus  and  anticipating  a  new 
reaction  against  Utraquism,  began  to  preach  on  the  Lamen- 
tations of  Jeremiah,  the  Prophecies  of  Daniel  and  portions 
of  the  Revelation  of  St.  John.  With  even  more  than  his 
ordmary  power  he  set  forth  the  deplorable  state  of  the  Chui'ch, 
the  misuse  of  the  sacraments,  the  sins  of  the  priesthood.  Even 
the  Utraquists,  he  said,  had  not  reached  the  solid  ground  of 
faith ;  others  would  reach  that  ground  to  the  good  of  men 
and  the  glory  of  God ;  the  Church  must  be  built  up,  as  Hus 
had  taught,  upon  a  threefold  foundation,  embracing  Christ, 
the  Holy  Scriptures  and  the  model  of  the  apostolic  church.^ 
When  speaking  of  a  reformation  he  added,  that  the  number 
of  those  who  followed  the  truth  was  very  small ;  that  they 
would  not  be  accepted  of  the  world;  and  that  if  they  attempted 
a  reformation,  great  and  terrible  dangers  would  beset  them, 
illustrating  this  last  point  by  the  image  of  a  city  burned  and 
destroyed,  whose  ruins  formed  the  dens  of  wild  beasts  that 
would  not  suffer  men  to  come  and  rebuild  its  houses  and 
walls.^o 

Such  sentiments  excited,  in  the  highest  degree,  Gregory 
and  his  friends,  who  besought  the  eloquent  preacher  to  tell 
them  what  they  must  do  in  order  to  be  accepted  of  God. 
Rokycana  referred  them  to  Peter  Chelcicky.  This  was  a 
turning  point  in  their  development  and  a  long  stride  forward 
on  the  way  by  which  God  was  leading  them.  Chelcicky  was 
as  necessary  an  agent  in  bringing  about  the  founding  of  the 
Unitas  Pratrum  as  Hus  himself.  The  latter  quarried,  from 
the  hills  of  truth,  the  stones  which  were  used  in  its  building, 
the  former  shaped  these  stones  and  gave  firmness  to  the  hands 
that  set  them  up.  Through  him,  Rokycana's  disciples,  and 
Gregory  in  particular,  were  led  to  understand  that  it  was  not 
enough  to  long  and  pray  for  a  reformation,  but  that  for  such 
a  cause  they  must  work,  venture  and  suffer.  At  the  same 
time,  the  tendency  to  subordinate  doctrine  to  practice,  the 

^  Lasitius,  I.  pp.  58  and  59,  quoted  by  Plitt.     See  list  of  authorities. 
'"  Blahoslaw's  Bohemian  MS.  History,  quoted  by  Palacky,  VII.  pp.  483 
and  484,  Note  393.     See  list  of  authorities. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  101 

principle  of  non-resistance,  the  duty  of  patiently  bearing 
persecutions  for  Christ's  sake,  the  extreme  views  with  regard 
to  civil  offices,  taking  oaths  and  cognate  subjects — as  these 
points  subsequently  showed  themselves  in  the  system  of  the 
Brethren  and,  in  part,  led  to  dissensions  and  a  schism — were 
all  received  from  Peter  Chelcicky.  His  intercourse  with 
Gregory  and  Gregory's  friends  continued  for  several  years. 
When  he  had  imparted  his  principles  to  them,  his  mission 
came  to  an  end.  He  died  about  the  time  of  the  founding  of 
the  Church. 

Each  successive  visit  to  Chelcic  filled  Rokycana's  disciples 
with  greater  enthusiasm,  until  they  began  to  importune  him 
to  put  himself  at  their  head  and  begin  a  reformation,  assuring 
him  that  they  would  stand  by  him  whatever  might  happen 
and  follow  wherever  he  might  lead.  But  his  heart  had  no 
chord  which  vibrated  in  harmony  with  their  appealing  touch. 
He  saw  only  difficulties  like  mountains  in  the  way,  and  grew 
almost  as  eloquent  in  explaining  the  reasons  why  he  could  not 
yield  to  their  wishes,  as  he  was  in  setting  forth  the  corrup- 
tions of  the  Church.  At  the  same  time  he  told  them,  that  if 
they  had  courage  to  undertake  the  work,  he  would  not 
absolutely  dissuade  them,  for  God  might  possibly  grant  them 
that  success  which  He  had  withheld  from  those  who  had 
sought  the  same  end  by  an  appeal  to  arras.  A  second  effi^rt 
which  they  made,  irritated  him.  "  You  are,"  he  said  excitedly, 
"  urging  me  to  a  most  dangerous  leap.  Do  you  want  to  have 
things  perfect  at  once  ?  Every  great  undertaking  involves 
great  peril."" 

Deeply  grieved  to  find  that  their  master  was  unwilling  to 
be  their  leader,  they  began  to"  absent  themselves  from  the 
Thein  church  and  hold  services  of  their  own.  Similar  services, 
conducted  by  priests  of  like  mind,  were  instituted  by  their 
brethren  throughout  the  country  ;  in  case  no  such  priests 
were  present,  the  Scriptures  were  read  and  explained  by  lay- 
men.     This  formed  the  first  step  toward  a  secession  from  the 

"  Laeitius,  I.  69,  &c.,  quoted  by  Plitt. 


102  THE    HISTORY    OF 

Church.  And  yet  Gregory  and  his  circle  at  Prague  did  not 
relinquish  the  hope  that  Rokycana  would  eventually  put 
himself  at  their  head  and  take  a  stand  as  the  reformer  of  his 
day.  But  in  spite  of  their  renewed  and  urgent  entreaties, 
they  were  doomed  to  disappointment.  He  advised  them, 
however,  to  settle  in  various  parishes  which  he  named,  where 
they  would  find  priests  sharing  their  views  and  aspirations.^^^ 
This  counsel  they  rejected ;  for  they  were  too  firmly  con- 
vinced, that  if  their  union  was  to  be  maintained,  its  bonds 
must  be  drawn  closer  and  not  loosened.  What  they  and  their 
associates  throughout  the  country  now  needed,  was  a  rallying- 
place.  Such  a  place  God  showed  them,  and  there  the  Unitas 
Fratrum  was  founded. 

From  the  preparatory  history  which  we  have  thus  given 
it  appears,  that  John  Hus,  the  Bohemian  Reformer,  John 
Rokycana,  the  Bohemian  Archbishop  elect,  and  Peter,  the 
stern  moralist  of  Chelcic,  were  God's  appointed  agents 
in  brinffino;  about  this  result,  but  that  the  corner-stone  was 
actually  to  be  laid  by  Gregory  the  Patriarch  and  his  associates 
of  Prague.  The  immediate  founders  of  the  Church  were 
therefore,  as  Jaffet  explicitly  sets  forth,  not  foreigners,  not 
sectaries,  not  Taborites,  but  native  born  Czechs,  members 
of  the  Utraquist  National  Church,  comprising  not  merely 
common  people  but  also  nobles,  priests,  masters  and  bachelors 
of  arts  trained  in  the  wisdom  of  the  schools.^^ 


12  Blahoslaw's  Bohemian  MS.  Hist,  quoted  by  Palacky. 

13  Jafiet's  MS.  Geschichte  der  Entstehung  d.  B.  E.,  p.  33,  &c.,  H.  A.,  in 
Eeichel's  Zusatze,  p.  10.  He  says  :  "  Die  Anfanger  der  Unitiit  waren  keine 
Auslander,  sondern  achte  eingeborne  Bohmen  und  Miihren  ;  audi  keine 
Sektirer,  sondern  wahre  Christen  des  gewcihnlichen  Katholisclien  Glaubens 
sub  utraque,  auch  nicht  Taboriten,  sondern  von  der  Partei  der  Meister  (i.  e. 
Calixtines).  Es  waren  nicht  bloss  gemeine  Leute,  sondern  Herrn,  Ritter, 
kluge  Clerici,  Priester,  Magister,  Baccalaurei  von  Schulgelehrsamkeit." 


PART  II. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  ANCIENT 

UNITAS  FRATRUM. 

A.D.  1457-1722. 


PERIOD  IV. 


THE  CHURCH  UNDER  THE  RIGOROUS  SYSTEM 

INTRODUCED  BY  ITS  FOUNDERS. 

A.D.  1457-1496. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  105 


CHAPTEE  XII. 

The  Founding  and  Earliest  Development  of  the  Church. 
A.  D.  1457-1460. 


Lititz  and  the  Barony  of  Senftenberg. — Gregory  and  his  Friends  settle  at 
Kunwald. — Michael  Bradacius  and  others  join  them. — Principles  of 
Doctrine  and  Practice  agreed  on. — Names  of  the  Church. — The  original 
Object  of  its  Founders. — The  Year  of  Organization. — Twenty-eight 
Elders  elected. — Their  Names. — Other  Representative  Men. — Increase 
of  the  Church. — Rokycana's  Relation  to  it. — Disputes  among  the 
Brethren  about  the  Lord's  Supper. — Synod  of  1459. — Doctrine  of  the 
Lord's  Supper  formulated. — Resolution  with  regard  to  the  Writings 
of  the  Taborites. — Ritual  simplified.— Moravian  Taborites  join  the 
Brethren. 

The  traveler  who  enters  Bohemia  at  its  eastern  boundary, 
on  the  railway  to  Koniggriitz,  passes,  beyond  Geiersberg,  into 
the  romantic  valley  of  the  Wilde  Adler  and  soon  reaches  a 
narrow  gorge  formed  by  the  Chlura  Mountain  on  one  side  and 
a  height  crowned  with  the  ruins  of  an  ancient  castle,  on  the 
other.  Fields  creep  far  up  this  latter  hill  to  the  edge  of  its 
forest  and  a  village  nestles  at  its  base  which  is  pierced  by 
a  tunnel ;  near  by  the  stream,  with  rapid  current,  hastens  to 
meet  its  Southern  branch,  the  Stille  Adler,  that  they  may 
together  flow  into  the  Elbe.  A  steep  path  leads  to  the  ruins. 
Over  the  outer  gateway  appears  a  tablet  with  this  inscription, 
now  almost  illegible :  A.  D.  regnante  Geo.  Podiebrado 
MCDLXVIII.  Other  gateways  are  still  standing;  a  huge 
tower  rears  its  head  and  shows  its  subterranean  depths,  where 
once  were  gloomy  dungeons  ;  in  the  main  court-yard,  across 
whose  pavement  knights  were  wont  to  dash,  great  trees  have 


103  THE    HISTORY    OF 

sprung  up  and  cast  their  shade  over  walls  which,  even  in  their 
decay,  are  vast  and  imposing.  A  grand  castle  it  must  have 
been. 

This  is  Lititz,  the  centre  of  an  estate  constituting  a  part  of 
the  Barony  of  Senftenberg,  which  stretches  to  the  Silesian 
frontier.  To  the  east  lies  the  chief  town  of  this  domain  and 
bears  its  name.  It  is  a  market-town,  with  a  modern  castle, 
an  ancient  church  and  a  large  square  adorned  with  statues  of 
saints.     Due  north  is  the  village  of  Kunwakl. 

In  the  German  War  of  Liberation  the  Emperor  Francis 
invested  an  Englishman,  of  Hamburg,  one  Parrish,  Mdio  had 
rendered  Austria  important  services,  with  this  entire  Barony, 
creating  him  Baron  of  Senftenberg,  and  from  him  it  descended 
to  his  nephew  who  was  the  owner  until  recently,  when  he  died 
without  issue  ;^  at  the  time  of  which  our  history  treats  it 
belonged  to  George  Podiebrad,  had  but  a  sparse  population 
and  was  suffering  from  the  devastations  of  the  Hussite  war. 
The  inhabitants  inclined  to  the  principles  of  the  Taborites, 
some  of  whose  prominent  leaders  had  been  brought,  after  the 
fall  of  Tabor,  to  the  Castle  of  Lititz  for  safe-keeping. 

Gregory  heard  of  this  domain.  It  seemed  to  oifer  the  abode 
for  which  he  and  his  friends  were  looking  and  which  they  had 
sought  in  vain  among  the  Societies  at  Diwisow  and  Wilemow. 
It  was  a  retreat,  amidst  lonely  hills  and  mountains,  where 
they  could  worship  God  in  fellowship  and  peace,  and  a  centre 
around  M-hich  their  associates  from  the  country  could  gather. 
Accordingly  they  asked  Rokycana  to  secure  for  them  the 
Regent's  permission  to  settle  on  this  Barony.^  Rokycana, 
hoping  to  rid  himself  of  his  troublesome  followers,  gladly 
presented  their  request.  It  was  at  once  granted ;  for  Podiebrad 
foresaw  the  advantages  which  would  accrue  to  his  property. 
He  designated  Kunwald  as  the  place  for  the  settlement. 

^  The  recent  owner,  who  did  not  bear  his  uncle's  title,  was  well  acquainted 
in  the  United  States,  where  he  often  visited  and  had  large  properties.  To 
whom  the  Barony  has  passed  since  the  death  of  the  late  Mr.  Parrish,  we  do 
not  know. 

2  Jaffet's  Entstehung,  &c.,  p.  91,  MS.,  H.  A. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  107 

Thither  Gregory  and  his  companions  took  their  way.  They 
found  a  hamlet  almost  hidden  within  a  narrow  valley  and 
surrounded  on  all  sides  by  forests,  deep,  silent  and  solemn, 
above  which,  toward  the  East,  appeared  the  massive  ridge  of 
the  Glatz  Mountains.  The  place  formed  a  natural  sanctuary, 
secluded  from  the  turmoil  of  the  world,  and  fit  to  be  the 
earliest  seat  of  a  church  of  confessors  and  martyrs.^ 

The  settlers  began  to  build  cottages  and  were  joined  by  some 
of  their  associates  from  other  parts  of  the  country.*  Ere  long 
came  the  priest  of  Seuftenberg,  Michael  Bradacius,  a  venerable 
and  godly  man,  and  cast  in  his  lot  with  the  new  community. 
Whether  he  was  a  stranger  attracted  by  its  earnest  spirit,  or 
an  associate  acquainted  with  its  aims,  does  not  appear ;  in  any 
case,  this  priest,  together  with  Gregory,  was  put  at  its  head, 
and  under  their  joint  direction,  certain  principles  were  drawn 
up  to  regulate  its  doctrine  and  practice.^  Of  these  principles, 
however,  we  know  nothing  except  that  they  were  based  on  the 
Bible  and  the  Articles  of  Prague.  They  were  not  published 
to  the  world,  but  constituted  a  private  code  of  statutes.  Indeed 
the  settlers  formally  determined  not  to  make  them  known, 
unless  it  became  imperatively  necessary.  They  were  moved 
to  adopt  this  resolution  by  the  fear  that  a  proclamation  of 
their  views  would  increase  the  discord  and  confusion  prevail- 
ing throughout  Bohemia  and  Moravia  in  matters  of  religion.^ 
The  name  which  they  chose  was  "  Brethren  of  the  Law  of 
Christ" — Fratres  Legis  Ckristi ;  in  as  much,  however,  as  this 
name  gave  rise  to  the  idea  that  they  were  a  new  order  of 

*  Kunwald  is  half  an  hour's  drive  from  Senftenberg.  At  the  present  day 
it  is  a  large  village  stretching  up  the  valley,  which  is  only  about  three 
hundred  yards  wide  and  whose  sides  are  partly  cultivated  and  partly  still 
covered  with  woods.  The  cottages,  some  of  which  undoubtedly  occupy  sites 
selected  by  the  Brethren,  are  embowered  in  shrubbery  and  orchards  and 
present  a  picturesque  appearance.  Toward  the  northern  end  of  the  valley, 
on  an  elevation,  stands  the  church  on  the  same  spot,  it  is  said,  where  the 
Brethren  built  their  chapel.  The  Glatz  Mountains  are  distant  between 
three  and  four  miles. 

*  Palacky,  VII.  pp.  486  and  487. 
^  Reichel's  Geschichte,  p.  13. 

«  Lasitius,  I.  p.  76  fPiitt). 


108  THE    HISTORY    OF 

monks,  they  changed  it  simply  into  "  Brethren."^  When  the 
organization  of  their  church  had  been  completed,  they  assumed 
the  additional  title  of  Jednota  Bratrska,  or  Unitas  Fratrum, 
that  is,  "  The  Unity  of  the  Brethren,"  which  has  remained 
the  official  and  significant  appellation  of  the  Church  to  the 
present  day.^ 

Such  was  the  beginning  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum.  No  further 
details  can  be  given,  because  they  were  intentionally  concealed. 

In  effecting  this  original  organization  its  founders  had  no 
thought  of  setting  up  a  new  church.  This  was  God's  plan, 
but  they  did  not  recognize  it  until  after  the  lapse  of  several 
years.  What  they  now  aimed  at  was  a  fraternal  association 
within  which  they  could  carry  out  the  reformation  that  Hus 
began  but  did  not  live  to  complete,  and  that  liokycana  urged 
but  had  not  the  courage  to  bring  about.  Its  practical  object 
was  their  own  salvation.  Hence  they  introduced  a  strict 
discipline,  searched  the  Scriptures,  admonished  and  edified 
one  another  in  the  Lord,  and  determined,  if  need  be,  to 
suffer  persecution  patiently,  without  appealing  to  arms,  as  the 
Taborites  had  done  ;  but,  while  they  repudiated  Romanism  in 
every  form,  they  did  not  absolutely  secede  from  the  National 
Church,  and  were  satisfied  with  the  ministrations  of  such  of 
its  priests  as  shared  their  views  and  aspirations.^  There  were, 
as  yet,  comparatively  few  Brethren  residing  on  the  domain  of 
Senftenberg,  but  new  settlers  continued  to  arrive  until  1461, 
and  the  entire  association  throughout  the  country  numbered 
several  thousand  members. ^'^ 


'  Comenii  Hist.,  Sect.  51,  p.  15. 

*  It  was  often  abbreviated  into  "  The  Unity."  Another  name  by  which 
the  Church  called  itself  was  "  The  Bohemian  Brethren."  It  related  to  all 
the  Brethren,  whether  they  belonged  to  Bohemia,  Moravia,  Prussia  or 
Poland.  To  call  them  "The  Bohemian-Moravian  Brethren,"  or  "The 
Moravian  Brethren,"  is  historically  incorrect.  The  name  "Moravian" 
arose  in  the  time  of  the  Renewed  Brethren's  Church,  because  the  men  by 
whom  it  was  renewed  came  from  Moravia.  The  Bohemian  Brethren  were 
frequently  called  "  Waldenses"  to  denote  their  supposed  origin. 

3  Plitt,  Chap.  24. 

i»  Gindely,  I.  p.  27. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  109 

The  organization  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum  took  place  in 
1457/'  in  the  year  which  witnessed  the  unexpected  death  of 
young  King  Ladislaus  (November  the  twenty-third),  in  the 
reign  of  Pope  Calixtus  the  Third  and  of  the  Emperor 
Frederick  the  Third,  sixty  years  prior  to  the  Reformation  of 
the  sixteenth  century. 

Either  in  the  same  or  in  the  following  year,  twenty-eight 
Elders  were  elected  as  the  spiritual  guides  of  the  people,  who 
were  pledged  to  obey  and  consult  them  in  all  matters  affecting 
religion.  These  Elders,  writes  JaflFet,  constituted  "  so  to  say, 
the  Rectors  of  the  congregation  for  a  period  of  nearly  ten 
years,  before  priest  or  bishop  had  been  appointed. "^^  Some 
of  them  resided  at  Kunwald,  the  rest  were  dispersed  through 
the  country.  At  stated  times  they  met  for  consultation,  or 
convened  Synods  at  which  the  membership  generally  w^as 
represented.  In  addition  to  the  Elders  were  priests,  ordained 
in  the  Roman  Catholic  or  Utraquist  Church,  to  whom  all 
ministerial  functions  were  committed. 

The  names  of  the  Elders  have  been  preserved  and  are  set 
forth  by  Jaifet  in  the  following  order:  1,  Brother  Gregory; 
2,  Priest  Michael,  that  is,  Michael  Bradatz  or  Bradacius, 
ordained  in  the  Roman  Catholic  Church;  3,  Augustin  Halar, 
a  Bachelor  of  Arts;  4,  George  of  Fiinfkirchen,  a  man  of 
humble  origin  ;  5,  Veit  the  Great,  also  of  humble  origin ;  6, 
Thomas  of  Prelouc,  a  well-educated  man ;  7,  John  Korunka, 
probably  the  same  as  John  of  Sdberle  or  Zabori,  a  priest 
ordained  in  the  Utraquist  Church ;  8,  Brother  John  Chel- 
cicky,  a  priest  from  Chelcic,  ordained  in  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church;  9,  Brother  John  Klenovsky,  of  humble  origin;  10, 

'^  Blahoslaw's  Latin  MS.  Hist.  L.  F.,  who  says.  "Acta  sunt  haec  anno 
Domini  1457  ;"  Ratio  Disciplinae,  Praefatio,  p.  3 ;  Bekentniss  des  Christ- 
lichen  Glaubens,  von  1572,  Vorrede,  p.  11.  While  there  is  no  authority 
for  celebrating  the  first  of  March  as  the  day  of  the  founding  of  the  U.  F., 
as  is  done  throughout  the  Church,  it  is  proper  to  commemorate  the  event, 
and  this  may  as  well  be  done  on  that  day  as  on  any  other. 

"  Jaffet's  Goliath's  Schwert,  p.  9,  &c.,  MS.,  Herrnhut  Archives  ;  also  his 
Geschichte  der  Entstehung,  &c.;  both  found  in  Reichel's  Zusatze,  pp.  13 
and  14. 


110  THE    HISTORY    OF 

Brother  Matthias  of  Kunwakl,  a  farmer,  a  young  man  of 
extraordinary  gifts  and  holy  life,  subsequently  the  presiding 
Bishop  of  the  Church  ;  11,  Lawrence  Krasonicky,  a  Bachelor 
of  Arts  and  learned  scholar,  who,  at  a  later  time,  by  his 
disputations  and  writings,  became  one  of  the  most  zealous 
supporters  and  able  defenders  of  the  Unity ;  12,  Prokop 
Hradecky,  or,  of  Neuhaus,  a  Bachelor  of  Arts;  13,  Brother 
Elias  of  Chrenow,  a  miller;  14,  Brother  Adalbert;  15, 
Brother  Ambrose,  of  Prague,  a  man  of  culture;  16,  Hawel 
(Gallus),  a  Master  of  Arts ;  1 7,  Victorin,  a  Master  of  Arts ; 
18,  Matthew  (Notardus  Cathedralis),  a  Bachelor  of  Arts ;  19, 
Isaiah  Wenzl,  of  Reichenau,  a  scrivener ;  20,  Adalbert 
Wenzl,  a  servant  at  the  royal  court;  21,  John  Jestrebsky,  a 
learned  nobleman ;  22,  George  of  Chropin,  of  humble  origin, 
as  were  all  the  rest  whose  names  follow;  23,  Wenzel  of 
Stecken ;  24,  Thomas  Prostegowsky ;  25,  Amos  ;  26,  John 
Holek ;  27,  Wenzel  of   Beroun ;  and  28,  John  Javornicky.^^ 

Only  three  of  these  Elders  were  priests;  the  rest  were 
laymen  representing  various  stations  in  life  from  the  nobleman 
to  the  servant  and  the  peasant.  Such  as  belonged  to  the 
lower  classes  were,  however,  far  from  being  rude  and  ignorant 
men.  Popular  education,  as  we  have  said  in  another  connec- 
tion, was  zealously  furthered  by  the  Taborites.  In  this  respect 
the  common  people  of  Bohemia  and  Moravia  were  in  advance 
of  those  in  other  countries.  A  thorough  knowledge  of  the 
Bible  in  particular  was  almost  universal,  and  for  years 
religious  questions  were  discussed  in  all  circles.  A  Bohemian 
mechanic,  or  servant,  or  peasant,  might  well,  therefore,  be 
intrusted  with  duties  such  as  the  eldership  among  the  Brethren 
involved. 

Other  priests,  not  belonging  to  the  Elders,  were  John  of 
Taborsky,  ordained  in  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  subse- 
quently a  Taborite  officiating  at  Tabor,  where  he  was  known 

"  Jaffet's  Goliath's  Schwert,  p.  20,  MS.,  H.  A.,  found  in  Reichel's  Zusiitze 
p.  15.  In  our  copy  of  these  Zusiitze  No.  21  of  the  above  list  is  given  as 
John  Gesteubsky ;  but  this  is  probably  an  error  and  the  name  should  read 
Jestrebsky,  which  is  found  in  Gindely's  list. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH.  Ill 

as  John  Wilemek  ;^^  William  of  Tabor ;  Andrew,  formerly 
abbot  of  the  Slavonian  Monastery  of  Emmaus  at  Prague; 
and  Martin  of  Krcin,  all  three  ordained  in  the  Utraquist 
Church :  other  prominent  laymen  were  George  of  Sussic, 
Peter  of  Ledec  and  Methudius  Strachota,  a  nobleman.*^ 

These  thirty-five  men  constituted  therefore  the  leading 
representatives  of  the  primitive  Church  of  the  Brethren. 

In  the  second  year  of  its  existence  it  developed  rapidly. 
*'At  that  time,"  says  JafFet,  "friend  longed  for  friend  and 
brother  for  brother,  so  that  more  persons  continually  joined 
the  Brethren,  and  their  number  increased. "^^ 

Rokycana,  who  was  commonly  regarded  as  the  patron  of  the 
settlement  at  Kunwald,  looked  upon  them  with  favor.  It 
seemed  to  him  that  they  were  merely  endeavoring  to  repro- 
duce, in  an  evil  time,  the  ideal  of  the  apostolic  church,  without 
seceding  from  the  National  Church.  Why  should  he  not  be 
satisfied,  especially  as  his  former  disciples  still  kept  up,  to  some 
extent,  a  connection  with  him  and,  in  conjunction  with  their 
numerous  associates,  might  yet  be  of  use  to  him  in  extending 
his  influence  ?  The  election  of  his  friend  George  Podiebrad 
to  the  Bohemian  throne  (March  the  second,  1458),  had  filled 
him  anew  with  ambitious  hopes. 

Discordant  elements,  however,  began  to  appear  among  the 
Brethren  themselves  (1459).  The  subject  in  dispute  was  the 
Lord's  Supper.  Some  maintained  the  Utraquist  or  Romish 
dogma,  others  the  Taborite  belief.  The  contention  grew 
violent  and  bitter,  threatening  the  very  existence  of  the 
Church.  In  this  emergency  the  Elders  convened  a  Synod  at 
which  the  differences  were  adjusted  through  the  adoption,  in 
substance,  of  the  view  taught  by  Peter  Chelcicky.^''  This 
view  was  formulated  as  follows  :  "  All  Avho  receive  the  sacra- 
ment in  truth,  through  faith,  believe  and  confess  that  it  is  the 


"  Gindely's  Quellen,  p.  326. 
15  Gindely,  I.  p.  27. 

1®  Entstehung,  &c.,  p.  33,  &c.,  found  in  Reichel's  Ziisatze  p.  12. 
"  Gindely,  I.  p.  26,  whose  autliority  is  L.  F.,  Ill,  p.258  and  Blahoslaw's 
Boh.  MS.  Hist.,  I.  p.  21. 


112  THE    HISTORY    OF 

true  body  and  blood  of  Christ,  according  to  His  word  and 
mind,  without  adding  anything,  or  taking  away  anything, 
and  rejecting  all  human  explanations.'"^ 

This  position  of  the  early  Brethren  with  regard  to  the 
doctrine  of  the  Lord's  Supper  is  still  maintained  by  their 
latest  descendants.  These  accept  as  their  fathers  did,  in  simple 
laith,  the  words  of  Christ,  without  attempting  to  explain  them  ; 
and  can  look  back  upon  the  centuries  of  their  past  with  the 
consciousness  of  having  contributed  nothing  to  those  eucha- 
ristic  controversies  which  form  one  of  the  strangest  and  saddest 
chapters  in  the  history  of  Protestantism.^^ 

There  was  another  subject  which  engaged  the  serious  atten- 
tion of  the  Synod.  The  disputes  about  the  Lord's  Supper 
had,  to  a  great  extent,  been  originated  by  the  polemical  works 
of  the  day,  especially  by  so-called  Tracts  of  the  Taborites. 
Such  writings  were  consequently  deemed  to  be  unprofitable 
and  injurious,  and  a  formal  declaration  was  adopted  that  the 
Brethren  "  should  be  satisfied  with  God's  Word  and  simply 
believe  what  it  taught,  avoiding  all  Tracts;  and  that  even 
such  as  seemed  to  approximate  to  the  Truth  ought  not  to  be 
read  until  they  had  been  examined  and  approved  by  the 
Elders."^"  This  resolution  was  carried  into  effect.  In  a 
letter  written  to  Rokycana  in  1468,  the  Brethren  say:  "  For 
more  than  eight  years  we  have  set  aside  all  (theological) 
writings    and    Tracts,   and  avoid  them,  especially   those    of 


^^  Waldensia  B.  Lydii,  Part  II.  pp.  295  and  296,  in  the  Apology  of  the 
Bohemian  Brethren  presented  to  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg  in  1532  and 
revised  in  1538,  where  is  given  the  resolution  of  the  Synod  of  1459. 

^^  Bishop  Spangenberg's  Exposition  of  Christian  Doctrine,  a  modern 
standard  of  the  Church  says,  §  146,  p.  245  :  "  The  Holy  Communion  is  a 
mysterious  enjoyment  of  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ;  that  is,  the  enjoy- 
ment of  the  bread  and  wine  is  connected  with  the  enjoyment  of  the  body 
and  blood  of  Jesus  in  a  manner  incomprehensible  to  us,  and  therefore 
inexpressible,  whenever  the  Holy  Supper  of  the  Lord  is  enjoyed  according 
to  the  mind  of  Jesus  Christ." 

20  Blahoslaw's  MS.  Boh.  Hist.,  quoted  by  Palacky,  VII.  p.  487  and 
Note  396. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  113 

Martinek  and  Biskupec."^^  It  thus  appears  that,  from  the 
very  beginning  of  their  Church,  the  Brethren  insisted  upon 
reo-ulatinsr  Christian  life  according  to  the  biblical  standard 
alone,  and  endeavored  in  this  way  to  avoid  the  confusion,  the 
inconsistencies  and  the  fanaticism  into  which  the  Taborites 
had  fallen. 

After  the  adjournment  of  the  Synod  Michael  Bradacius 
began  to  simplify  public  worship  and,  in  particular,  the  cere- 
monies at  the  administration  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  This 
,vas  the  first  step  in  the  direction  of  a  Protestant  ritual. 

In  1460  a  large  body  of  Taborites  from  Moravia,  after 
having  suffered  severe  persecutions  both  in  that  country  and 
in  Bohemia,  were  led,  through  the  instrumentality  of  Gregory, 
vho  visited  them  in  their  seats  near  Klattau  and  whom  they 
received  "  as  an  angel  of  God,"  to  unite  with  the  Brethreu.^^ 

^^  The  name  by  which  Nicholas  Pilgram,  the  Taborite  Bishop,  was 
known.     The  above  letter  is  cited  by  Palacky,  Ibid. 

'^'^  These  Taborites  drew  up  a  full  account  of  their  sufferings  and  subse- 
quent union  with  the  Brethren,  which  chronicle  is  given  by  Bishop 
Turnovius  in  his  notes  to  Lasitius*  MS.  History.  Compare  Croeger,  I. 
pp  60-62. 


114  THE    HISTORY    OF 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

The  First  Persecution  of  the  Brethren.     A.  D.  1461-1463. 


The  Position  and  ambitious  Projects  of  George  Podiebrad  — The  Cause  of 
the  first  Persecution. — Edict  against  tlie  Brethren.— The  Meeting  at 
Prague. — Arrest  of  a  number  of  Brethren. — Gregory  on  the  Rack. — 
His  Dream. — Recantations. — Podiebrad  disappointed  in  his  Hopes. — 
The  Persecution  continued. — Second  Decree  against  the  Brethren. — 
Imprisonments  and  Martyrdom. — Appeal  to  Rokycana. — What  the 
Brethren  wrote  to  him. — Third  Decree  against  them. — Hiding  in 
Forests  and  Mountains. — End  of  the  Persecution. 

It  was  not  the  natural  disposition  of  George  Podiebrad, 
which,  as  a  rule,  was  liberal  and  just,  but  the  force  of 
circumstances,  that  made  him  notorious  as  the  first  persecutor 
of  the  Brethren.  He  had  been  elevated  to  the  Bohemian 
throne  both  by  Utraquist  and  Catholic  members  of  the  Diet. 
He  was  pledged  by  a  solemn  oath,  taken  prior  to  his  corona- 
tion, to  uphold  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  to  obey  the  Pope, 
and  to  put  an  end  to  all  sects  and  heresies  in  the  realm ;  and 
by  another  oath,  sworn  at  his  coronation,  to  maintain  the 
Compactata  as  well  as  the  other  liberties  and  privileges  of 
the  kingdom.  And  for  his  own  part,  he  was  convinced  that 
he  must  guard  it  against  all  such  anarchy  as  the  Hussite  con- 
flicts had  brought  about.  Hence  his  reign  involved  the 
difficult  problem  of  satisfying  two  parties  and  the  necessity  of 
watching,  with  the  utmost  care,  the  developments  which  were 
going  on  both  in  religious  and  political  life.  Before  long, 
moreover,  his  ambition  was  roused.  Confusion  prevailed 
throughout  the  German  empire  because  Frederick,  its  head, 
proved    to    be    the    weakest   of    rulers.       Why   should    not 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  115 

Podiebrad,  whose  firm  sway  was  everywhere  recognized  and 
who  ah*eady  possessed  a  controlling  influence  in  central 
Europe,  be  elected  Roman  King,  and  thus  become  practically 
Regent  of  the  Empire?  Such  was  the  suggestion  of  a 
German,  Martin  Mayr,  one  of  his  councilors.  In  order  to 
the  success  of  this  scheme  the  aid  of  Rome  was  necessary,  and 
Rome,  in  the  hope  of  furthering  her  own  interests,  was  not 
unwilling  to  stretch  out  her  powerful  hand.  That  learned 
scholar  and  astute  politician,  Aeneas  Sylvius,  under  the  title 
of  Pius  the  Second,  occupied  the  papal  chair.^  He  had 
visited  Bohemia,  was  well  acquainted  with  its  people  and 
their  King,  and  believed  the  project  could  be  made  a  means 
to  bring  them  into  full  subjection  to  the  Hierarchy. 

In  February  of  1461,  Podiebrad  returned  to  Prague  from 
Eger,  where  he  had  met  a  large  number  of  German  Princes 
and  Electors.  Although  he  had  not  yet  openly  avowed  his 
purpose  of  securing  the  imperial  crown,  he  knew  that  the 
prospect  was  brightening.  Flushed  with  high  hopes,  he 
beheld,  in  imagination,  the  most  powerful  sceptre  of  Europe 
in  his  grasp  and  himself  occupying,  although  he  could  boast 
of  no  royal  line,  the  exalted  seat  of  Charles  and  of  Sigismund. 

Under  such  circumstances  and  while  he  was  in  such  a  frame 
of  mind,  he  was  told  that  complaints  had  been  laid  before  the 
Utraquist  Consistory  against  those  adherents  of  Rokycana 
M'hom  he  had  permitted  to  settle  at  Kunwald.  They  had 
changed  the  ceremonies  usual  at  the  Lord's  Supper;  they 
would  not  indiscriminately  admit  the  people  to  this  sacrament, 
but  exercised  a  strict  discipline ;  no  one  knew  what  they  prac- 
tised at  their  secret  assemblies.  These  were  the  accusations 
vehemently  urged  by  the  priests  of  neighboring  parishes. 
Podiebrad  was  indignant.  Should  a  handful  of  obscure 
religionists  bring  the  odium  of  heresy  anew  upon  his  king- 
dom just  at  at  a  time  when  he  wished  to  conciliate  the  Pope? 
His  indignation  increased,  when  he  heard  of  a  Taborite 
tendency  among  some  of  the  students  at  the  University  of 
Prague   and  of  the   fanatical   sects  that  were   beginning  to 

^  He  was  elected  August  the  tenth,  1458. 


116  THE    HISTORY    OF 

wander  through  tlic  country.  He  must  hasten  to  convince 
Pius  the  Second,  to  whom  he  was  about  to  send  a  splendid 
embassy,  that  he  meant  to  be  true  to  his  oath  and  that  neither 
sects  nor  heresies  would  be  allowed  to  exist  in  Bohemia. 
Accordingly  he  issued  an  edict  commanding  all  his  subjects 
to  join  either  the  Utraquist  or  the  Roman  Catholic  Churches, 
and  Taborites  and  Picards  of  every  name  to  leave  the  country.^ 

On  the  strength  of  this  mandate  an  investigation  began  in 
the  University  (March  the  fifteenth,  1461.)  A  number  of  its 
students,  and  at  a  later  time,  several  of  its  Masters  and 
Professors,  were  arrested,  cast  into  prison  and  eventually 
banished.^ 

About  the  time  of  this  investigation  Gregory  came  to 
Prague  in  order  to  visit  the  Brethren.  A  meeting  was 
appointed  in  a  house  of  the  Neustadt.  Among  those  who 
assembled  were  two  Elders,  Augustin  Halar  and  George  of 
Fiinf  kirchen,  as  also  two  students,  George  of  Sussic  and  Peter 
of  Ledec.  The  King  having  been  informed  of  this  gathering 
gave  orders,  that  all  present  should  be  arrested  and  examined 
according  to  the  cruel  usage  of  the  age.*  A  friendly  magis- 
trate warned  Gregory  of  what  was  impending.  Gregory 
advised  the  Brethren  to  disperse.     Some  of  them  followed 


^  Picards  was  the  opprobrious  name  by  which  the  Brethren  were  com- 
monly known  among  their  enemies.  It  was  often  applied  to  all  such  as 
separated  from  the  R.  C.  and  National  Churches  and  denied  the  doctrine  of 
transubstantiation.  Its  derivation  is  uncertain.  Aeneas  Sylvius,  without 
the  least  authority,  derives  it  from  the  name  of  a  man,  Pilchard,  who,  he 
says,  was  the  founder  of  the  sect  of  the  Picards.  Whatever  its  origin,  it 
expressed  the  greatest  contempt  and  implied  that  those  to  whom  it  was 
addressed  were  vile  and  immoral  people.  In  a  document  of  1475  the 
Brethren  themselves  say :  "  Picards  was  the  name  given  to  the  worst  of 
men,  who  believed  neither  in  Christ  nor  in  the  resurrection,  and  hence, 
deeming  sin  to  be  no  sin,  walked  openly  in  licentiousness  and  the  lusts  of 
the  flesh."  (Goll,  p.  9,  Note  1.)  The  Brethren  always  indignantly  rejected 
this  name ;  and  yet  even  at  the  present  day  it  is  sometimes  applied  to  them 
in  Bohemia. 

3  Palacky,  VIII.  pp.  185  and  186. 

*  Palacky,  VIII.  p.  186,  says  that  everything  was  done  "  auf  des  Konigs 
speciellen  Befehl." 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH.  117 

his  counsel,  others,  and  the  students  in  particular,  rejected  it, 
boastfully  exclaiming :  "  The  torture  shall  be  our  breakfast 
and  the  stake  our  dinner!"^  Under  such  circumstances 
Gregory  also  deemed  it  to  be  his  duty  to  remain.  In  a  little 
while  the  door  was  thrown  open  and  the  magistrate  who  had 
sent  the  warning  appeared  with  his  bailiffs.  He  advanced  to 
the  threshold  and  surveying  the  assembly  said :  "All  that  will 
live  godly  shall  suffer  persecution.*'  You  therefore,  who  are 
here  gathered,  follow  me  to  prison."'' 

At  the  prison  the  rack  was  immediately  applied.  But  no 
sooner  were  the  boastful  students  stretched  on  this  instrument 
of  torture,  than  they  offered  to  recant.  Of  political  intrigues, 
which  were  laid  to  their  charge,  they  knew  nothing,  but  they 
were  willing  to  deny  their  faith.  "After  having  tasted  of 
their  breakfast,  they  had  no  appetite  for  their  dinner.'"^ 
Gregory  alone  remained  steadfast,  and  was  wrenched  so 
frightfully,  that  when  the  tormentors  ceased  from  their  horrid 
work,  he  fell  as  dead  from  the  rack.  Rokycana  having  been 
informed  of  what  had  occurred,  hastened  to  the  torture 
chamber  and  broke  out  into  tears  and  loud  lamentations, 
exclaiming :  "  O  that  I  were  where  thou  art,  my  Gregory !" 

But  Gregory  was  not  dead.  He  gradually  revived  and 
complained  of  great  pain,  but  did  not,  at  first,  seem  to  be 
conscious  of  what  had  happened.  After  a  time  he  told  those 
who  were  standing  by  that,  in  his  swoon,  he  had  had  a  vivid 
dream.  Planted  in  a  pleasant  meadow  he  saw  a  tree  laden 
with  fruit,  of  which  various  birds  were  eating.  Among  them, 
on  a  branch,  sat  a  boy  with  a  rod,  directing  and  controlling 
them  so  completely  that  not  a  single  one  ventured  to  fly  away 

°  Luke  of  Prague  in  L.  F.  IV.  p.  118,  quoted  in  Reichel's  Zusiitze,  p.  29. 
In  many  respects  Bishop  Luke's  account  is  confused  and  unreliable.  In- 
deed, however  distinguished  a  leader  he  otherwise  was,  his  historical 
writings  in  general  are  untrustworthy  and  marred  particularly  by  a  polem- 
ical bias. 

«  2  Tim.  3,  12. 

'  Hist.  Persecutionum,  Cap.  XIX,  2. 

«  Plitt,  Chap.  XXVI. 

®  Hist.  Persecutionum,  Cap.  XIX,  3. 


118  THE    Hl.STORV    OF 

or  leave  its  place.  Near  by  were  stationed  three  men  t-o 
guard  the  tree.  Their  countenances  he  particularly  notic(^d 
and  could  not  forget.^*' 

The  day  after  this  occurrence  Halar,  George  of  Sussic,  and 
George  of  Fvinf  kirchen,  Elders  though  two  of  them  were, 
]niblicly  recanted  their  faith  in  the  Thein  Church,  accepted 
the  Utraquist  doctrines  and  abjured  aM  further  connection 
with  the  Brethren."  Thereupon  they  were  set  at  liberty. 
Others  of  those  who  had  been  arrested  were  kept  in  prison 
until  1463.  Gregory  regained  his  freedom  through  the  inter- 
cessions of  his  uncle  Rokycana,  and  took  up  his  abode  on  the 
domain  of  Reichenau,  contiguous  to  that  of  Senftenberg.^^ 

The  persecution  which  George  Podiebrad  thus  inaugurated 
was  not  only  shameful  and  unjust  in  the  highest  degree,  in 
spite  of  all  the  circumstances  which  brought  it  about,  but  it 
also  wholly  failed  to  accomplish  the  end  which  he  had  in  view. 
Instead  of  furthering  his  plan  to  ^ain  the  imperial  crown,  it 
rendered,  in  conjunction  with  the  incautious  conduct  of  the 
Romish  party,  that  scheme  so  unpopular,  spread  the  idea  so 
generally  among  the  Bohemians  that  their  King  was  forsaking 
the  Hussite  traditions  and  becoming  a  German,  and  roused  so 
great  a  commotion,  that  he  hastened  to  relinquish  the  project, 
dismissed  its  originator,  and  gave  the  Diet  a  written  assurance 
that  its  rights  and  privileges,  and  the  Compactata  in  particular, 
should  be  upheld.^^ 

But  the  persecution  did  not,  on  that  account  cease,  nor  was 
it  confined  to  Prague.  A  new  edict  appeared,  soon  after  the 
liberation  of  Gregory,  forbidding  every  form  of  public  wor- 
ship except  that  of  the  Utraquists  and  Catholics  and  com- 
manding all  priests  who  would  venture  to  conduct  it  according 

^°  Hist.  Persecutionum,  Cap.  XIX,  3. 

"  Gindely,  I.  p.  29,  whose  authority  is  L.  F.,  II.  pp.  342-344. 

'2  Gindely,  I.  p.  29,  says,  that  it  can  not  be  doubted  that  Gregory  also 
recanted.  He  cites  Luke  in  L.  F.,  IV.  as  authority.  We  consider  this 
assertion  as  contrary  to  all  we  know  of  the  character  and  faith  of  Gregory, 
and  follow  the  Hist.  Persecutionum,  which  is  our  authority  for  what  is  said 
in  the  text.     Cap.  XIX,  4. 

13  Palacky,  VIII.  p.  187. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH.  119 

to  the  manner  of  the  Picards  to  be  put  to  death. ^*  Michael 
Bradacius  was  seized  and  cast  into  a  dungeon  of  the  Castle  of 
Lititz;  other  influential  Brethren  were  imprisoned  in  the 
Castle  of  Podiebrad,  where  they  were  kept  in  constant  fear  of 
execution.  At  Richenburg,  Baron  Zdenek  Kostka,  Lord  of 
Leitomischl,  caused  four  members  of  the  Church  to  be  burned 
alive.^^  On  the  estates  of  other  zealous  Utraquist  nobles  the 
Brethren  were  cruelly  oppressed  and  their  priests  expelled. 

In  this  extremity  they  appealed  to  Rokycana.  Although 
he  had  officially  sanctioned  the  persecution,  he  did  not  approve 
of  it.  "  Many  evil  accusations  against  us,"  writes  Gregory, 
"were  laid  before  Rokycana,  but,  for  a  long'time,  he  rejected 
them,  for  he  knew  us  intimately  and  was  well  disposed  toward 
us.  But  he  could  not  resist  the  King,  whom  prominent-clergy- 
men  incited  against  us,  inducing  the  Queen,  too,  to  believe  the 
things  which  were  said,  although,  as  God  liveth,  they  were  all 
untrue.  Hence  the  King  ordered  us  to  be  imprisoned  and 
tortured.     Rokycana  could  not  prevent  this."'^ 

Several  letters  seem  to  have  been  addressed  to  him,  in  one 
of  which  occurred  the  following  passage : 

"  Have  we  deserved  the  persecutions  which  you  have  brought 
upon  us  ?^''  Have  we  not  been  your  disciples  ?  Have  we  not 
followed  your  own  words  in  refusing  to  remain  in  connection 
with  the  corrupt  Church?  Is  it  right  to  invoke  the  civil 
power  against  us?  Civil  power  is  intended  for  the  punish- 
ment of  those  who  have  broken  the  laws  of  society  and  must 
be  coerced  within  proper  bounds.  It  arose  in  the  heathen 
world.  It  is  absolutely  wrong  to  use  it  in  matters  of  re- 
ligion."^^ 

"  Comenius  Hist.  ^  55,  p.  16. 

'^  Lasitius,  quoted  by  Gindely,  T.  p.  30. 

i«  Palacky,  VII.  pp.  488  and  489,  Note  397. 

^'  The  Brethren  refer  to  his  oflBcial  sanction. 

^*  L.  F.,  II.  p.  1,  etc.  In  this  Folio  are  found  seven  oflScial  epistles  to 
Rokycana,  all  of  which  were  written  subsequent  to  1467,  except  the  fifth, 
from  which  the  above  is  quoted.  This  fifth  epistle  contains  the  following 
endorsement:  "This  letter  was  delivered  to  Master  Rokycana  when  the 
Brethren,  after  having  suffered  tortures,  were  freed  from  prison  in  the 
year  1463." 


120  THE    HISTORY    OF 

Whatever  the  views  aud  feelings  of  Rokycana  may  have 
been,  he  was  afraid  of  the  King  and  did  nothing  for  the  relief 
of  the  Brethren.  Hence  they  closed  their  correspondence  with 
him  in  these  words  :  "  Thou  art  of  the  world  and  wilt  perish 
with  the  world."'^  Now  he  became  angry  and  took  active 
steps  against  tliem,  inducing  Podiebrad  to  issue  another  edict 
banishing  them  from  the  country.  It  is  said,  that  the  Bishop 
of  Breslau  advised  the  King  to  shed  no  more  blood,  because 
martyrdom  \vas  like  a  half-roasted  piece  of  meat,  apt  to  breed 
maggots.^'^  In  consequence  of  this  new  decree  many  Brethren, 
and  especially  the  more  prominent,  fled  to  the  mountains  and 
forests  round  about  Brandeis,  where  they  eked  out  their  lives 
in  great  distress  and  misery .^^ 

Gradually,  however,  the  persecution  died  out.  This  was 
owing,  in  part,  to  the  state  of  political  affairs,  which  required 
the  entire  attention  of  Podiebrad.  Pius  the  Second  turned 
against  him  and  began  a  series  of  intrigues  to  deprive  him  of 
his  kingdom.  Under  such  circumstances  the  Brethren  were 
forgotten. 

1^  Hist.  PersecutioDum,  Cap.  XIX,  4. 

^^  Hist.  Persecutionum,  Cap.  XIX,  5. 

^'  In  consequence  of  their  liiding  in  this  way  another  opprobrious  name, 
namely,  Jamnici,  was  applied  to  the  Brethren.  It  means  inhabitants  of 
pits  and  caves. 


THE    MOKAVIAN    CHURCH.  121 


CHAPTER  XIY. 

The  Synod  of  Reichenau  and  final  Separation  of  the  Brethren 
from  the  Utraquist  Church.     A.  D.  1464-1466. 


Results  of  the  Persecution. — Increase  of  Memberchip. — Desire  for  a  more 
complete  Organization. — Synod  among  the  Mountains  of  Reichenau. — 
The  Statutes  adopted  by  the  Synod. — Election  of  three  Directors  of  the 
Church. — The  Question  of  a  Separation  from  the  Utraquists. — Martin 
Lupac  and  his  Counsel. — Looking  for  a  Church  not  under  the  Papacy, 
with  which  Church  the  Brethren  might  unite. — Another  Synod  called. 
— The  Question  of  separating  from  the  National  Church  and  instituting 
an  independent  Ministry  decided  by  the  Lot. 

Persecution  for  the  Gospel's  sake  invariably  defeats 
itself.  The  more  God's  people  are  oppressed,  the  more  they 
learn  to  endure,  the  stronger  they  grow  in  faith,  the  more 
rapidly  they  increase  in  numbers. 

Of  this  truth  the  first  persecution  which  came  upon  the 
Brethren  was  an  evidence.  A  few  of  them  denied  their  faith 
and  fell,  but  as  a  body  they  were  inspired  with  new  courage 
and  the  firm  determination  to  carry  on,  while  bearing  patiently 
whatever  suiferings  might  yet  await  them,  the  work  which 
they  had  begun  in  the  Lord's  name  and  to  the  Lord's  glory. 
^ov  did  an  increase  of  their  membership  fail  to  take  place. 
Attracted  by  the  steadfastness  which  they  had  shown  there 
came  both  priests  and  laymen,  asking  to  be  admitted  to  their 
communion.  Among  the  former  were  several  Waldenses 
from  a  colony  on  the  confines  of  Austria,  and  among  the 
latter,  noblemen  who  invited  the  Brethren  to  settle  on  their 
estates.^     Throughout  their  whole  history,  persecutions  pro- 

^  Keichel's  Geschichte,  p.  16. 


122  THE    HISTORY   OF 

duced  similar  results.  The  Brethren  were,  more  or  less  at  all 
times,  in  the  language  of  one  of  their  own  writers,  "  cast 
down,  oppressed  and  greatly  afflicted  ;"^  and  yet,  until  the 
Anti-reformation,  they  continually  grew  in  numbers  and 
influence. 

But  the  first  persecution  brought  al)out  other  consequences 
also,  which  proved  to  be  of  far  reaching  importance.  The 
conviction  spread  that  a  more  complete  organization  must  be 
given  to  the  Church  and  that  it  must  be  more  absolutely 
grounded,  in  doctrine  and  practice,  on  the  Holy  Scriptures. 
To  this  end  the  Elders  convened  a  Synod  among  the  moun- 
tains of  Reichenau. 

It  took  place  in  1464  and  was  held  under  the  open  canopy 
of  heaven.^  Many  representatives,  from  different  parts  of 
Bohemia  and  Moravia,  attended.  First  of  all,  the  principles 
according  to  which  the  Church  should  be  governed,  were 
anew  discussed  and  adopted.  These  principles  have  been 
preserved  and  constitute  the  oldest  document  extant  setting 
forth  the  doctrine  and  practice  of  the  Brethren.  It  reads  as 
follows  :* 

STATUTES  AGREED  UPON  BY  THE  BRETHREN  IN  THE  MOUNTAINS 
OF  REICHENAU,  1464,       DELIVERED  TO  THE  ELDERS. 

We  are,  above  all,  agreed  on  the  following  points : 
To  coutinue,  through  grace,  sound  in  the  faith  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ ;  to  be  established  in  the  righteousness  which  is  of 
God,  to  maintain  the  bond  of  love  among  each  other,  and  to 
have  our  hope  in  the  living  God.  We  will  shew  this  both  in 
word  and  deed,  assist  each  other  in  the  spirit  of  love,  live  hon- 
estly, study  to  be  humble,  quiet,  meek,  sober,  and  patient,  and 
thus  testify  to  others  that  we  have  in  truth  a  sound  faith,  genuine 
love,  and  a  sure  and  certain  hope. 

We  are  moreover  agreed,  all  and  each  to  shew  willing  obe- 
dience in  all  things,  as  the  inspired  Scriptures  of  our  Lord  exhort 

^  Quellen,  p.  278,  Blahoslaw's  Letter  to  Lasitius. 

^  L.  F.,  V.  260,  etc. 

*  L.  F.,  V.  No.  17.  A  German  translation  is  given  in  Reichel's  Ge- 
schichte.  Appendix  I.;  also  in  Croger,  1.,  pp.  66-71 ;  Benham  in  his  Origin 
and  Episcopate  of  the  Boh.  Brn.,  Chapt.  V.,  p.  38,  furnishes  an  English 
version  which  we  have  adopted  above. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  123 

US  to  do ;  each  is  to  accept  in  the  spirit  of  mutual  good  will, 
instruction,  warning,  exhortation,  and  reproof  from  his  brother, 
and  withal  he  will  maintain  the  covenant  into  which  we  have 
entered  with  God  and  His  Holy  Spirit,  through  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ. 

We  are  unanimously  agreed,  mutually  to  strengthen  each 
other,  according  to  our  several  abilities  in  the  truth,  which  by 
the  grace  of  God  we  confess,  and  to  undertake  and  execute  with 
cheerfulness  whatever  may  be  deemed  useful  to  our  edification 
and  spiritual  welfare. 

We  will,  above  all,  observe  Christian  obedience,  acknowledge 
our  faults  and  shortcomings,  humble  ourselves,  and  be  subject 
one  to  another ;  we  will  have  the  fear  of  God  before  our  eyes 
when  we  are  exhorted  and  reproved,  try  to  amend  our  ways  and 
confess  our  sins  before  God  and  man.  If  any  one  should  be 
unwilling  to  abide  by  the  rules  and  prove  unfaithful  to  the 
covenant  made  with  God,  and  faithful  Christian  brethren,  we 
must  declare,  though  with  deep  regret,  that  we  cannot  assure  such 
an  one  of  his  salvation ;  but  on  the  other  hand,  it  may  possibly 
become  necessary  to  exclude  him  from  our  church-fellowship. 
And  if  any  one  is  excluded  from  our  communion  on  account  of 
some  grievous  transgression  or  glaring  error  in  doctrine,  we 
cannot  re-admit  him  until  he  has  entirely  cleared  himself,  and 
given  manifest  proofs  of  a  changed  conduct. 

We  further  agree,  that  each  one  abide  faithful  in  his  calling, 
and  have  a  good  conscience  in  all  things,  according  to  the  apos- 
tolic exhortations.  The  priests  and  teachers  should,  in  particular, 
set  a  good  example  to  others,  and  in  word  and  deed  demean 
themselves  so  that  they  may  escape  all  blame  and  just  reproof. 
Those  who,  of  their  own  accord,  have  renounced  their  claims 
upon  their  personal  estates  for  the  good  of  the  Church,  should 
faithfully  adhere  to  their  engagement,  and  not  urge  any  private 
or  personal  claims  upon  their  estates,  monies,  or  other  property, 
but  follow  the  example  of  the  primitive  Christians,  willingly 
submitting  to  have  all  things  common,  as  it  is  written :  "  They 
had  all  things  common,  and  parted  to  all  men  as  every  man  had 
need."  This  is  a  very  praiseworthy  and  reasonable  thing,  espe- 
cially from  those  who  become  the  messengers  of  the  churches,  in 
order  that  they  may  learn  while  discharging  the  duties  of  their 
office  to  be  content  with  a  moderate  diet  and  decent  clothing, 
leaving  all  the  rest  to  the  Lord  who  cares  for  them.  They 
ought,  therefore,  to  abstain  from  all  extravagance,  and  be  content 
with  the  support  which  the  stewards  of  the  common  fund  are 
able  to  allow  them. 

Moreover,  it  is  necessary  that  the  priests  and  teachers  should 
be  freed  from  all  care  regarding  their  temporal  support,  to  enable 
them  to  devote  their  whole  attention  to  the  spiritual  duties  of 
their  office.     They  must  patiently  bear  whatever  Divine  provi- 


124  THE    HISTORY    OF 

dence  may  appoint  for  them  ;  distress,  hunger,  cold,  persecution, 
imprisonment,  and  even  death  itself,  after  the  example  of  the 
early  Christians,  who  were  wholly  devoted  to  God — they  must 
surrender  themselves  entirely  to  His  government,  which  they 
must  patiently  follow,  and  leave  the  world. 

Whoever  possesses  this  world's  goods  should  remember  the 
poor,  and  freely  communicate  according  to  the  word  of  God  ; 
work  with  his  own  hands,  and  do  what  is  just  and  right.  They 
ought  only  to  trade  with  heavenly  goods  and  treasures,  preach 
the  word  of  God,  teach  their  dear  neighbors  and  pray  for  them, 
that  the  Lord  may  grant  them  grace  to  grow  and  increase  more 
and  more  in  their  spiritual  lives. 

Priests  and  teachers  may,  however,  engage  in  domestic  labors 
in  their  leisure  hours.  Whatever  they  can  spare  from  their  own 
necessary  expenses  they  should  spend  in  remembering  the  poor ; 
but  if  they  suffer  want  they  are  to  be  supported,  with  the  consent 
of  their  brethren,  from  the  general  fund;  yet  care  should  always 
be  taken  to  avoid  giving  offence,  or  causing  disharmony  and 
contention. 

The  same  rule  obtains  among  brethren  and  sisters  who  are 
engaged  in  handicraft  business,  or  hire  themselves  out  for  labor 
in  order  to  secure  a  decent  support  and  maintenance.  Whoever 
goes  on  errands,  or  is  employed  to  do  a  certain  work,  shall  be 
paid  a  fair  remuneration  for  his  labor,  unless  he  can  and  will  do 
it  gratuitously  for  the  benefit  of  the  congregation. 

Orphans  and  minors  must  shew  at  all  times  due  obedience  to 
the  superintendents  and  elders  of  the  congregation  who  have 
charge  of  them,  and  do  nothing  without  their  counsel  or  advice 
and  consent. 

Servants  are  bound  to  obey  their  masters  in  all  things,  for  they 
are  their  nursing-fathers,  counsellors  and  supporters,  who  care 
for  them  both  in  health  and  sickness. 

The  sisters  who  are  in  service  stand  in  the  same  relation,  and 
are  under  the  same  obligations  to  their  mistresses.  Indeed  all 
are  expected  to  demean  themselves  as  it  becometh  Christians,  in 
order  to  walk  blamelessly  before  God,  and  to  be  useful  and 
pleasant  to  their  brethren  and  sisters,  whose  well-meant  counsels 
and  directions  they  ought  faithfully  to  follow,  preserving  a  good 
conscience  and  purity  of  heart,  w^alking  in  simplicity  of  mind, 
and  always  remembering  that  the  eye  of  God  penetrates  their 
inmost  thoughts.  If  they  are  thus  walking  in  truth  they  may 
rejoice  in  sure  and  certain  hope  of  salvation. 

Every  master  and  mistress  of  a  house  must  treat  their  servants 
with  kindness,  encourage  them  in  everything  that  is  pleasing  to 
God,  set  them  a  good  example  in  word  and  deed,  and  bear  rule 
over  them  in  the  spirit  of  meekness,  peace,  and  gentleness, 
coupled  with  a  prudent  exercise  of  forbearance  such  as  becometh 
a  Christian  master. 


THE   MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  125 

We  further  agreed  on  certain  points  respecting  our  domestic 
relations  to  each  other,  certain  rules  were  laid  down  in  harmony 
with  the  word  of  God,  regulating  the  mutual  relationships 
between  man  and  wife,  and  further  as  to  how  a  husband  is  to 
behave  towards  his  wife  with  all  modesty,  how  to  bring  up  his 
children  well,  how  to  superintend  his  servants  and  whole  house- 
hold, how  to  act  towards  his  neighbor,  and  likewise  how  to 
regulate  his  conduct  towards  his  superiors,  magistrates,  &c.,  that 
in  all  things  the  true  spirit  of  the  Divine  law  be  obeyed. 

Our  people  are  to  be  supported  to  the  best  of  our  ability. 
Towards  strangers  and  travelers  we  will  exercise  kind  hospitality, 
more  especially  if  the  object  of  their  journey  be  the  furtherance 
of  the  Gospel.  Whenever  we  see  any  of  our  brethren  suffer 
want  or  otherwise  in  affliction,  we  will  follow  the  example  of  the 
apostles  and  our  early  fathers  in  the  faith,  and  communicate 
according  to  his  need  from  the  store  which  the  Lord  in  His 
mercy  has  vouchsafed  to  us.  For  if  all  faithful  Christians  were 
united  in  love,  and  each  one  did  study  to  bear  the  other's  burden, 
the  commandment  of  Christ  would  be  fulfilled.  Sympathizing 
love  is  the  fulness  of  the  Christian  faith,  promoting  edification 
and  spiritual  life,  and  is  the  firmest  and  most  enduring  bond  of 
human  happiness.  He  that  loveth  not  has  denied  the  faith,  and 
is  worse  than  an  infidel,  and  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  condemns 
him. 

It  was  further  agreed :  We  will  receive  with  brotherly  kind- 
ness a  penitent  soul,  and  every  one  who  turns  away  from  the 
world  unto  God,  and  assist  them,  that  they  may  come  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  truth.  Whoever  he  be  he  shall  find  every- 
where a  kind  and  hospitable  reception.  We  will  faithfully 
converse  with  him,  give  him  advice  and  instruction,  exhortations, 
and  every  needful  warning,  that  he  may  be  corrected  and  edified, 
and  may  grow  in  spirituality. 

Concerning  our  external  comforts,  it  was  agreed  :  We  will  not 
needlessly  change  our  place  of  residence,  except  it  can  be  shown 
that  we  can  be  of 'greater  and  more  extensive  usefulness  to  the 
Church  of  God  in  the  new  place. 

Neither  will  we  change  our  servants  needlessly,  unless  a  master 
is  convinced  that  a  change  would  be  beneficial  for  the  spiritual 
well-being  of  his  household,  in  which  case  he  himself  should 
suggest  the  means  of  facilitating  it. 

If  any  are  persecuted  and  driven  into  exile  on  account  of 
their  faith,  or  if  their  property  and  possessions  are  taken  away 
from  them  or  burnt,  we  consider  it  our  duty  to  receive  and  care 
for  such. 

The  orphan,  the  widow,  and  the  destitute,  are  to  be  regarded 
with  peculiar  compassion  by  the  Brethren,  and  to  be  received  in 
the  name  of  Christ;  the  necessary  support  being  provided  for 
them  in  the  spirit  of  charity. 


126  THE    HISTORY   OF 

The  Brethren  will  inquire  after  all  devoted  and  faithful 
servants  of  God  who  may  be  in  want  and  distress,  and  assist 
them  to  the  best  of  their  ability. 

Whenever  any  sum  is  paid  from  the  general  fund  of  the 
congregations  of  the  Brethren  for  charitable  purposes,  the 
treasurer  is  to  keep  a  faithful  and  correct  account  of  it,  and 
procure  a  receipt  for  it  from  the  party  to  whom  it  is  paid. 
Hereby  every  suspicion,  every  false  report  and  hurtful  under- 
standing are  prevented,  and  love  and  harmony  preserved  in  the 
congregations. 

In  general  the  Brethren  should  seek  their  resting-place  in  the 
Lord,  and  guard  against  the  dazzling  and  vaunting  seductions  of 
the  world.  The  tempting  exterior  of  worldly-mindedness,  the 
subtlety  and  secret  malice  of  its  prevailing  wicked  spirit,  which 
continually  endeavors  to  overcome  Christian  simplicity  of  heart 
by  its  flattering  delusions,  are  very  dangerous  rocks  for  a  faithful 
soul.  The  spirit  of  this  world  pursues  only  selfish  objects,  and 
promising  to  its  dupe  temporary  advantages,  which  often  are  not 
attainable,  it  can  do  no  more  after  all  than  deceive ;  from  which 
spirit  may  God  in  mercy  preserve  us. 

All  this  is  contained  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  therefore  we 
are  bound  faithfully  to  adhere  to  it. 

Regarding  our  earthly  appointed  Rulers,  we  consider  ourselves 
bound  to  show  them  due  obedience,  to  follow  their  wise  counsels, 
to  be  subject  to  them  with  all  humility,  to  manifest  loyalty  in  all 
things,  and  faithfulness  towards  them,  and  to  pray  unto  God  for 
them. 

In  the  congregations  we  will  preserve  peace  with  all,  cultivate 
brotherly  harmony,  and  do  all  in  our  power  to  further  the 
common  well-being,  and  to  maintain  firmly  the  bond  of  brother- 
hood in  and  with  and  through  our  God.  Thus  our  conscience 
will  be  preserved  in  the  peace  of  God,  and  the  blessings  of  the 
grace  of"  God  will  at  all  times  abound  among  us. 

It  is  with  feelings  of  profound  admiration  that  we  read 
this  venerable  document  more  than  four  centuries  old,  and 
recognize  in  its  opening  sentence  justification  by  faith  as  the 
doctrinal  ground  on  which  the  Brethren  stood.^  At  the  same 
time  it  plainly  shows  how  decided  was  the  tendency  which 
they  had  received  from  Peter  Chelcicky,  to  subordinate  the 
doctrinal  to  the  practical.  And  yet,  when  a  man  has  been 
justified  by  faith  what  can  be  more  acceptable  to  God  than 
holiness  manifesting  itself,  as  this  document  enjoins,  in  every 


*  Even  Gindely,  I.  p.  31,  acknowledges  this. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  127 

duty  and  in  all  the  relations  of  daily  life  ?  The  statutes  of 
Reichenau  set  forth  personal  godliness  in  a  way  worthy  of  the 
earnest  men  who  were  there  assembled. 

In  the  next  place,  the  Synod  proceeded  to  consider  measures 
looking  to  a  more  complete  organization  of  the  Church.  This 
was  a  subject  which,  in  its  widest  scope,  involved  questions 
of  great  moment.  The  recent  persecution  had  taught  the 
Brethren  that  the  number  of  their  priests  was  insufficient. 
Not  a  few  of  them  had  been  rudely  dragged  from  their  fields 
of  labor  and  cast  into  prison ;  and  although  they  had,  for  the 
most  part,  been  subsequently  set  at  liberty,  so  that  they  could 
resume  their  work,  the  hope  of  keeping  their  ranks  full  by 
secessions  from  the  Utraquists  was  uncertain.  Should  the 
Brethren  therefore  cut  themselves  loose  entirely  from  this 
Church  and  institute  a  ministry  of  their  own  ?  They  ap- 
proached this  question,  not  with  the  rashness  of  modern 
sectarianism,  which  almost  seems  to  think  that  every  new 
divisif>n  among  the  Protestants  is  a  new  trophy  for  the  cause 
of  Truth,  but  with  the  utmost  caution  and  feelings  well  nigh 
of  awe.  Would  so  momentous  a  step  be  well  pleasing  in  the 
sight  of  God  ?  Would  it  tend  to  promote  His  glory  and 
advance  His  kingdom  ?  Or  would  it  increase  the  confusion 
prevailing  in  matters  of  religion  and  be  a  stumbling-block  in 
the  way  of  men  ?  These  and  other  cognate  points  were 
discussed,  but  without  bringing  the  Synod  to  a  decision. 
Hence  it  was  agreed  that,  for  the  time  being,  the  ministrations 
of  Utraquist  priests  should  continue,  but  that  the  supervision 
of  the  Church  should  be  rendered  more  efficient.  To  this  end 
three  of  the  Elders — Gregory,  Procop  of  Hradeck  and  John 
Klenovsky — were  elected  Primarii,^  or  Chief  Elders,  and 
received  authority  to  direct,  in  accordance  with  the  new 
Statutes  which  were  now  delivered  into  their  hands,  the  other 
Elders  and  rule  the  membership.^  Thereupon  the  Synod 
adjourned. 

®  The  title  given  them  by  Lasitius. 

'  Lasitius,  II.  35  ;  Blahoslaw's  Summa   quaedam  L.  F.,  VIII.  pp.  157- 
171.     Camerarius,  p.  90  ;  Comenii  Hist.  Sect.  58,  p.  17  ;  Gindely,  I.  p.  31. 


128  THE    HISTORV    OF 

But  the  question  of  an  independent  ministry  was  not 
dropped.  It  continued  to  engage  the  attention  of  the 
Brethren;  they  made  it  the  subject  of  special  prayer;  they 
consulted  leading  Utraquists  upon  whose  friendship  and 
sympathy  they  could  rely. 

Among  these  Martin  Lupae,  who  had  been  appointed 
Rokycana's  suffragan,  but  who,  like  Rokycaua,  had  never 
been  consecrated,  was  prominent.  Originally  a  Taborite,  he 
ioined  the  Utraquists  when  the  Taborite  faction  came  to  an 
'Bnd.  In  point  of  learning  he  was  Rokycana's  superior ;  his 
knowledge  of  the  Truth  was  deeper  and  his  views  were  far 
more  liberal. 

An  incident  showing  his  advanced  opinions  has  been  pre- 
served. One  day,  while  carrying  the  sacrament  to  a  village 
near  Prague,  he  met  a  peasant  who  fell  upon  his  knees  and 
adored  the  host.  Lupac  raised  him  up  and  pointing  to 
heaven  said :  "  My  son,  Christ  must  be  adored  as  He  sits  on 
high,  at  the  right  hand  of  the  Omnipotent  Father."^ 

Lupac  had  manifested  a  warm  interest  in  the  work  of  the 
Brethren  from  its  inception;  and  now  he  strongly  advised 
them  to  secede  from  the  Utraquists  and  establish  a  ministry 
of  their  own.  Such  a  step,  he  said,  would  indeed  be  contrary 
to  the  will  of  the  heads  of  the  Church  and  to  the  mind  of  the 
Church  itself,  which  was  infected  with  popery,  but  in  har- 
mony with  the  will  and  mind  of  God.  As  regarded  himself 
personally,  he  would  rejoice  to  see  among  the  Brethren  an 
independent  order  of  ministers  properly  ordained.  In  no 
other  way  could  the  work  which  they  had  begun  be  brought 
to  its  legitimate  end.^  Similar  advice  was  given  them  by 
other  Utraquist  priests,  especially  by  Stephen  and  Martin.^*^ 

Lupac's  liberal  views  eventually  led  to  a  rupture  with 
Rokycana.  Ha\4ng  been  banished  from  the  capital,  he  found 
a  refuge  with  the  Brethren  on  the  domain  of  Senftenberg." 

^  Camerarius,  p.  90. 

9  Lasitius,  II.  p.  25,  etc.,  (Plitt);  Croger,  I.  p.  72;  Blahoslaw's  Summa 
ijuaedam. 

1°  Lasitius,  11   p.  55. 
"  L.  F.,  I.  and  HI. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  129 

In  consequence  of  a  letter  which  he  issued  setting  forth  his 
theological  views/^  Rokycana  had  him  arrested  and  imprisoned 
at  Prague.  Thereupon  he  addressed  a  second  letter  personally 
to  Rokycana/^  defending  the  theological  positions  of  the  first 
and  interceding  with  him  on  behalf  the  Brethren  who  were, 
he  said,  "  orphans  forsaken  and  scattered."  This  communi- 
cation brought  about  a  public  disputation  between  the  two,'^ 
which  however  led  to  no  change  in  their  relations.  Lupac 
was  remanded  to  prison  and  died  on  the  twentieth  of  April, 
1468.  Whether  he  regained  his  freedom  prior  to  his  death  is 
not  known.  In  any  case,  he  lived  long  enough  to  see  the 
ministry,  whose  institution  he  had  urged,  established  among 
the  Brethren. 

But  at  the  time  when  he  and  others  gave  them  this  advice, 
they  still  hesitated  to  take  so  decisive  a  step.  Was  there  not, 
they  reasoned,  a  way  of  gaining  their  object  without  creating 
a  schism  ?  Could  not,  somewhere  on  earth,  a  body  of 
Christians  be  found  that  traced  its  origin  to  the  primitive 
church,  that  had  maintained  the  true  faith  and  preserved  an 
uncorrupted  priesthood  ?  Several  Brethren  proposed  to  travel 
to  the  countries  of  India,'^  in  search  of  such  Christians. 
But  before  they  could  undertake  this  journey,  two  men  from 
that  distant  region  visited  Prague.  The  account  which  they 
gave  of  the  state  of  religion  in  India  convinced  the  Brethren 
that  they  would  not  there  meet  with  the  ideal  for  which  they 
were  seeking.  Their  inquiries  with  regard  to  the  Greek  and 
Armenian  churches  proved  equally  unsatisfactory.  Nowhere 
did  they  hear  of  a  priesthood  which  came  up  to  the  standard 
of  the  apostolic  writings  and  which  was  not,  more  or  less, 
corrupt.^'' 

''  L.  F.,  I.  p.  236. 

"  "  The  Letter  of  the  prisoner  M.  Lupac  to  Rokycana."     L.  F.,  I.  p.  225. 

"  Report  of  the  Disputation  in  L.  F.,  I.  p.  343,  &c. 

^=  "  In  die  Indische  Lander."  Goll,  Appendix  F.,  p,  100.  It  is  not  clear 
to  what  body  of  Christians  the  Brethren  here  refer  or  what  countries  they 
mean  by  those  of  India.  The  Christians  of  St.  Thomas  lived  in  India. 
Perhaps  they  refer  to  the  Copts  of  Egypt,  or  to  the  Abyssinian  Church. 

■®  From  a  treatise  "  Wie  man  sich  gegen  die  Romische  Kirche  verhaiten 
9 


130  THE    HISTORY    OF 

At  last,  "  constrained  by  the  necessity  which  their  own 
salvation  imposed  upon  them,"^''  they  convened  another  Synod, 
with  the  understanding  that  this  body  should  bring  the 
question  to  an  issue.  The  Elders  having  appointed  fasting 
and  prayers  throughout  the  Church,  to  the  end  that  God 
might,  by  His  Holy  Spirit  guide  the  deliberations,  the  Synod 
met,  probably  in  1465.'^  Its  members  soon  agreed  that,  even 
now,  they  would  not  venture  to  decide  the  question  by  their 
own  votes,  or  upon  the  strength  of  their  own  arguments  but 
would  submit  it,  in  simple  laith,  through  the  use  ot  the  lot, 
to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  Himself.  Two  of  His  promises,  in 
particular,  filled  their  minds  with  confidence ;  "  That  whatso- 
ever ye  shall  ask  of  the  Father  in  My  name.  He  may  give  it 
you ;"  and  "  if  two  of  you  shall  agree  on  earth  as  touching 
anything  that  they  shall  ask,  it  shall  be  done  for  them  of  My 
Father  which  is  in  heaven. "^^ 

Accepting  these  promises  as  addressed  to  them,  they 
formulated  the  following  questions : 

"  Is  it  God's  will  that  we  shall  separate  entirely  from  the 
power  of  the  Papacy  and  hence  from  its  priesthood  ?       Is  it 


soil,"  cited  in  the  preceding  chapter,  Note  16,  Palacky,  VII.  pp.  492  and 
493;  Goll,  Appendix  F.,  pp.  99  and  100.  The  former  ascribes  the  work  to 
Gregory  ;  tlie  latter  says  its  authorship  is  uncertain.  We  adopt  Palacky's 
view. 

^'  "  Die  Noth  unsers  Heils  hat  uns  dazu  getrieben."  This  saying 
frequently  occurs  in  the  documents  relating  to  the  institution  of  the 
ministry.     Goll,  p.  15. 

^*  While  the  events  narrated  in  this  chapter  are  not  to  be  disputed,  the 
chronological  order  in  which  they  occurred  is  very  uncertain.  The  latest 
sources  seem  to  us  to  show,  although  we  adopted  a  different  position  in  our 
lectures  in  the  Seminary,  that  there  were  three  Synods  which  engaged  in 
establishing  the  ministry,  namely,  that  of  1464,  which  took  the  preliminary 
steps,  a  later  Synod,  probably  in  1465,  which  used  the  lot  to  decide  the 
question,  and  the  Synod  of  1467,  which  appointed  the  first  ministers.  GoU, 
p.  19.  Lasitius  takes  this  view  ;  but  in  giving  an  account  of  the  Synod  of 
1465,  introduces  a  number  of  points  which  evidently  belong  to  that  of  1467. 
Plitt,  Keichel  and  Croger  closely  follow  him. 

"  John  xiv,  16  ;  Matt,  xviii,  19. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  131 

God's  will  that  we  shall  institute,  according  to  the  model  of 
the  primitive  Church,  a  ministerial  order  of  our  own  ?"^ 

With  earnest  prayer  the  lot  was  cast  and  decided  both 
questions  affirmatively.-^ 

Thanking  God  for  this  manifestation  of  His  grace,  the 
members  of  the  Synod  returned  to  their  homes,  where  the 
intelligence  which  they  brought  excited  universal  trust  and 
joy.  The  Brethren  were  now  confident  that  God  was  for 
them ;  who  could  be  against  them  ?  What  they  had  failed  to 
understand  in  1457,  was  made  plain  in  1465.  They  were 
ordained  to  build  up,  not  a  fraternal  union  within  the 
Utraquist  Church,  but  an  independent  Church  on  the  model 
of  the  apostolic.     Great  and  glorious  was  this  mission. 

^^  Fourth  Letter  to  Kokycana,  L.  F.,  II.  found  in  Goll,  Appendix  A,  p. 
87.  In  this  document  the  Brethren  combine  with  the  above  two  questions 
a  third,  which,  however,  evidently  relates  to  the  second  use  of  the  lot,  at  the 
Synod  of  1467,  when  the  first  ministers  were  appointed. 

21  Fourth  Letter  to  Rokycana,  L.  F.,  II.  found  in  Goll,  Appendix  A,  pp. 
87  and  88;  Blahoslaw's  Summa  quaedam,  L.  F.,  VIII.  who  says:  "Utuntur 
et  ipsi  sorte,  hoc  unicum  quaerentes,  an  placeat  Domino,  ut  sese  in  uni- 
versum  separent  ab  Ecclesia  Eomana,  adeoque  et  Boemica.  Confirmantur 
sorte  placere  hoc  Deo,  et  jam  esse  tempus  id  fieri.  Agunt  Deo  gratias,  et 
confidentius  obdurant  unanimiter  in  proposito  suo."  (Goll,  Appendix  L, 
p.  117.)  The  use  of  the  lot  on  this  occasion  gave  rise,  in  later  times,  to  the 
legend  that  God  had  worked  a  miracle  and  that  the  Brethren  had  heard  a 
supernatural  voice  saying,  "  This  is  my  will."  This  legend  Lasitins  adopted 
in  one  part  of  his  history,  but  in  another  he  relates  the  use  of  the  lot. 
Regenvolscius  also  accepts  the  legend. 


132  THE    HISTORY    OF 


CHAPTEE  XT. 

The  Synod  of  Lhota  and  Institution  of  an  Independent 
Ministry.     1467. 


A  Synod  appointed  at  Lhota. — The  Delegates. — Proceedings  in  Connection 
with  the  Appointment  of  the  first  Ministers. — Matthias,  Thomas  and 
Elias  designated  by  Lot. — Gregory's  Dream  fulfilled. — The  Thanks- 
giving Hymn. — Rebaptism  and  what  it  meant. — The  Lord's  Supijer. 
— Ordination  of  the  new  Ministers  discussed. — They  receive,  first  of 
all,  presbyterial  Ordination. — Further  Discussions  on  the  Subject  of 
Ordination. — The  Synod  resolves  to  introduce  the  Episcopacy. — Tiie 
Moravian  Waldenses. — Tiiree  Priests  sent  to  them  to  secure  episcopal 
Consecration. 

The  year  1467  saw  the  consummation  of  the  measure  that 
God  had  sanctioned.  At  a  Synod  which  the  Elders  called  for 
this  purpose,  and  in  view  of  which  they  appointed  fasting  and 
prayers  in  all  the  parishes,  the  ministry  of  the  Brethren  was 
established.  A  chain  of  many  links — it  has  continued  un- 
broken to  the  present  day. 

More  than  sixty  representatives,  comprising  nobles,  priests, 
artizans  and  peasants,  assembled  at  Lhota,  a  village  near 
Reichenau,  in  the  house  of  a  man  named  Duchek.^  They 
came  mostly  from  the  Prachin,  Saaz  and  Chrudim  Circuits 
of  Bohemia,  and  from  the  Olmiitz  and  Prerau  Circuits  of 

'  This  village,  which  properly  bears  the  name  of  Lhotka,  is  mentioned 
for  the  first  time  in  Luke's  Ursprung  d.  Unitiit,  MS.,  H.  A.  (See  GoU, 
Appendix,  p.  111).  There  are  several  other  places  of  the  same  name.  In 
1879  we  visited  one  to  the  south-west  of  Pottenstein,  a  secluded  hamlet 
completely  surrounded  by  hills.  According  to  the  Rev.  E.  Schmidt,  of 
Pottenstein,  this  was  the  spot  where  the  Synod  met,  and  where  alone  the 
nece.ssary  secrecy  could  be  secured.  But  the  mass  of  evidence  is  in  favor 
of  the  village  near  Reichenau. 


THE    MORAVIAN   CHURCH.  133 

Moravia.  Gregory  and  Michael  Bradacius  were  the  ruling 
spirits;  but  a  deep  sense  of  responsibility  to  God  and  His 
Church  pervaded  every  mind. 

The  Synod  was  opened  with  prayer  and  the  reading  of  the 
Scriptures.  As  soon  as  the  deliberations  began,  there  shone 
forth  the  same  implicit  confidence  in  God  which  had  illu- 
mined the  meeting  at  Reichenau.^  On  that  occasion  the 
question  whether  an  independent  ministry  should  be  instituted 
had  been  decided  by  the  lot ;  now,  on  the  strength  of  apostolic 
precedent  in  the  case  of  Matthias,  not  only  the  men  who  were 
to  be  the  first  to  assume  this  ministry  should  be  designated  in 
the  same  way,  but  the  Lord  should  also  determine  whether 
the  time  had  come  for  taking  this  final  step. 

The  proceedings  were  conducted  by  the  Elders.  They 
seated  themselves  at  a  table  in  front  of  which  were  ranged 
the  other  members  in  semi-circular  rows.  First  of  all  nine 
men,  of  high  repute  for  piety,  were  nominated  by  ballot. 
Then  twelve  slips  of  paper,  three  inscribed  with  the  word  Jest 
(is)  and  nine  blank,  were  rolled  together  and  put  into  a  vase. 
An  earnest  prayer  followed,  that  God,  in  mercy  and  according 
to  His  good  will,  would  designate  either  one,  or  two,  or  three 
of  the  candidates  as  the  first  ministers  of  the  Brethren's 
Church ;  but  that,  if  the  men  whom  He  had  chosen  were  not 
among  the  nine  that  had  been  nominated,  or  if  this  was  not 
the  time  which  He  had  ordained  for  instituting  an  inde- 
pendent priesthood,  He  would  cause  all  the  nine  to  receive 
blanks.  In  this  event  the  Brethren  would  have  postponed 
further  proceedings  to  a  future  period.^ 

^  "Als  wir  wieder  zusammen  traten  in  demselben  Vertrauen  wie  vor- 
dem."  Letter  of  the  Brethren  to  King  George,  in  L.  F.,  I.;  GoU,  Ap- 
pendix, p.  95. 

^  "  Wenn  aber  Gott  in  diesem  Jahr  es  noch  nicht  haben  wolle,  so  solle  es 
keiner  werden.  Und  ware  es  anf  keinen  gefallen,  so  wiiren  wir  dieses  Jahr 
ohne  jedwede  Priester  geblieben,  und  aiich  fernerhin,  bis  uns  Gott  zeigen 
wiirde  auf  unser  Gebet  hin  und  unsern  Glauben,  Er  wolle  es  schon  haben, 
und  auch  diejenigen  Personen,  von  denen  es  Ihm  gnadig  wohlgefalle  dass 
sie  es  wiirden."  Fourth  Letter  to  Rokycana,  L.  ¥.,  IV,  p.  4,  etc.  Goll, 
Appendix,  p.  88. 


134  THE    HISTORY    OF 

After  the  prayer  Gregory  addressed  the  Synod,  in  substance 
as  follows :  "  My  brethren,  in  as  much  as  we  have  given 
this  whole  matter  into  the  hands  of  the  Lord,  that  He  may 
designate,  if  it  so  please  Him,  some  of  these  men  to  be  His 
ambassadors,  let  us  submit  implicitly  to  His  will  and  judg- 
ment. Be  of  good  courage.  He  who  has  promised  that  the 
prayer  of  faith  shall  be  fulfilled,  will  not  put  us  to  shame." 
A  lad,  named  Prokop,  was  now  called  in  and  told  to  distribute 
the  lots.  He  drew  one  and  gave  it  to  the  first  candidate ;  he 
drew  another  and  presented  it  to  the  second ;  he  continued  to 
draw  the  lots  until  all  the  candidates  had  been  supplied. 
There  ensued  a  moment  of  intense  expectation  and  yet  of 
calm  confidence.  Three  slips  of  paper  remained  in  the  vase. 
If  these  should  prove  to  be  the  three  which  were  marked,  the 
faith  of  the  Synod  would  be  tried  but  not  shaken ;  for  the 
Lord's  will,  under  all  circumstances,  should  be  the  will  of 
His  servants,  and  whatever  the  issue,  to  Him  should  belong 
the  praise.  Amidst  profound  silence  and  a  feeling  of  such 
awe  as  must  have  pervaded  the  council  of  the  apostles,  the 
candidates  advanced  to  the  table  and  presented  their  lots  to 
the  Elders  for  examination.  The  Elders  unrolled  them.  All 
the  three  inscribed  with  Jest  had  been  drawn.  They  desig- 
nated Matthias  of  Kuuwald,  Thomas  of  Prelouc  and  Elias  of 
Chrenovic  as  the  first  ministers  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum.  A 
thrill  of  joy  passed  through  the  assembly,  and  was  intensified 
when  Gregory  announced  that  these  were  the  men  whom  he 
had  seen,  in  his  dream  while  on  the  rack,  guarding  the  tree 
with  the  birds.  That  dream,  he  added,  had  evidently  been 
prophetic,  and  its  fulfillment  now  might  be  looked  upon  as  an 
additional  sign  from  the  Lord.^     As  by  a  common  impulse 

*  Vide  page  li?  and  118.  The  Fourth  Letter  to  Rokycana,  one  of  the 
earliest  documents,  alhides  to  the  vision  (Goll,  Appendix,  p.  89) ;  Blahoslaw 
in  his  Summa  speaks  of  it  (Goll,  Appendix,  p.  117);  and  Eegenvolscius,  p. 
172,  gives  it  in  full.  There  is  nothing  improbable  or  contrary  to  Scripture 
in  such  a  dream ;  and  if  that  of  the  Elector  Frederic  of  Saxony,  at  the 
beginning  of  Luther's  Reformation,  was  historic,  this  one  may  claim  the 
same  character.  But  no  other  sign  occurred  at  the  Synod.  Ijasitius  mis- 
understanding Blahoslaw's  words,  "ostentum  seu  prodigium,"  which  evi- 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  135 

the  whole  Synod  rose,  and  exultingly  acknowledged  Matthias, 
Thomas  and  Elias  to  be  priests  appointed  of  God,  each  mem- 
ber hastening  to  pledge  to  them  his  right  hand  in  token  of 
fellowship  and  submission.  Thereupon,  with  one  heart  and 
voice,  was  sung  a  thanksgiving  hymn  composed  for  the  occa- 
sion by  Gabriel  Komarowsky^ : 

"  With  unity  of  heart  and  voice 
Together  let  us  all  rejoice, 
And  render  praise  to  God  alone, 
The  Father,  Holy  Ghost,  and  Son. 

Since  He  hath  shown  us  mercy  free, 
In  time  of  greatest  jeopardy, 
And  deep  His  holy  law  imprest 
Upon  each  heart  within  each  breast. 

We  needed  faithful  men,  and  He 
Granted  us  such  :     Most  earnestly 
We  pray,  Lord,  let  Thy  gifts  descend 
That  blessing  may  Thy  work  attend ; 

What  is  begun,  O  Lord,  fulfill, 
According  to  Thy  gracious  will : 
To  Thee  alone  we  turn  our  face, 
Trusting  entirely  to  Thy  grace. 

Pity  Thy  Church,  which,  gone  astray, 
No  more  discerns  the  heavenly  way, 
That  by  Thy  truth's  direction  tends 
To  happiness  which  never  ends; 

But  lur'd  by  doctrine  false  to  Thee, 
Distracted  mourns  her  misery  : 
Oh  Thou !  our  Shepherd,  faithful  Lord, 
Help  to  Thy  helpless  sheep  aflford, 

dently  refer  to  Gregory's  vision,  again  reports  a  miracle — a  supernatural 
light  filling  the  apartment — which  miracle  even  Camerarius,  p.  85,  and  it 
would  appear,  Croeger  also,  I.  p.  79,  accept. 

^  The  original  is  found  in  the  Brethren's  Bohemian  Hymnal,  ed.  of  1615, 
p.  351,  beginning,  Radugme  se  wzdy  spoke  cne;  a  German  translation  was 
introduced  into  their  German  Hymnal,  ed.  of  1585,  p.  127,  ed.  1606,  p.  311, 
see  also  Croeger,  I.  pp.  78  and  79 ;  the  above  English  version  is  from  Ben- 
ham's  Notes,  pp.  51-53. 


136  THE    HISTORY    OF 

By  Thy  bright  word  O  give  them  light, 
Thee  the  true  God  to  know  aright ; 
And  humbly  seek  that  glorious  rest 
Which  Thou  reservest  for  the  blest. 

Thou,  Lord,  art  own'd,  with  one  consent, 
The  great  I  AM,  Omnipotent, 
Monarch  of  all  the  hosts  that  be 
In  heav'n,  on  earth,  and  'neath  the  sea ; 

Root  out  foul  error  and  deceit, 
And  Antichrist,  O  Lord,  defeat ; 
Nor  suflFer  persecuting  might 
To  harass  Thee  by  day  and  night. 

Help  Thine  elected  flock,  that  they 
No  more  may  feel  the  tyrant's  sway ; 
But  from  all  thraldom  now  set  free, 
Raise  grateful  songs  of  praise  to  Thee. 

Eternal  God !  we  Thee  implore, 
Help  that  Thy  Word  may  more  and  more 
So  dwell  and  rule  in  us,  that  we 
*  May  always  stand  approv'd  of  Thee. 

Grant  that  we  one  and  all  may  live 
In  Thee,  and  rich  in  virtue  thrive  ; 
And  find  above,  in  endless  day, 
That  crown  which  ne'er  shall  fade  away. 

Amen." 

This  hymn  was  an  expression  of  the  profound  gratitude 
which  filled  the  hearts  of  the  members  of  the  Synod.  God 
had  visited  them.  Great  things,  which  they  received  in  the 
spirit,  had  He  done ;  good  things  had  He  accomplished  in  the 
end  of  days  among  His  people.  They  thanked  Him  and 
took  courage ;  they  rejoiced  in  Him  and  gloried  in  His  work.^ 
Enabled  by  His  grace,  strong  in  the  power  of  His  might,  they 


8  "  Und  viele  von  uns  erkannten  und  fuhlten,  Gott  babe  uns  heimgesucht 
und  zu  unserer  Bestarkung  grosse  Dinge  gewirkt  in  unserem  Geiste.  Und 
so  haben  wir  in  festem  Vertrauen  es  empfangen  und  in  der  ^reude  unseres 
Geistes  Gott  gedankt,  dass  Er  gnte  Dinge  thue  am  Ende  der  Tage  und  sein 
Werk  wirke  in  diesen  Liindern  der  Erde,  in  seinem  Volke."  Letter  of 
the  Brethren  to  King  George,  L.  F.,  I.  and  II.;  Goll,  Appendix,  p.  95. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  137 

had  come  out  from  a  corrupt  Church  and  constituted  them- 
selves "an  habitation  of  God  through  the  Spirit."^ 

This  separation  was  now  solemnly  avowed  and  rendered 
irrevocable  by  a  symbolical  act.  The  members  of  the  Synod, 
in  a  body,  were  rebaptized.^  And  in  as  much  as  this  act 
formed,  at  the  same  time,  a  protest  against  the  errors  of  Rome 
and  the  validity  of  her  sacraments,  it  was  repeated,  for  a 
number  of  years,  as  often  as  Romanists  joined  the  Brethren. 
The  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper  closed  the  proceedings  of 
the  Synod  in  connection  with  the  institution  of  the  ministry.^ 

It  is  noteworthy  that  the  lot  designated  not  scholars,  of 
whom  a  number  were  present,  but  men  in  the  lower  walks  of 
life.  Matthias  was  a  farmer,  only  twenty-five  years  of  age; 
Thomas,  a  town-clerk ;  and  Elias,  a  miller.  But  they  were 
all  men  of  "approved  godliness,  Avisdom  and  prudence."^" 

The  important  subject  of  their  ordination  next  engaged  the 
attention  of  the  Synod,  and  the  following  results  were  reached  : 
The  New  Testament  makes  no  distinction  between  bishops  and 
priests ;  in  the  time  of  the  Apostles  priests  administered  the 
rite  of  ordination  ;  the  Brethren  desire  to  follow  the  example 
of  the  Apostolic  Church  in  all  things ;  therefore  the  three 
newly-appointed  ministers  shall  be  ordained  by  the  priests 
present  at  the  Synod,  one  of  whom  shall  be  designated  by  lot 
to  preside  on  the  occasion.  To  this  end  the  names  of  Michael 
Bradacius  and  of  an  aged  Waldensian  priest  were  submitted 


^  Ephesians  2  :  22. 

*  Gindely,  I.  36.  Such  a  rebaptism  had  nothing  whatever  in  common 
with  the  standpoint  of  modern  Baptists.  Infant  baptism  was  not  rejected, 
nor  was  it  a  rebaptism  by  immersion. 

^  The  principal  sources  for  the  above  narrative  of  the  Synod  are :  Fourth 
Letter  to  Rokycana,  1468,  L.  F.,  VI.,  Goll,  Appendix,  pp.  87-90;  Michael's 
Treatise,  1473,  L.  F.,  V.  in  Eeichel's  Zusiitze,  pp.  50  and  51;  Apology  of 
1503,  L.  F,  VI.,  Reichel's  Zusatze,  p.  42,  etc. ;  Luke's  Narratives,  1523, 
L.  F.,  IV.,  Goll,  Appendix,  I  and  K  ;  Blahoslaw's  Summa,  L.  F.,  VIII., 
Goll,  Appendix,  pp.  117  and  118;  Lasitius,  II.  pp.  47  and  48,  quoted  by 
Plitt ;    Camerarius,  pp.  93  and  94 ;    Regenvolscius,    Bk.   I.  Chapt.  viii ; 

^^  Jaffet's  Geschichte  des  Ursprungs  d.  B.  U.     Eeichel's  Zusatze,  p.  54. 
Comenius,  Section  59  and  90 ;  Gindely,  I.  pp.  33-35. 


138  THE    HISTORY    OF 

to  the  lot.  It  decided  in  favor  of  the  latter.  Accordingly 
with  prayer  and  the  laying  on  of  hands  he  ordained  Matthias^ 
Thomas  and  Elias  to  the  priesthood." 

But  now  that  the  Brethren  had  complied  with  the  usage  of 
the  primitive  Church,  the  question  was  raised  whether  such 
an  ordination  would  suffice  in  their  day  and  amidst  the  cir- 
cumstances by  which  they  were  surrounded,  or  whether  it 
would  be  expedient  to  introduce  the  episcopacy.  A  difference 
of  opinion  appeared.  Some  were  in  favor  of  abiding  by  the 
presbyterial  ordination,  others  urged  that  the  episcopacy  should 
be  secured.*^  The  latter  view  prevailed.  A  distinction,  it 
was  said,  was  made  at  an  early  day,  "immediately  after  the 
time  of  the  Apostles,"  between  bishops  and  priests  ;  to  the 
former  was  committed  the  exclusive  power  to  ordain ;  the 
prerogatives  of  a  bishop  are  historically  established.  "  These 
considerations  induced  the  Synod  to  resolve  upon  the  intro- 
duction of  the  episcopal  office,  through  which  the  congregations 
would  be  more  closely  united  among  themselves  and  better 
able  to  meet  inimical  proceedings,  indignities  and  evil  speaking 
from  without."^^  The  minds  of  the  Brethren,  writes  Come- 
nius,  "  were  agitated  by  the  fear  whether  an  ordination  would 
be  sufficiently  valid  if  a  presbyter  and  not  truly  a  bishop 
were  to  ordain  a  presbyter ;  and  in  what  manner,  in  case  of 
controversies,  such  an  ordination  could  be  defended  either 
among  themselves  or  against  others."^*  Regenvolscius  adds : 
"Nevertheless,  in  order  to  meet  the  calumnies  of  the  adver- 


"  Fourth  Letter  to  Rokycana,  L.  F.,  VI.,  GoU,  Appendix,  pp.  88  and  89; 
Letter  to  King  George,  L.  F.,  I.  and  II.,  Goll,  Appendix,  p.  96  ;  Wie  sich 
die  Mensclien  gegen  die  Rom.  Kirche  verhalten  sollen,  L.  F.,  I.,  Goll,  Ap- 
pendix, p.  102;  Reichel  in  his  Zusatze,  p.  94;  Goll,  p.  19;  Jaffet's  Ur- 
sprung  d.  B.  U.  II.  p.  48,  etc.,  in  Reichel's  Zusatze,  p.  55;  Regenvolscins^ 
pp.  32  and  33. 

12  Koranda's  Letter  to  Baron  Kostka,  MS.,  Lib.  University  of  Prague, 
printed  in  Palacky's  Archiv  Casky,  Goll,  p.  25  and  Palacky,  IX.  pp.  191 
and  192.     Zuversichtliche  Hoffnung,  etc.,  L.  F.,  V.,  Goll,  p.  28. 

'3  Jaffet's  Ursprung  d.  B.  U.,  II.  p.  48,  etc.,  in  Reichel's  Zusatze,  pp.  55 
and  56. 

1*  Comenii  Hist,  et  R.  D.,  Sect.  59,  p.  17. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH.  139 

saries,  especially  in  the  beginning  of  this  reformation,  they 
decided  that  the  same  usage  (the  episcopacy),  as  far  as  it  could 
be  done,  should  be  observed.'"^ 

In  this  connection  the  views  of  the  Roman  Catholic  his- 
torian of  the  Unitas  Fratrum  may  well  find  a  place : 

"However  radical  the  Brethren  were  in  rejecting  the  old 
Church  and  some  of  her  doctrines,  they  had  not  then  reached, 
and  never  did  reach,  so  utter  a  point  of  sectarianism  as  to 
imagine,  like  the  sects,  that  they  could  find  among  themselves 
all  they  needed,  or  that  they  could  keep  aloof  from  the  Christian 
development  of  the  rest  of  the  world.  Not  one  of  them  believed 
that  the  Church  of  Christ  was  restricted  to  Reichenau  and  its 
vicinity,  and  that  fourteen  hundred  and  forty-two  years  after  the 
death  of  Christ  it  could  be  re-established  by  an  act  that  would, 
in  no  wise,  link  it  to  the  primitive  Church.  On  the  contrary, 
there  was  a  means  by  which  the  new  Church,  now  to  be  formed, 
would  be  made  to  stand  in  an  unbroken  connection  with  the  old. 
While  proceeding  to  the  election  of  priests,  care  must  be  taken 
to  secure  the  Roman  Catholic  priesthood,  which  was  alone 
legitimate — to  secure  it  in  some  way,  but  in  all  truth.  Thus 
provision  would  be  made  for  a  priestly  family  that  would  continue 
to  supply  itself  in  an  endless  development.'"" 

That  the  determination  to  introduce  the  bishop's  office  was 
a  result  of  the  Utraquist  antecedents  of  the  founders  and 
leaders  of  the  Church  is  self-evident.  A  body  sprung  exclu- 
sively from  the  Taborites  would  not  have  attached  so  much 
importance  to  the  question  ;  whereas  men  like  Gregory  and 
his  friends,  coming  from  the  associations  of  the  Thein  parish 
and  a  close  fellowship  with  the  Bohemian  Archbishop  elect, 
naturally  looked  in  the  direction  of  the  episcopacy .^'^  But 
where  should  it  be  secured  ? 

At  that  time  there  was  settled  in  Moravia,  on  the  confines 
of  Austria,^^  a  colony  of  Waldenses  said  to  have  a  historic 
episcopate.      Their   fathers   immigrated    probably  from  the 

^*  Regenvolscius,  p.  33. 

'«  Gindely,  I.  p.  33. 

"  With  this  view  Goll,  p.  34,  agrees,  who  says:  "Den  Utraquisten  im 
engeren  Sinne  des  Wortes,  oder  den  Calixtinern  entstamrate  ein  grosser 
Theil  der  Briider:  die  utraquistischen  Anschauungen  sind  es  gewesen, 
welch.e  den  Sieg  davon  trugen." 

^®  Cerny's  Letter  to  lllyricus,  Gindely's  Quellen,  p.  278. 


140  THE    HISTORY    OF 

South  of  France,  in  the  first  quarter  of  the  fifteenth  century, 
hoping  that  the  land  of  the  Hussites  would  aiFord  them  a  safe 
retreat.  At  first  they  retired  from  public  view,  but  soon 
grew  bolder  and  openly  maintained  a  position  among  the 
religious  bodies  by  which  they  were  surrounded. ^^  In  the 
course  of  time  their  relations  to  the  Utraquists  in  particular 
became  close  and  friendly,  and  they  fraternized  with  them  at 
the  mass.^"  Some  of  their  ministers  were  on  a  familiar  footing 
with  Rokycana,  Lupac  and  other  leading  divines,  whom  they 
frequently  visited  and  by  whom  they  were  highly  esteemed. 
Stephen,  their  principal  Bishop,  was  especially  honored  as  a 
man  of  eminence. 

At  the  time  the  Brethren  were  looking  for  a  body  of 
Christians  with  which  they  might  unite,  they  had  formed  the 
acquaintance  of  these  Waldenses.^^  Hence  the  Synod  knew 
something  of  their  history  and  claims,  and  now  determined 
to  make  overtures  to  them  for  episcopal  consecration.  Three 
priests,  Michael  Bradacius,  the  old  Waldensian  who  had  con- 
ducted the  presbyterial  ordination,  and  a  priest  of  Roman 
Catholic  origin,  were  commissioned  to  present  such  overtures 
and  to  receive  consecration.^^  The  appointment  of  this 
deputation  constituted  the  last  act  of  the  Synod  of  Lhota. 

•»  Herzog's  Encyklopsedie,  XVII.  p.  520. 

^'^  Blahoslaw's  Summa,  Goll,  Appendix,  p.  119:  Comenius  Hist,  et  R.  D. 
Sect.  62. 

2*  Wie  sich  die  Menschen,  etc.,  L.  F.,  I.  see  Goll,  Appendix,  p.  100  and 
Palacky,  VII.  p.  494 ;  Jafiet's  Ursprung  d.  B.  U.,  II.  p.  48,  in  Reichel's 
Zusatze,  p.  71. 

2'  JaflFet's  Ursprung  d.  B.  U.,  II.  p.  59,  in  Reichel's  Zusatze,  pp.  78 
and  79.  Gindely,  I.  p.  37,  says  that  Matthias  probably  accompanied 
Michael  Bradacius ;  Goll,  p.  83,  doubts  the  narrative  as  presented  by  Jaffet, 
tliat  is,  that  Michael  had  two  companions.  We  see  no  reason  whatever  for 
not  following  Jaffet  who,  as  Goll  says,  "used  sources  and  writings  which 
are  no  longer  within  our  reach." 


THE   MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  141 


CHAPTER  XYI. 

The  Introduction  of  the  Episcopacy  and  Second  Synod  at 
Lhoia.     A.  D.  1467. 


Michael  and  his  Companions  consult  with  the  Waldensian  Bishops. — 
Origin  of  their  Episcopate. — The  Deputies  of  the  Brethren  Consecrated 
Bishops. — Examination  into  the  Authenticity  of  the  Narrative. — 
Authorities  proving  the  Act  of  Consecration. — Sources  of  the  Account 
of  the  Waldensian  Episcopate. — General  Remarks.— Return  of  the 
Deputies  of  the  Brethren. — Second  Synod  at  Lhota. — Re-ordination  of 
the  first  three  Ministers. — Matthias  consecrated  Bishop. — The  Execu- 
tive Council. — Michael  resigns  his  Episcopate. 

Michael  Bradacius  and  his  companions  were  cordially 
welcomed  by  the  Waldenses,  among  whom  they  found  two 
Bishops,  Stephen,  who  appears  to  have  been  far  advanced  in 
years,  and  another  whose  name  is  not  known.  With  these 
men  they  had  a  fraternal  and  satisfactory  interview,  reporting 
what  had  been  done  at  Reichenau  and  Lhota,  asking  their 
opinion  with  regard  to  the  proceedings,  and  formally  sub- 
mitting the  request  of  the  Synod,  that  the  Waldensian  Bishops 
might  impart  to  its  deputies  episcopal  consecration.  In  reply 
Stephen  and  his  associate  strongly  commended  the  course 
pursued  by  the  Brethren,  recognized  it  as  good  and  of  divine 
authority,  and  with  the  greatest  joy  promised  to  fulfill  the 
wishes  of  the  Synod.^  At  the  same  time  they  gave  the 
deputies  an  account  of  the  origin  and  episcopate  of  the  Wal- 
denses. 

1  The  above  is  based  on  Blahoslaw's  Summa,  L.  F.,  VIII.  see  Goll, 
Appendix,  p.  118. 


142  THE    HISTORY    OF 

It  appeared,  that  while,  in  common  with  all  their  brethren 
of  that  day,  they  claimed  a  very  high  antiquity — a  claim 
which  modern  historical  researches  have  shown  to  be  un- 
founded— the  episcopate  which  they  then  possessed  had  been 
secured  from  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  In  the  year  1433, 
their  ministry  having  practically  died  out,  they  applied,  by 
the  advice  and  assistance  of  their  Utraquist  friends,  to  the 
Roman  Catholic  Bishop  Nicholas  for  ordination.^  This 
prelate,  on  the  Feast  of  the  Holy  Cross,  the  fourteenth  of 
September,  ordained  two  of  their  number,  Frederick  Nemez 
and  John  Wlach,  to  the  priesthood,  in  the  Slavonian  Monas- 
tery of  Emmaus,  at  Prague.  Thereupon  these  two  priests 
were  elected  Bishops  by  the  Moravian  Waldenses  and  sent  to 
Basle,  where  the  Council  was  in  session.  At  Basle  they  were 
consecrated  to  the  episcopacy,  in  the  summer  of  1 434,  again 
by  a  Bishop  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.^ 

The  deputies  of  the  Brethren  having  expressed  their  satis- 
faction with  what  they  had  heard,  a  meeting  of  the  Walden- 
sian  elders  and  priests  was  called.  At  this  meeting,  Michael 
Bradacius  and  his  two  companions  were  set  aj^art  as  Bishops, 
with  prayer  and  the  laying  on  of  hands,  by  Stephen  and  his 
colleague.  At  parting,  the  consecrators  admonished  them  to 
go  and  labor  in  the  vineyard  of  the  Lord,  and  then  dismissed 
them  to  their  own  people.* 

Here  it  will  be  proper  to  interrupt  the  narrative  in  order  to 
examine  into  its  authenticity. 

First  of  all  the  question  arises,  what  authorities  have  we 
for  the  act  of  consecration  ? 

1.  In  the  Fifth  Lissa  Folio  there  is  a  Bohemian  Treatise, 
entitled,  "  Did   the  Secession  of  the   Brethren    come   from 

^  Palacky,  VII.  p.  492,  who  otherwise  accepts  the  narrative  as  not  im- 
probable, says  that  the  consecrating  Bishop  was  the  Legate  Pliilibert, 
although  he  acknowledges  that  this  Legate  had  not  yet  reached  Prague  on 
the  fourteenth  of  September.  Palacky  has  no  authority  for  his  statement. 
It  is,  as  GoU  says,  a  mere  conjecture. 

^  The  above  account  of  the  Moravian  Waldenses  is  based  on  Jaffet's 
Ursprung  d.  B.  U.,  II.  p.  53,  etc.,  in  Reichel's  Zusatze,  pp.  71-73. 

*  Blahoslaw's  Summa,  L.  F.,  VIII.  see  Goll,  Appendix,  p.  118. 


THE   MOEAVIAN   CHURCH.  143 

God  ?"  According  to  the  testimony  of  Cerwenka,  a  distin- 
guished leader  of  the  Church  about  the  middle  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  which  testimony  is  endorsed  on  the  manu- 
script, it  was  written,  in  1473,  by  Michael  Bradacius.  This 
document  says,  that  one  of  the  priests  of  the  Brethren,  and 
that  one  who  was  of  Roman  Catholic  origin,  that  is,  Michael 
Bradacius  himself,  "  received  consecration  as  a  Bishop  at  the 
hands  of  an  old  Waldensian."^ 

2.  On  the  twelfth  of  September,  1478,  in  accordance 
with  a  resolution  of  the  Bohemian  Diet,  a  Colloquy  began 
between  AYenzel  Koranda,  who  succeded  Rokycana  as  the 
head  of  the  Utraquist  Church,  and  several  Masters  of  the 
University  on  the  one  part,  and  Michael  Bradacius,  John 
Chelcicky  and  Prokop  of  Neuhaus,  as  representatives  of  the 
Unitas  Fratrum  on  the  other.  Of  this  Colloquy  which  con- 
tinued for  several  days  and  was  held  in  the  Carolinum, 
Wenzel  Koranda  himself  sent  a  report,  before  the  close  of 
the  year,  to  Baron  John  Kostka  von  Postupic,  who  was  a 
warm  friend  of  the  Brethren,  in  order  to  induce  him  to 
withdraw  from  them  his  powerful  protection.  This  report, 
in  Koranda's  own  handwriting,  is  still  extant  in  the 
University  Library  of  Prague,  and  contains  the  following 
passage  :^ 

"They  said  (the  deputies  of  the  Brethren,  Michael  Bradacius 
being  the  spokesman)  :  '  At  the  time  that  we  separated  from  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  and  from  you,  we  decided  by  lot  who 
among  us  was  to  be  a  Bishop,  and  who  a  priest.  And  when  the 
lot  had  designated  three,  and  that  one  of  them  should  be  a 
Bishop,  a  difference  of  opinion  arose  amongst  us.     At  last,  how- 

5  L.  F.,  V.  p.  23,  etc.,  in  Eeichel's  Ziisatze,  pp.  50  and  51.  GoU,  p.  28, 
Note  3,  maintains  that  Michael  Bradacius  was  not  the  author  and  that  the 
treatise  was  not  written  in  1473;  but  he  grants  that  it  must  have  been 
composed  prior  to  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century.  And  yet  Cerwenka. 
fifty  or  sixty  years  after  the  composition,  ought  to  be  a  more  reliable 
authority  than  Goll,  three  and  a  half  centuries  later.  In  any  case,  the  fact 
which  the  document  sets  forth  remains  undisputed. 

^  Koranda's  Manual,  MS.  XVII.  F.  2,  the  passage  being  quoted  in  full 
by  Palacky,  IX.  pp.  191  and  192.  The  report  is  printed  in  Palacky's 
Archiv  Cesky,  VI.     See  also  Goll,  p.  25,  who  likewise  cites  the  passage. 


144  THE    HISTORY    OF 

ever,  we  agreed  to  send  a  deputation  to  a  Waldensian  Bishop, 
who  consecrated  me  a  Bishop' — so  said  Michael  concerning 
himself — '  and  I  thereupon,  after  my  return  to  my  brethren, 
ordained  one  of  the  three  first  a  priest  and  then  a  bishop.' " 

This  testimony  alone  is  conclusive.  It  is  emphatically 
re-iterated  in  the  "  Book  of  the  Masters  of  Prague,"  of  which 
we  will  speak  more  at  length  in  another  connection,  and  which 
appeared  not  long  after  the  Colloquy.'' 

3.  The  Third  Lissa  Folio  contains  a  document  entitled  an 
Apology,  and  dated  May  the  third,  1503.  It  sets  forth  the 
reasons  why  the  writer  joined  the  Brethren,  and  is  addressed 
to  a  friend.  In  this  document  we  are  again  told  that  JNIichael 
Bradacius  was  consecrated  a  Bishop  by  the  Waldensian  Bishop, 
with  prayer  and  the  imposition  of  hands.^ 

4.  The  Sixth  Lissa   Folio   embraces   the   answer   of  the 

Brethren  to  the  Articles,  drawn  up  in  1504,  of  the  Masters  of 

the  University   of  Prague,  in   which   answer  is  found   the 

following  passage : 

"  We  have  a  lawful  priesthood,  which  was  produced  as  well  by 
the  birth  of  faith  as  established  through  that  order  which  men 
introduced.  We  have  priests  who  were  properly  ordained  both 
in  accordance  with  the  divine  institution" — presbyterial  ordina- 
tion— "and  in  accordance  with  that  order  which  comes  from 
men" — episcopal  ordination.® 

5.  An  important  witness  is  John  Blahoslaw,  (born  1523, 
died  1571,)  one  of  the  most  illustrious  leaders  and  learned 
authors  of  the  Church.  In  1 556  he  wrote  a  brief  summary 
of  its  history.  This  work  was  occasioned  by  the  dogmatic 
assertions  of  Flacius  Illyricus,  the  celebrated  author  of  the 
Catalogus  Testium  Veritatis  and  of  the  Magdeburg  Centuries, 
that  the  Brethren  were  not  the  spiritual  seed  of  John  Hus, 

'  "I,  Michael,"  so  this  passage  reads,  "went  to  him  (the  Waldensian 
Bishop).  He  thanked  God  with  tears  that  he  was  permitted,  before  his 
latter  end,  to  hear  of  such  men  as  the  Brethren,  and  he  consecrated  me  as 
a  Bishop  with  the  imposition  of  hands."     Goll,  Appendix,  p.  105. 

*  L.  F.  III.  p.  227,  etc.,  in  Keichel's  Zusatze,  p.  45.  Goll,  Appendix, 
p.  107.  Goll  thinks  the  author  was  Luke  of  Prague;  the  Bohemian 
Historia  Fratrum  says  he  was  either  Thomas,  Prokop  of  Neuhaus,  or 
Lawrence  Krasonicky. 

^  L.  F.,  VL  p.  48,  etc.,  in  Keichel's  Zusatze,  p.  37. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  145 

but  a  mere  branch  of  the  Waldenses.  Blahoslaw  had  a 
violent  dispute  with  Flacius  on  this  subject  at  Magdeburg. 
Under  such  circumstances  it  may  well  be  supposed  that  he 
prepared  his  epitome  with  the  greatest  care.  At  the  same 
time,  in  as  much  as  he  was  the  archivist  of  the  Church, 
specially  charged  with  the  collection  of  its  official  records  and 
of  documents  relating  to  its  history,  he  had  the  best  oppor- 
tunity of  rendering  his  narrative  authentic  and  absolutely 
reliable.  Now,  in  the  course  of  it  he  says,  that  the  Waldenses 
had  two  Bishops  who  "consecrated  them  (the  deputies  of  the 
Brethren),  with  the  imposition  of  hands,  and  declared  them  to 
be  their  associates  in  the  Lord  and  fellow-bishops."^" 

At  a  later  time  Blahoslaw  wrote  a  second  and  more 
voluminous  History  of  the  Church.  This  work  is  lost.  It 
was,  however,  known  to  Jaifet,  Regenvolscius  and  other 
writers  of  the  seventeenth  century.  One  of  these,  Samuel 
Martinius  of  Drazov,  a  bitter  enemy  of  the  Brethren,  em- 
bodied almost  literally  in  a  polemical  work,  Zur  Abwekr, 
which  he  published  in  1636,  Blahoslaw's  account  of  the 
introduction  of  the  episcopacy,  taken  from  his  second  History. 
In  this  citation  Blahoslaw  says  that  the  deputies  of  the 
Brethren  M^ere  sent  to  the  Waldensian  Bishop  in  order  to  be 
empowered,  through  their  consecration,  to  ordain  other 
ministers,  and  that  he  gave  them  such  consecration,  adding : 
"But  it  is  not  true,  as  some  assert,  that  he  laid  his  hands 
upon  them  merely  as  a  sign  of  repentance;  although  we  will 
not  deny  that  the  Waldensian  Bishop  may  perhaps  have  said 
this,  at  a  later  time,  constrained  by  fear."  That  is,  he  feared 
the  consequences  of  having  invested  the  Brethren's  Church 
with  the  episcopacy;  for  as  soon  as  this  became  known  a 
severe  persecution  broke  out.^^ 


1"  Blahoslaw's  Summa,  L.  F,,  VIII.;  Goll,  Appendix,  p.  118. 

"  Goll,  pp.  60  and  61,  and  Appendix,  p.  132.  The  manuscript  collection 
of  historical  documents,  written  in  Bohemian  and  preserved  in  the  Univer- 
sity Library  at  Prague,  which  work  we  have  cited  in  other  connections 
{vide  p.  100,  No.  10,  etc.)  is  generally  ascribed  to  Blahoslaw,  although  Goll 
doubts  the  correctness  of  this  view  (Goll,  pp.  56-59).  This  collection 
contains  no  document  relating  to  the  introduction  of  the  episcopacy. 
10 


146  THE    HISTORY    OF 

6.  A  no  less  important  witness  is  John  Jaffet  (ordained 
priest  in  1576,  Assistant  Bishop  in  1589,  died  in  1614),  who 
was  appointed  by  the  Bishops  to  meet  the  attacks  of  a  Jesuit 
opponent,  of  whom  we  will  presently  speak  more  at  length. 
Jaifet  began  his  literary  labors  by  a  thorough  study  of  the 
history  of  the  Brethren,  and  became  so  well  read  in  it  that 
Regenvolscius  calls  him,  by  way  of  eminence,  "the  writer  of 
the  History  of  the  Unity  of  the  Bohemian  Brethren.'"^ 
Jaffet  says,  in  his  Ursprung  der  Bruder-Unitnt,  that  the 
priests  sent  to  the  Waldenses  were  consecrated  by  their 
Bishops  "to the  episcopal  office  with  prayer  and  the  laying  on 
of  hands."^^ 

7.  In  the  year  1616,  the  General  Synod  of  Zerawitz  resolved 
to  publish  the  Ratio  Disciplince  Ordinisque  JEcclesiastici,  or  the 
'•Ecclesiastical  Discipline  and  Order"  of  the  Church.  To 
this  document  was  prefixed,  in  the  name  of  the  Bishops  and 
Ministers,  a  historical  introduction,  which  says,  speaking  ot 
the  deputation  sent  to  the  Waldenses :  "  Since  they  affirmed 
that  they  had  regular  Bishops,  and  a  regular  succession  unin- 
terrupted from  the  Apostles,  they  in  a  solemn  manner  created 
three  of  our  ministers  Bishops,  and  conferred  on  them  the 
power  of  ordaining  ministers."^^  This  is  the  official  testi- 
mony on  the  subject  given  by  the  Church  in  Synod  assembled. 

8.  In  closino-  this  series  of  authorities  we  merely  refer  to 
the  additional  and  unanimous  evidence  furnished  by  Bishop 
Amos  Comenius,  by  the  History  of  Persecutions,  by  Regen- 
volscius, and,  in  modern  times,  by  the  Roman  Catholic  writer 
Gindely,  and  the  Protestant  writer  Cerwenka,  both  of  whom 
have  studied  the  history  of  the  Brethren  with  the  utmost 
care.'^  Cerwenka  says:  "That  the  first  priests  of  the 
Brethren   received    their  ordination,  and  the  Unity  its  first 


"  Regenvolscius,  p.  328. 

"  Ursprung,  p.  59,  MS.,  Herrnhut  Archives,  Reicliel's  Zusiitze,  p.  79. 

"  Seifferth  Ch.  Con.,  pp.  26  and  94;  Ratio  Discipline,  ed.  1702,  pp.  i 
and  4. 

15  Coraenii  Hist,  et  R.  D.,  |  21,  p.  18 ;  Hist.  Persecutionum,  cap.  XX,  4; 
Regenvolscius,  p.  33 ;  Gindely,  I.  p.  37  ;  Cerwenka,  II.  pp.  28  and  29. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCPI.  147 

Bishop  through  the  agency  of  the  Waldenses,  can  not  be 
controverted." 

In  the  next  place  we  will  examine  into  the  credibility  of 
the  account  which  has  come  down  to  us  respecting  the  origin 
of  the  Waldensian  episcopate. 

The  circumstances  which  called  forth  this  narrative  and  the 
source  whence  it  is  derived  both  tend  to  give  it  authority.  It 
is  not  taken  from  Waldensian  records,  but  from  a  formal 
document  issued  by  the  University  of  Prague,  which  paper, 
in  the  very  nature  of  the  case,  must  be  disinterested.  Soon 
after  the  Colloquy  in  1478,  between  the  Masters  of  the 
University  and  the  representatives  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum, 
Wenzel  Koranda,  in  the  name  of  the  former,  drew  up  "  The 
Book  of  the  Masters  concerning  the  ten  Articles ;  a  Defence 
of  the  faith  against  the  Picards."  These  articles  contained 
the  reputed  heresies  which  the  Brethren  had  acknowledged 
at  the  Colloquy,  and  the  entire  work  was  written  in  refuta- 
tion of  such  errors.     It  contains  the  following  passage : 

"  In  order  that  no  one  may,  in  any  wise,  doubt  that  the  ordina- 
tion of  those  Waldenses  of  whom  the  Picards  speak,  springs  from 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  we  will  here  set  forth  when  and  how 
this  thing  came  to  pass.  It  is  a  thing  which  stands  fast,  which 
was  reported  by  the  Waldenses  themselves,  and  which  was  recorded 
by  those  who  were  present  as  a  memorial  for  all  time  to  come."^^ 

There  follows  the  narrative  as  given  above.  It  is  derived, 
therefore,  from  the  bitter  enemies  of  the  Brethren,  and  was 
written  only  about  forty-five  years  after  the  occurrence  which 
it  relates,  Jaifet  fully  endorses  it  and  introduces  it  into  his 
reply  to  the  attacks  of  the  Jesuit  whom,  as  we  have  said,  he 
was  appointed  to  refute.^''  This  Jesuit  was  Wenzel  Sturm, 
one  of  the  most  learned  and  acute  of  his  order,  and  so  adroit 
a  sophist  that  it  was  a  common  saying :  "  Hippias  ought  to 

^®  Goll,  pp.  26  and  27,  and  Appendix,  p.  106.  The  document  ("Das 
Buch  der  Magister  von  den  10  Artikeln.  Die  Vertheidigung  des  Glaubens 
gegen  die  Pikarden")  is  found  in  a  codex  of  the  Bohemian  Museum,  in 
which  codex  it  was  inscribed  in  1491.  A  part  of  it  was  printed  in  1842  in 
the  Bohemian  Transactions  of  the  "  k.  Gesellschaft  der  Wissenschaften," 
Rozbor  staroceske  literalury. 

"  Ursprung  d.  B.  U.,  II. "p.  48,  etc.,  Reichel's  Zusatze,  pp.  72  and  73. 


148  THE    HISTORY    OF 

have   been    Sturm's    scholar,"       In    dealing   with    such    an 
antagonist,  it  is  not  likely  that  Jaffet  would  have  brought 
forward  the  narrative  if  he  had  not  been  sure  of  his  ground. 
In  considering  the  occurrence  itself  we  must,  first,  carefully 
distinguish  between  the  position  of  the  Moravian  Waldenses 
in  the  fifteenth  century  and  the  Waldenses  of  the  Piedmont 
Valleys  in  the  seventeenth  ;  the  former  being  recognized  and 
honored  by  their  Utraquist  neighbors,  the  latter  hated  and 
oppressed    by  their  Romish  foes.     And  then  we  must  take 
into    consideration    the    peculiar  circumstances  of  the   time. 
Unparalleled    confusion    reigned    in    the    Roman    Catholic 
Church  and  among  the  religious  parties  of  Bohemia.     The 
Council  of  Basle  had  openly  broken  with  the  Pope  and  was 
continuing  its  work  in  defiance  of  his  decree  of  dissolution. 
That  work  included  the  pacification  of  the  Hussites.     They 
were  flattered  and  cajoled.     They  were  allowed  to  dispute,  in 
open  session,  with  the  Fathers,  and  to  defend  the  principles 
for  which  Hus  had  been  put  to  death.     They  were  assured 
that  their  demands  would  be  granted.     They  were    incited 
against  each  other,  so  that  even  if  the  Taborites  would  not 
agree  to  a  pacification  the  Utraquists  might  be  won.     That  in 
such  a  period  two  Waldensians,  previously  ordained  to  the 
priesthood  by  a  Roman  Catholic  Bishop  and  representing  a 
body  which  fraternized  with   the  Utraquists,  should,  at  their 
request,  be  consecrated  to  the  episcopacy,  not  in  accordance 
with  an  act  of  the  Council,  but  by  Bishops  who  were  mem- 
bers of  it^ — for  there  undoubtedly  were  several  consecrators, 
even  if  only  one  be  mentioned — is  not  less  credible  than  the 
many  other  unusual  events  which  were  transpiring  at  Basle. 
"  Such  an  act,  just  at  that  time,"  writes  Palacky,  "  may  have 
been  meant  as  an  example  and  encouragement  for  the  Bohe- 
mians, that  they  might  be  the  more  ready  to  agree  to  the 
Compactata  of  Basle."'* 

i»  Palacky,  VII.  p.  492.  It  would  be  a  misconception  of  the  whole 
narrative,  to 'suppose  that  the  Acts  of  the  Council  of  Basle  ought  to  contain 
a  record  of  the  consecration  of  Nemez  and  Wlach.  The  Council,  as  such. 
had  nothing  to  do  with  the  transaction.     Gindely,  like  Palacky,  practically 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  149 

Goll  doubts  the  narrative  and  attempts,  in  a  note,  to  explain 
it  by  saying  that  Frederick  Nemez  was  a  certain  Frederick 
Reiser,  who  was  arrested  and  executed  at  Strassburo;,  and 
claimed,  in  the  course  of  his  trial,  to  have  been  ordained  by 
the  Taborite  Bishop,  Nicholas  Pilgram.  But  in  giving  this 
explanation  Goll  falls  into  a  strange  inconsistency.  For  if 
his  note  is  correct,  then  the  record  found  in  the  "  Book  of 
the  Masters "  must  be  absolutely  rejected ;  and  yet,  in  the 
text,  he  says  merely,  that  their  narrative  "  must  be  received 
with  caution."^^  It  is,  moreover,  extremely  improbable  that 
the  Waldenses,  the  friends  of  the  Utraquists,  would  apply  to 
the  Taborites  for  ordination  just  at  the  time  when  their  power 
was  fast  waning.  Such  an  ordination,  even  in  the  period  of 
their  greatest  prosperity,  would  not,  as  Goll's  note  makes 
Pilgram  himself  say,  have  been  acknowledged  by  the  Utra- 
quists. Nor  are  these  the  only  objections  to  GoU's  conjecture. 
Two  others  present  themselves  which  are  insurmountable. 
In  the  first  place,  Reiser  was  no  Waldensian ;  in  the  second, 
Goll  wholly  fails  to  account  for  the  consecration  at  Basle.  It 
would  be  absurd  to  suppose  that  Nicholas  Pilgram  had  been 
connected  with  that  act ;  for  it  took  place  not  long  after  the 
battle  of  Lipan,  when  he  and  the  whole  remnant  of  Taborite 
leaders  were  hiding  behind  the  strong  walls  of  Tabor. 

But  the  historic  character  of  the  episcopate  of  the  Unitas 
Fratrum  does  not  stand  or  fall  with  the  above  account  of 
the  origin  of  the  Waldensian  episcopate.  That  character 
depends  rather  upon  the  question  whether  the  deputies  of 
the  Synod  of  Lhota  were  actually  consecrated  Bishops  by 
the  Waldensian  Bishops.  If  this  is  conceded,  then  these 
bishops  must  have  had  a  legitimate  episcopate  even  if  the 
way  in  which  they  obtained  it  can  not  be  satisfactorily 
explained.  For  it  has  been  shown,  and  is  confessed  by  Goll, 
that  one  of  the  chief  reasons  why  the  Brethren  sought  the 
episcopacy  was  the  desire  to  establish  a  ministry  which  would 

endorses  the  narrative,  and  says  that  the  Utraquists  maintained  it  to  be 
correct.     I.  p.  37. 
^»  Goll,  p.  27. 


150  THE    HISTORY    OF 

be  acknowledged  by  the  Roman  Catholics  and  Utraquists. 
It  is  plain,  therefore,  that  the  deputies  who  negotiated  with 
the  Waldenses  and  the  Synod  which  sent  them,  must  have 
been  fully  satisfied  with  regard  to  the  validity  of  the  Wal- 
densian  episcopate,  and  must  have  known  that  this  validity 
would  not  be  called  in  question  by  the  Roman  Catholics  and 
Utraquists.  If  Stephen  and  his  colleague  were  not  lawful 
Bishops,  they  could  confer  nothing  more  than  what  the 
deputies  had  already  received.  And  yet  these  deputies  joy- 
fully accepted  the  laying  on  of  their  hands;  and,  upon 
returning  to  Bohemia,  re-ordained  Matthias,  Thomas  and 
Elias,  who  had  received  presbyterial  ordination  at  the  Synod 
of  Lhota.  Hence  the  Brethren  must  have  been  convinced 
that  they  were  securing  a  valid  episcopacy.  If  such  were  not 
their  convictions,  we  must  suppose  an  order  of  events  utterly 
absurd  and  preposterous. 

Three  priests,  ordained  in  the  Roman  Catholic  and  Wal- 
densiau  Churches,  ordain  the  first  three  candidates  for  an 
independent  ministry  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum.  Having  done 
this,  these  priests  are  sent  to  two  ministers  who  are  not 
Bishops,  hence  priests  and  their  equals,  and  accept  from  them 
a  new  ordination,  although  it  is  nothing  more  than  what  they 
had  before,  and  although  one  of  their  number  had  already, 
in  all  probability,  been  ordained  by  those  very  ministers. 
Thereupon,  having  thus  been  re-ordained  by  priests,  these 
three  priests  go  home  and,  as  priests,  re-ordain  the  same  men 
to  whom  they  had  before  imparted  a  presbyterial  ordination. 

Is  it  not  more  reasonable  to  believe  that  the  Waldenses  had 
a  valid  episcopate,  the  origin  of  which  can  not  be  explained, 
than  to  suppose  that  the  Brethren  would  so  stultify  themselves? 
Now,  even  Goll,  who  is  a  Roman  Catholic  Professor  at 
Prague,  and  has  carefully  studied'  the  original  documents  in 
the  Herrnhut  Archives,  although  he  presses  his  criticisms  to 
extremes,  and  finds,  as  he  says,  many  obscurities  and  contra- 
dictions in  the  sources,  and  draws  conclusions  with  which  we 
do  not  agree,  is  nevertheless  obliged  to  confess  that  Michael 
Bradacius  was  consecrated  a  Bishop  by  Bishop  Stephen  of  the 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  151 

Waldenses.^  But  if  our  argument  be  correct,  the  validity  of 
the  Waldeusian  episcopate  follows,  whatever  its  origin. 

That  obscurity  prevails,  not  only  with  regard  to  the  insti- 
tution of  the  ministry  of  the  Brethren  but  also  in  connection 
witli  other  points  in  their  early  history,  is  undeniable.  Such 
obscurity,  however,  can  easily  be  explained. 

In  the  first  period  of  the  Church,  many  occurrences,  from 
prudential  motives,  were  intentionally  concealed.  The  letters 
to  Rokycana,  for  example,  do  not  mention  the  episcopal  con- 
secration received  from  the  Waldeuses.  For,  as  Reichel  well 
says,  "  it  would  have  been  gross  ingratitude  if  the  Brethren, 
by  forthwith  publishing  the  source  of  their  episcopacy,  had 
drawn  the  attention  of  their  enemies  to  the  Waldenses.  How 
much  cause  they  had  for  such  caution,  is  shown  by  the  perse- 
cution of  the  Waldenses  which  broke  out  when  it  became 
known  what  they  had   done  for  the  Brethren."^^     The  His- 

^^  Goll's  work,  "  Quellen  und  Untersuchungen  zur  Geschichte  der  Boh- 
mischen  Briider,"  is  very  valuable,  in  spite  of  its  hypercritical  tendencies ; 
and  the  Appendix,  with  its  translations  of  original  documents  from  the 
L.  F.,  is  invaluable.  Not  a  few  of  his  deductions,  however,  to  use  his 
own  words,  "must  be  accepted  with  caution."  For  example,  he  praises 
some  of  Jaffet's  historical  works,  says  that  he  used  sources  now  lost  to 
us,  that  he  gave  tone  to  the  historical  literature  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  and  yet,  when  it  suits  him,  coolly  rejects  Jaffet's  statements. 
Again,  in  one  place,  he  says  that  Jaffet  constructed,  without  authority, 
lists  of  the  early  Bishops,  and  yet,  in  another,  that  Bishop  Cerny,  the 
first  Archivist  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum,  wrote  a  work  which  is  now  lost, 
but  which  Jaffet  used,  on  "The  Succession  of  the  Bishops  from  1467 
to  1559."  The  views  of  Lechler,  in  his  "  Wiclif  u.  die  Vorgeschichte  der 
Ref.,"  II.  p.  507,  antagonistical  to  the  validity  of  the  episcopate  of  the 
Unitas  Fratrum,  as  also  those  of  Zeschwitz,  in  "  Herzog's  Encyklopsedie," 
are  sufficiently  refuted  by  what  has  been  said  above.  Moreover,  neither  of 
these  writers,  although  we  do  not  otherwise  question  the  distinction  of 
Lechler  as  a  historian,  had  access  to  the  original  sources,  and  could  not 
have  understood  them  even  if  they  had  been  open.  Their  views  are  based 
on  works  which  we  have  noticed  in  this  chapter  and  in  other  connections. 
Compare  the  author's  "Moravian  Episcopate,''  London,  1877. 

^^  Zusatze,  p.  89.  Jaffet,  Schwerdt  Goliath's,  p.  11,  etc.,  in  Keichel's 
Zusiitze,  pp.  81  and  82,  speaks  of  this  caution  and  prudence  of  the  early 
Brethren,  and  says  the  knowledge  of  several  important  occurrences  was 
intentionally  conveyed  to  posterity  by  tradition  only. 


152  THE    HISTORY    OF 

toria  Persecutionum  adds:  "There  was  a  time  when,  con- 
strained by  existing  circumstances,  the  Brethren,  very  prop- 
erly, were  silent  with  regard  to  the  ordination  received  from 
the  Waldenses."^^  As  soon  as  that  time  had  passed  by,  they 
made  known  their  claim. 

The  records  of  the  Church  were  subjected  to  unusual 
accidents.  The  earliest  archives,  kept  at  Senftenberg,  were 
destroyed  at  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century  f  the  second 
collection  of  documents  mostly  perished,  in  1546,  in  a  con- 
flagration at  Leitomischl;  and  the  great  mass  of  their 
publications,  issued  at  a  later  time,  fell  a  prey  to  the  fury  of 
the  Anti-reformation.  If  these  records  and  works  were  still 
in  existence,  light  would  be  thrown  upon  points  that  will 
ever  remain  obscure.  And  yet,  taking  into  consideration 
both  the  disasters  which  befell  the  records,  and  the  persistent 
efforts  that  were  made  to  blot  them  from  existence,  it  is  sur- 
prising that,  at  this  late  date,  so  much  is  known  of  the  origin, 
episcopate  and  earliest  history  of  the  Brethren. 

The  claim  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum  to  a  valid  episcopacy  is 
important  as  a  historic  and  not  as  an  essential  question.  It  is 
not  based  upon  the  idea  that  episcopal  ordination  is  alone 
legitimate.  The  Church  still  occupies  the  catholic  standpoint 
of  the  fathers,  upholding  fellowship  with  evangelical  Chris- 
tians of  every  name  ;  the  prayer  which  was  fervently  uttered, 
four  and  a  quarter  centuries  ago,  amidst  the  mountains  of 
Reichenau  and  in  the  hamlet  of  Lhota,  is  still  repeated: 
"Unite  all  the  children  of  God  in  one  spirit."^ 

Taking  up  again  the  thread  of  our  History,  we  find  that, 
after  the  return  of  Michael  Bradacius  and  his  two  com- 
panions, another  Synod  was  convened  at  Lhota,  to  which  body 
they  rendered  a  full  report  of  their  consecration. ^^  This 
report  occasioned  general  satisfaction  and  deep  joy,  and,  by 
direction  of  the  Synod,  Michael    proceeded,  first  of  all,  in 

^2  Cap.  II.  6. 

«  Palacky,  IX.  p.  192,  Note  143. 
^*  Litany  of  the  Moravian  Church- 
'■'^  Reichel's  Geschichte,  p.  2l. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH.  153 

virtue  of  his  new  episcopal  office,  to  re-ordain  Matthias, 
Thomas  and  Elias  to  the  priesthood.  Thereupon  it  was 
resolved  to  appoint  by  lot  one  of  these  three  priests  to  the 
episcopacy.  The  lot  designated  Matthias  of  Kunwald,  who 
was  consecrated  by  Michael  and  his  two  associate  Bishops.^® 

In  order  to  assist  the  Bishops  in  the  government  of  the 
Church,  the  Synod  furthermore  instituted  an  Executive 
Council,  to  which  were  elected  the  following  members : 
Thomas,  Elias,  Gregory,  John  Chelcicky,  Lawrence  Kras- 
onicky,  Prokop,  Luke,  John  Taborsky,  John  Klenowsky  and 
Adalbert.^ 

And  now  an  idea  was  broached — whether  at  this  Synod  or 
at  a  subsequent  convocation  can  not  be  determined — which 
took  by  surprise  the  three  Bishops  who  had  received  conse- 
cration at  the  hands  of  the  AYaldensians.  These  three 
Bishops,  the  Brethren  said,  had  been  appointed  merely  in 
order  to  transfer  the  episcopacy  from  the  Waldenses  to  the 
Unitas  Fratrum,  not  in  order  to  stand  at  its  head :  the  head 
of  the  Church  must  be  Matthias,  who  was  its  Bishop  in  a 
different  sense  from  what  they  were :  moreover,  two  of  their 
number  had  come  originally  from  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church,  and  no  element  of  this  kind  ought  to  be  found  in 
the  government  of  the  Unity,  whose  very  existence  was  a 
solemn  protest  against  Rome. 

Michael  Bradacius  at  once  yielded  to  the  wishes  of  his 
brethren  and  resigned  the  position  of  presiding  Bishop  in 
favor  of  Matthias  ;  the  second  Bishop,  who  had  been  origin- 
ally a  Waldensian  priest,  died  about  this  time ;  but  the  third, 
whose  priesthood,  like  Michael's,  was  of  Romish  origin, 
indignantly  protested,  and  when  he  could  not  gain  his  point. 


^®  M.  Bradacius  in  Koranda's  Letter  previously  quoted,  Palacky,  IX.  p. 
192;  Book  of  the  Masters,  Goll,  Appendix,  p.  105;  Jaffet's  Schwerdt 
Goliath,  p.  11,  etc.,  in  Reichel's  Zusiitze,  p.  80;  Gindely  I.  p.  37,  etc. 

"  Jaffet's  Goliath's  Schwerdt,  p.  11,  etc.,  in  Keichel's  Zusatze,  pp.  82 
and  83 ;  Gindely,  I.  p.  38.  It  is  uncertain  whether  all  these  men  were 
elected  at  this  Synod ;  some  of  them  may  have  been  appointed  at  a  later 
time  ;   but  the  above  ten  members  constituted  the  first  Council. 


154  THE    HISTORY    OF 

left  the  Church  in  great  anger.  Such  a  manifestation  of  the 
spirit  of  Rome  made  so  unfavorable  an  impression  upon 
Michael,  that  he  resigned  his  episcopacy  altogether,  declaring 
that  he  was  unworthy  of  this  office  and  would  again  be  a  mere 
priest.  At  the  same  time  he  pronounced  his  Romish  priest- 
hood to  be  corrupt,  and  had  himself  re-ordained  by  Bishop 
Matthias.^  Although  he  acted  conscientiously  in  this  matter, 
yet  his  course  was  strange,  inconsistent  and  improper. 

•■'^  Ob  die  Trennung  von  Gott  sei,  L.  F.,  V.  p.  23,  etc.,  in  Reichel's  Zusiitee, 
p.  51;  Koranda's  Letter,  previously  quoted;  Luke's  Erneuerung  d.  h. 
Kirche,  MS.,  University  Prague,  GoU,  Appendix,  pp.  109  and  110.  The 
fact  that  one  of  Michael's  associates  was  dead  and  that  the  other  had  left 
the  Church,  constitutes  the  reason  that  he  speaks,  in  the  sources  elsewhere 
quoted,  only  of  himself  as  consecrated  by  the  Waldenses  to  the  episcopacy. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH.  155 


CHAPTER  XYII. 

The  /Second  Persecution  of  the  Brethren.     1468-1471. 


Bishop  Matthias  and  his  Council. — Union  with  the  Waldenses  proposed. — 
Prevented  by  the  Utraquists. — Treachery  of  one  of  the  Bishops. — 
Persecution  of  Waldenses. — Bishop  Stephen's  Martyrdom. — Rokycana 
inaugurates  a  Persecution  of  the  Brethren. — Edict  of  the  Diet. — The 
seven  Letters  of  the  Brethren  to  Rokycana.— Their  First  Confession 
of  Faith. — Summary  of  their  Doctrines. — Other  Letters  of  the  Brethren^ 
— Their  Sufferings  during  the  Persecution. — Zeal  and  Activity  of  the 
Council. — War  with  Hungary  prevents  a  general  Persecution. — Last 
Letter  to  Rokycana. — His  Death. — Death  of  King  George. 

Bishop  Matthias  and  his  Council,  whose  seat  was  at 
Lhota,  began  their  work  with  hope  and  zeal.  There  had  been 
committed  to  him,  in  some  respects,  absolute  power;  but  it 
was  overshadowed  by  the  superior  education  and  intellectual 
strength  of  several  of  his  associates.  Gregory  continued  to  be 
the  leading  spirit.  Next  to  him  stood  Lawrence  Krasonicky, 
who  faithfully  strove  to  keep  the  Church  in  the  paths  of 
simplicity  marked  out  by  its  founders.  He  was  a  Bachelor 
of  Arts,  a  learned  man  and  the  author  of  numerous  works. 
Other  prominent  members  of  the  Council  were  Prokop,  whose 
distinguished  labors  will  be  set  forth  in  the  sequel;  John 
Taborsky,  erudite,  of  sound  judgment,  free  of  speech,  "famous 
in  his  time ;"  and  John  Klenowsky,  a  finished  scholar  and 
noted  for  his  sagacity.  Bishop  Borek,  of  Olmiitz,  used  to  say, 
that  he,  Ctibor  Towacowsky — the  Governor  of  Moravia — and 
Klenowsky,  could  together  rule  the  whole  world.  But  more 
honorable  is  the  testimony  of  his  brethren.  He  was  true  in 
all  his  ways ;   faithful  and  untiring  in  his  work.     Loving  the 


156  THE    HISTORY    OF 

Church  with  his  whole  heart  he  reliuquished  considerable 
estates  in  order  to  devote  himself  to  its  interests,  spent  the 
rest  of  his  fortune  mostly  for  its  benefit,  and  grew  to  be  a 
venerable  father  in  its  service/ 

One  of  the  first  projects  inaugurated  by  the  Council  had  in 
view  a  union  with  the  Waldenses.  The  overture,  however, 
was  conditional.  In  point  of  doctrine  and  in  their  efforts  to 
lead  Christian  lives  they  were  a  shining  light,  but  its  bright- 
ness was,  to  some  extent,  marred  by  inconsistency.  They  did 
not  confess  their  faith  boldly  before  men;  they  fraternized 
with  the  Utraquists  at  the  mass ;  their  ministers  manifested 
a  tendency  to  accumulate  wealth.  To  these  things  the  deputies 
sent  by  the  Council  were  instructed  to  draw  their  attention  in 
brotherly  kindness  and  love.  The  Waldenses  received  this 
reproof  in  the  same  spirit,  acknowledged  that  they  had  erred, 
and  promised  to  return  to  the  way  of  their  fathers.  A  joint 
convention  was  agreed  on,  at  which  the  terms  of  the  union 
should  be  settled.  The  joy  of  the  Brethren,  when  informed 
of  the  success  of  these  negotiations,  proved  to  be  premature. 
Contrary  to  the  stipulations  into  which  the  Waldenses  had 
entered,  they  consulted  their  Utraquist  friends,  who  persuaded 
them  to  relinquish  the  project  as  useless  and  dangerous.^ 

And  yet  there  came  upon  them  the  very  peril  which  they 
sought  to  avoid.  "  Like  another  Doeg,"  the  faithless  Bishop 
who  had  deserted  the  Unitas  Fratrum  sought  out  Rokycana 
and  betrayed  the  proceedings  at  Lhota  as  well  as  the  act  of 
the  Waldensian  Bishops.  Rokycana  burned  with  anger. 
Casting  to  the  winds  his  friendship,  he  inaugurated  a  merciless 

'  Letter  of  Luke  of  Prague  to  the  Brethren  at  Tumau,  written  after  the 
death  of  Klenowsky,  which  took  place  at  Leitomischl,  on  the  Friday  before 
St.  Martin's  Day  (November  11th),  1498.  L.  F.,  V.  p.  329,  Reichel's 
Zusazte,  pp.  192  and  193 ;  also  Todtenbuch,  p.  3.  Taborsky  died  at  the 
same  place,  on  the  second  Wednesday  after  Easter,  1495,  and  was  buried  in 
the  church.  Todtenbuch,  p.  2.  Krasonicky  died  at  the  same  place, 
January  25,  1532.  Todtenbuch,  p.  12.  His  writings,  seventeen  in  number, 
are  mostly  lost;  GoU,  Appendix,  p.  138,  gives  his  Treatise  on  the  Lord's 
Supper  against  Cahera,  the  MS.  being  in  the  City  Library  of  Gorlitz. 

^  Blahoslaw's  Summa,  Goll,  Appendix,  pp.  118  and  119. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  157 

persecution.  The  Waldenses  were  dispersed.  Some  wan- 
dered homeless  through  the  country ;  the  majority  fled  to  the 
Mark  Brandenburg ;  Bishop  Stephen,  while  secretly  officiating 
among  the  Germans,  was  arrested,  taken  to  Vienna,  and 
executed  at  the  stake  (1469).^ 

No  less  violent  was  Rokycana's  indignation  against  the 
Brethren.  He  could  not  forgive  them  for  the  bold  step  which 
they  had  taken,  although  it  was  the  result  of  his  own  instruc- 
tions. It  militated  against  his  interests  and  those  of  the 
National  Church.  However  unwilling  he  may  have  been  to 
take  part  in  the  first  persecution,  now  he  was  foremost  in 
stirring  up  the  King,  the  clergy  and  the  people.  At  his 
instigation,  Podiebrad  brought  the  secession  of  the  Brethren  to 
the  notice  of  the  Diet  of  Beneschau  (1468),  and  this  body 
decreed  that  they  should  be  arrested  and  punished.  Nothing 
short  of  an  absolute  recantation  was  to  save  them  from  such  a 
fate.'' 

Under  these  circumstances  they  appealed  to  their  persecutor. 
The  letters  which  they  sent  him,  written  mostly  by  Gregory, 
manifested  a  deep  religious  feeling,  honesty  of  conviction, 
strong  faith  in  God  and  fearlessness  in  confessing  the  truth. 

At  the  same  time  glimpses  were  occasionally  given  of  the 
hope,  still  entertained  by  the  Brethren,  that  Rokycana  might, 
in  the  end,  break  the  worldly  bonds  by  which  he  was  held 
and  come  out  openly  on  the  side  of  the  Uuitas  Fratrum. 

The  first  epistle,  dated  May  the  second,  1468,  reminded  him 
of  what  he  had  himself  taught  its  founders ;  of  the  advice 
which  he  had  given  them  to  consult  Peter  Chelcicky;  of 
his  own  memorable  words,  "  I  know  very  well  that  you  are 
right,  but  I  can  not  join  you  without  disgrace."  Why  then 
should  he  now  malign  and  persecute  them  ?  It  closed  as 
follows :  "  We  have  separated  from  you  for  no  trivial 
reasons,  but  because  we  could  not  possibly  find  any  spiritual 
food  in  your  communion,  where  faith  and  love  are  perishing. 
Hence  we  have  turned  away  from  you  to  the  Gospel." 

'  Jaffet's  Goliath's  Schwerdt,  Reichel's  Ziisatze.  p  93. 
*  Cauaerarius,  p.  114;  Comenii  Hist,  et  R.  D.,  ^  64, 


158  THE    HISTORY    OF 

Rokycana  told  the  messenger  who  brought  this  letter,  and 
who  was  instructed  to  give  him  an  oral  report  of  recent 
occurrences,  that  only  a  divine  revelation  could  justify  the 
founding  of  an  independent  Church.  "  If  you  have  received 
such  a  revelation,"  he  added,  "why  do  you  not  make  it 
known?     Should  it  prove  to  be  true,  we  also  will  accept  it,"^ 

This  remark  induced  the  Brethren  to  send  him  a  full 
account  of  their  secession,  of  the  way  in  which  they  had, 
through  the  lot,  ascertained  the  will  of  God,  and  of  the 
doctrines  which  they  held.  They  had  previously  received,  in 
reply  to  a  brief  letter  of  inquiry,  his  written  assurance  that 
he  would  not  make  use  of  such  information  to  their  disad- 
vantage.^ 

The  exposition  of  their  doctrines  as  given  to  Rokycana, 
constituted  the  first  formal  Confession  issued  by  the 
Brethren.'^ 

The  Bible  is  their  norm  of  faith  and  rule  of  practice  ;  they 
follow  the  example  of  the  primitive  Church  ;  they  accept  the 
Apostles'  Creed.  Living  faith  gives  power  to  resist  sin.  By 
appropriating  the  merits  of  Christ  a  man  receives,  through 
Him,  the  forgiveness  of  sins  and  the  efficacy  of  His  resurrec- 
tion, so  that  he  loves  Him,  abides  in  Him  and  becomes  a  new 
creature  born  of  the  seed  of  the  Word  of  God.  Outward 
righteousness  and  good  works,  performed  with  a  carnal  mind, 
bear  no  fruit  unto  salvation,  for  the  spirit  of  adoption  is 
wanting.    There  are  seven  sacraments,  but  their  efficacy  is  not 

5  The  first  letter  to  Rokycana  is  found  in  L.  F.,  I,  p.  1,  etc.;  Plitt,  chapter 
27 ;   Gindely,  I.  pp.  39  and  40. 

^  The  letter  of  inquiry  is  marked  in  the  L.  F.  as  the  second  of  the  series ; 
the  account  of  their  secession  and  doctrines  is  contained  in  the  third  and 
fourth  (L.  F.,  I.  Reichel's  Zusatze,  p.  96-109),  both  delivered  on  the  Friday 
after  St.  James'  Day  (July  25),*  1468.  The  third  is  of  an  explanatory 
character ;  the  fourth  embraces  first  a  history  of  the  Synods  of  Reichenau 
and  Lhota  and  then  a  Confession  of  Faith.  In  giving  the  history  of  the 
Synod  at  Lhota  the  fact  that  the  episcopacy  had  been  secured  from  the 
Waldenses  is  omitted,  for  the  reasons  assigned  in  the  last  chapter. 

'  The  Unitas  Fratrum  issued,  from  time  to  time,  a  number  of  Confessions 
(thirty-four  according  to  Gindely).     For  our  list  of  them  see  Appendix. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH,  159 

objective ;  it  depends  upon  the  faith  of  the  recipient  and  the 
religious  character  of  the  officiating  priest.  Judicial  oaths 
and  military  service  are  inadmissible.  The  civil  power  has 
no  right  to  interfere  in  religious  matters.  Converts  from  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  must  be  rebaptized. 

There  follows  a  detailed  account  of  the  seven  sacraments. 
As  regards  the  Lord's  Supper,  the  position  of  the  Synod  of 
1459  is  maintained,  with  the  following  additional  comment : 
"It  has  often  been  asked,  in  how  far  this  sacrament'  is  the 
body  of  Christ,  We  reply,  that  for  the  sake  of  our  conscience, 
we  dare  not  discuss,  or  try  to  understand  this  point.  For 
neither  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  nor  His  Apostles,  have  told  us 
how  this  thing  is.  We  simply  believe  what  He  says,  and 
receive  the  sacrament  for  the  purpose  for  which  it  was 
instituted  by  Him," 

A  letter  which  the  Brethren  addressed  to  the  King  (1468), 
contained  substantially  the  same  Confession.  They  wrote  also 
to  the  Masters  of  the  University.^ 

But  all  these  communications  availed  nothing.  The  King 
remained  hostile.  Rokycana's  answer  to  their  appeals  was 
publicly  given,  in  the  form  of  epistles  to  the  clergy  and 
people,  warning  them  against  the  Brethren,  against  their 
hypocrisy  and  dark  ways.^ 

Thereupon,  in  1469,  they  sent  him  their  sixth  letter  con- 
taining a  refutation  of  his  charges  and,  in  the  next  year, 
followed  it  up  with  a  public  reply .^"^ 

The  confidence  which  the  Brethren  express  in  the  justness 
of  their  cause,  can  not  but  excite  admiration ;  and  their  words 

8  L.  F.,  11.  Reichel's  Ziisiitze,  p.  112.     Goll,  Appendix,  p.  94-96. 

»  In  1465  Hilarius  Litomiriensis  wrote  his  "  Tractatus  contra  perfidiam 
aliquor.  Boli."  It  was  published  in  1485,  and  probably  constitutes  the 
oldest  printed  work  extant  against  the  Unitas  Fratrum.  A  copy  of  it  is 
contained  in  the  Malin  Library  of  Moravian  Literature,  at  Bethlehem,  and 
is  a  beautiful  specimen  of  the  Incunabula.     Catalogue,  p.  35,  No.  137. 

1"  L.  F.,  II.,  pp.  62-67,  Reichel's  Zusatze,  p.  113,  etc.  For  the  fifth  letter 
see  p.  119  of  this  History,  Note  18.  Goll,  pp.  15-21,  does  not  follow  the 
numbering  of  the  letters  as  given  in  the  L.  F.  and,  in  some  cases,  attaches 
different  dates  from  those  found  in  Reichel's  Zusatze. 


160  THE    HISTORY    OF 

often  have  a  ring  which  is  as  clear  as  it  is  bold.  Thus  the 
Masters  of  the  University  are  entreated,  since  they  well  know 
the  corruptness  of  the  Romish  Church,  to  break  ofi'  all  con- 
nection with  it  and  openly  confess  the  truth ;  the  King  is 
informed  that  the  Brethren  are  ready  to  prove,  before  a 
General  Council,  that  it  is  right  to  abjure  obedience  to  this 
Church,  and  that  the  rule  of  the  Popes  is  an  abomination 
before  God." 

Repeated  requests  were  made  by  the  Unity  for  a  public 
hearing,  but  the  only  notice  taken  of  them  was  a  brief 
examination,  in  1470,  of  Martin,  one  of  its  imprisoned 
priests. 

Meanwhile  the  edict  of  the  Diet  began  to  bear  bitter  fruits. 
More  than  one  city  expelled  every  inhabitant  who  was  known 
to  be  a  member  of  the  Unity.  At  Koniggratz  numerous 
arrests  took  place,  the  prisoners  being  conveyed  to  Prague  and 
there  incarcerated;  at  Skuc,  Baron  Kostka  had  several 
Brethren  tortured  on  the  rack  and  cast  into  a  gloomy  dungeon. 
Michael  Bradacius  was  seized,  by  order  of  the  King,  and 
confined  in  the  Castle  of  Brux;  Matthias  Dolansky  ex- 
perienced the  same  treatment  at  Prague.  In  Moravia,  at 
Kremsir,  Jacob  Hulava  was  burned  alive  in  the  presence  of 
his  family.  The  numerous  chapels  which  the  Brethren  had 
built  were  all  closed.  They  were  forced  to  meet  for  worship 
on  the  mountains  and  in  the  recesses  of  the  forests.  In  winter 
they  walked,  in  single  file,  to  the  appointed  places,  through 
deep  snow,  the  last  man  dragging  after  him  a  rake  or  the 
branch  of  a  tree  to  obliterate  their  footprints. 

But  they  remained  true  to  God  and  to  their  faith  in  God. 
He  was  near  to  them  as  they  called  upon  Him  amidst  His 
everlasting  hills,  and  when  they  sang  His  praises  with  the 
storm-wind  for  an  accompaniment.  There  was  no  thought  of 
yielding  to  their  foes. 

This  was  owing,  in  no  small  degree,  to  the  courage,  activity 
and  endurance  displayed  by  Bishop  Matthias,  Gregory  and 

"  Palacky,  VIII.  p.  499. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  161 

the  whole  Council.  Having  transferred  their  seat  from  Lhota 
to  Lenesic,  near  Laun,  they  went  out  in  every  direction,  at 
great  risk,  to  comfort  the  afflicted  and  the  oppressed,  or  sent 
them,  by  trusty  messengers,  letters  full  of  encouragement  and 
hope.  Nor  did  they  forget  the  temporal  necessities  of  the 
persecuted  flock.  Collections  were  instituted  among  its 
wealthier  members  and  large  amounts  contributed.  A  godly 
woman,  one  Catharine,  is  mentioned  by  name,  as  having  been 
particularly  zealous  in  works  of  mercy .^^  Had  it  not  been 
for  the  devastating  war  which  Matthias  Corvinus,  King  of 
Hungary,  in  the  name  of  the  Emperor,  of  the  Pope  and  of  the 
Catholic  religion,  w^as  carrying  on  with  Podiebrad,  the  perse- 
cution might  have  become  general.  In  such  an  event  the 
Unitas  Fratrum,  in  spite  of  its  heroic  faith,  might  have  been 
overwhelmed.  Hence  the  Brethren  of  a  later  day,  referring 
to  this  dark  time  of  trouble,  wrote :  "  With  David  Ave  may 
confess,  '  If  it  had  not  been  the  Lord  who  was  on  our  side, 
now  may  Israel  say;  if  it  had  not  been  the  Lord  who  was 
on  our  side,  when  men  rose  up  against  us ;  then  they  had 
swallowed  us  up  quick,  when  their  wrath  was  kindled  against 
us."'i^ 

In  1471  the  Council  sent  to  Rokycana  its  last  letter,  ex- 
horting him  to  change  his  course  and  solemnly  re-iterating 
w^hat  had  been  said  in  the  first,  that  he  had  risen  up  against 
the  lowly  and  simple  of  heart  who  were  but  carrying  out  his 
own  instructions.  "  Reflect,  O  Teacher,"  were  the  closing 
words  of  this  document,  ''  and  die  not  with  such  sins  upon 
your  soul !  "^* 

Rokycana  still  remained  unmoved.  But  his  power  was 
drawing  to  an  end.  On  the  twenty-second  of  February,  of 
the  same  year,  this  ambitious  leader  of  the  National  Church, 
which    he  had   ruled   for  half   a  century,  was   laid    low  in 


'^  The  above  facts  are  taken  from  L.  F.,  I.  II.  and  V.,  Jaffet's  Ursprung 
d.  B.  U.  and  Lasitius,  all  quoted  by  Gindely. 
1^  Conf.  of  1538,  Hist.  Introd.,  De  Origine,  in  Lydius,  II.  p.  139. 
1*  L.  F.,  I.  p.  34,  etc.,  Reichel's  Zusatze,  p.  132. 
11 


162  THE    HISTORY    OP 

death.'^  A  month  later,  on  the  twenty-fifth  of  March,  King 
George  Podiebrad  followed  him  to  the  grave.  Then  the 
persecution  ceased. 

15  The  statement  of  the  Hist.  Persecutionum  that  Rokycana  died  wrestling 
with  despair  (Cap.  XXI.,  1),  is  unreliable,  although  a  much  older  record,  a 
letter  of  Sigismund,  Dean  of  Bunzlau,  says  the  same  thing ;  not,  however, 
in  connection  with  the  persecutions  of  the  Brethren.  But  this  letter  is  so 
hostile  in  tone,  calling  Rokycana  a  man  "damnatse  memorise,"  and  a 
'•  heresiarch,"  that  it  is  unworthy  of  credit.  Palacky's  Beitriige  zur  Gesch. 
Boll  mens  im  Zeitalter  Podiebrad's,  pp.  664  and  665. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  163 


CHAPTER  XYIIT. 
Increase  and  Prosperity  of  the  Church.     1471-1490. 


State  of  Bohemia. — Uladislaus  elected  King. — Increase  of  the  Church. — Its 
Friends  among  the  Nobility. — Letters  to  the  Cities. — Queen  Joanna's 
Animosity. — Edict  of  the  Diet  and  a  Colloquy. — Death  of  Gregory. — 
Publication  of  the  University  against  the  Brethren. — Lezek  the  false 
Witness.— Diet  and  Colloquy  of  1478.— The  Waldenses  of  the  Mark 
Brandenburg  and  their  Union  with  the  Unitas  Fratrum. — Pacification 
established  by  the  Diet  of  Kuttenberg. — The  Brethren  define  their 
Position. — The  Peasantry  reduced  to  Serfdom  and  the  Influence  of 
this  Measure  on  the  Church. — The  Brethren  banished  from  Moravia. 
— Their  Emigration  to  Moldavia  and  Keturn. 

George  Podiebrad  wa.s  a  great  man  and  a  hero.  He 
saved  Bohemia  from  anarchy.  He  ruled  it  with  a  fatherly- 
hand.  He  was  the  first  European  monarch  who  emancipated 
a  kingdom  from  the  arrogant  supremacy  of  papal  Rome.  And 
yet  he  left  the  country  which  he  loved  so  well,  devastated  by 
war,  stricken  with  poverty,  and  shorn  of  its  goodly  provinces. 
Silesia,  Lusatia  and  one-half  of  Moravia  were  in  the  hands 
of  Matthias  Corvinus,  who,  not  satisfied  with  these  conquests, 
had  usurped  even  his  rival's  title  and  caused  himself  to  be 
proclaimed  King  of  Bohemia.  Under  such  circumstances 
Podiebrad's  successor,  Uladislaus,  Prince  of  Poland — elected 
May  the  twenty-seventh,  1471 — a  lad  of  fifteen  years,  good- 
natured  but  weak,  easily  imposed  on  and  indolent,  was  not  the 
sovereign  to  restore  the  bloom  of  prosperity,  especially  as 
Matthias,  his  unsuccessful  competitor  for  the  crown,  smarting 
with  disappointment,  implacably  continued  the  war. 


164  THE    HISTORY    OF 

But  the  Brethren  had  reason  to  rejoice  over  the  election  of 
Uladislaus.  It  opened  the  way  for  a  rapid  increase  of  their 
Church.  He  set  its  imprisoned  ministers  and  members  free ; 
public  services  were  again  begun  in  all  its  chapels ;  and  large 
accessions  took  place,  principally  among  the  peasantry  and  the 
trades-people.  Moreover,  the  exemplary  diligence  of  the 
Brethren,  the  good  order  which  prevailed  among  them,  the 
humility  which  they  displayed,  and  their  consistent  determina- 
tion not  to  take  part  in  the  religious  disputes  that  were  going 
on  throughout  the  country,  w^on  the  favor  and  gained  the 
protection  of  several  powerful  nobles.  Among  these  Ctibor 
and  John  Towacowsky  von  Ciraburg,  two  brothers  and  the 
chief  advisers  of  the  young  King,  Kostka  von  Postupic  and 
William  von  Pernstein  were  prominent.  Jungbunzlau, 
which  belonged  to  John  Towacowsky,  became  a  principal 
center  of  the  Unity.  Other  noteworthy  seats  were  at  Brandeis 
on  the  Adler,  Brandeis  on  the  Elbe,  and  Leitomischl,  in 
Bohemia,  and  at  Prerau,  Leipnik,  Tobitschau  and  Prossnitz, 
in  Moravia.^ 

Encouraged  by  such  prosperity  and  realizing  the  important 
part  which  the  cities  and  towns  of  Bohemia  would  play  in  its 
future  development,  the  Executive  Council  made  an  attempt 
to  gain  their  good-will  also.  Letters  were  addressed  to  the 
local  authorities,  setting  forth  the  reasons  why  the  Brethren 
had  separated  from  the  National  Church  and  giving  a  brief 
account  of  their  ecclesiastical  system.  The  town-council  of 
Hohenmauth  sent  a  friendly  answer  and  asked  for  an  expo- 
sition of  their  views  on  the  Lord's  Supper.^ 

Bitter  animosity,  on  the  contrary,  filled  the  heart  of  Queen 
Joanna,  George  Podiebrad's  widow.  She  induced  the  Diet 
of  Beneschau,  which  she  opened,  May  the  twenty-seventh, 
1473,  with  a  long  address  having  for  its  object  the  recon- 
ciliation of  the  Utraquists  and  the  Catholics,  to  adopt  an 
alarming  resolution.     Members  of  the  Unity  were  everywhere 

1  Palacky,  IX.  pp.  49  and  50,  188  and  189. 

^  L.  F.,  I.  p.  85;  Boh.  Hist.  Frat.,  I.  pp.  60  and  61,  quoted  by  Gindely, 
I.  p.  49. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  165 

to  be  cited  before  the  civil  tribunals  and  forced  to  recant.  If 
Joanna,  as  is  said,  took  this  step  with  the  knowledge  and 
consent  of  young  Uladislaus,^  he  was  too  good-natured  to 
decline  the  request  which  the  Brethren  immediately  presented, 
that  they  might  be  allowed  to  defend  their  cause  at  a  Colloquy. 
It  took  place  at  Prague  (1473),  but  brought  about  no  under- 
standing. Michael  Bradacius  and  Jerome,  the  representatives 
of  the  Unity,  refused  to  recant  and  to  accept  any  instructions 
on  the  part  of  the  Utraquist  Masters ;  the  Masters  issued  a 
letter  warning  the  people  against  the  heresy  of  the  Brethren 
and  holding  them  up  to  ridicule  and  contempt.  Meanwhile 
the  edict  of  Beneschau  remained  a  dead  letter.^ 

On  the  thirteenth  of  September,  of  the  same  year,  the 
eventful  career  of  Gregory  the  Patriarch  came  to  an  end. 
He  died  in  an  unostentatious  house  which  he  had  built  near 
the  Castle,  at  Brandeis  on  the  Adler.  This  town  is  situated 
in  a  plain  inclosed,  on  all  sides,  by  hills.  The  height  to  the 
east,  known  as  the  Klopot  Mountain,  is  wooded  and  has  a 
romantic  ravine,  through  which  runs  a  little  stream,  fresh  and 
limpid,  fringed  with  tufts  of  forget-me-nots.  In  this  ravine 
Gregory  is  said  to  have  been  buried.^  It  is  a  fit  resting-place 
for  the  founder  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum,  and  in  its  sanctuary 
of  nature  where  the  soul  instinctively  rises  heavenward,  in 
the  pureness  of  its  flowing  water,  in  the  abundance  of  its 
humble  flowers,  sets  forth  a  beautiful  emblem  of  his  life.  He 
might  easily  have  constituted  himself  the  Bishop  of  the  Unity, 
bat  he  left  this  honor  to  another,  and  labored,  day  and  night, 
as  its  principal  writer,  its  most  zealous  evangelist,  its  leading 
representative,  without  an  ambitious  thought  or  a  self-inter- 
ested motive.^     At  the  same  time  his  views  remained  legal. 


3  Comenii  Hist.,  §  65. 

*  Gindely,  I.  pp.  50  and  51. 

*  Todtenbuch,  p.  2,  which  says  that  Gregory  was  buried  in  an  apiary 
(Bienenhaus).     What  kind  of  an  apiary  this  may  have  been  is  hard  to  say. 

^  Eight  works  of  Gregory,  all  in  Bohemian,  are  known  to  exist,  besides 
the  Letters  to  Rokycana.  There  were  a  number  of  other  writings  from  his 
pen,  but  these  have  been  lost.     Gindely,  I.  p.  498,  Note  56. 


166  THE    HISTORY   OF 

He  never  fully  entered  the  lofty  temple  of  evangelical  liberty, 
and  died  with  a  solemn  warning  on  his  lips  against  permitting 
the  government  of  the  Church  to  fall  into  the  hands  of 
learned  men. 

When  the  Masters  of  the  University  perceived  that  neither 
the  edict  of  the  Diet  nor  their  own  letter  was  hindering  the 
spread  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum,  they  issued,  in  1475,  another 
writing  which  aspersed  the  moral  character  of  its  followers. 
This  new  exhibition  of  animosity  received  no  little  support 
through  a  scandalous  plot  concocted,  in  the  following  year,  at 
Jungbunzlau.     In  that  town  lived  a  certain  John  Leschka,  or 
Lezek,  a  brewer's  apprentice,  who,  at  one  time,  had  been  in 
the  employ  of  a  member  of  the  Brethren's  Church,  but  had 
himselt  never  belonged  to  its  communion.     He  was  a  worth- 
less fellow,  a  thief,  ready  for  anything  that  would  bring  him 
money.     This  man  became  a  willing  tool  in  the  hands  of  the 
Utraquist  priest,  who  bribed  him  to  bear  false  witness  against 
the  Brethren.    In  presence  of  a  large  congregation — including 
Baron  Towacowsky  and   his  wife — assembled  in   the  parish 
church,  he  publicly  confessed  the  iniquities  which  he  pretended 
to  have  committed  while  connected  with  the  Unity  and  un- 
covered the  enormities  which  he  ascribed   to    its  adherents. 
They  blasphemed ;  they  were  guilty  of  sacrilege,  robbery  and 
murder ;   they  engaged  in  witchcraft  and  the  most  outrageous 
licentiousness.     His  conscience,  he  said,  would  give  him  no 
peace  until  he  had  made  these  things  known.     He  begged  the 
people  to  pray  for  him,  that  he  might  be  forgiven  for  the  part 
which  he  had  taken  in  the  wickedness  of  the  Picards.     From 
Jungbunzlau  he  was  hurried  to  Koniggratz.     There  he  re- 
acted his  part  with  ever-growing  demonstrations  of  horror  and 
penitence.     A  report  of  his  confession,  signed  and  sealed  by 
a    number   of    witnesses,  was   scattered    broadcast    through 
Bohemia. 

Against  such  shameful  charges  the  Brethren  not  only  pub- 
lished protests  but  also  cited  Lezek  before  a  magistrate. 
When  the  trial  came  on,  he  acknowledged  that  he  had  been 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  167 

bribed,  that  his  confession  was  false,  that  he  had  never  been 
a  member  of  the  Unity/ 

This  occurrence  produced,  on  the  one  hand,  warmer  sym- 
pathy with  the  Brethren  and  even  an  increase  of  their 
membership,  but  on  the  other,  greater  enmity  and  renewed 
persecutions.  Their  friends  scorned  to  believe  the  falsehoods 
of  Lezek ;    their  enemies  accepted  them  with  avidity. 

On  the  tenth  of  August,  1478,  a  Utraquist  Diet  met  at 
Prague  and  re-organized  the  Consistory  of  the  National 
Church.^  The  character  and  growth  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum 
also  constituted  a  subject  for  grave  discussion.  Through  the 
influence  of  its  friends  no  harsh  measures  were  adopted,  but 
another  Colloquy  was  ordered,  with  the  understanding  that 
the  Brethren  were  to  retain  any  views  which  they  could,  from 
the  Holy  Scriptures,  prove  to  be  binding,  but  to  lay  aside,  on 
pain  of  banishment,  any  errors  of  which  they  might  be  found 
guilty.^ 

In  the  following  year  (1479),  a  correspondence  was  opened 
wdth  the  Waldenses  of  the  Mark  Brandenburg,  through  Peter 
one  of  their  number,  who  visited  Bohemia.  Not  Ioup;  after 
they  were  subjected  to  severe  persecutions.  The  Executive 
Council  sent  Thomas  of  Landskron  and  other  deputies  in 
order  to  advise  with  them  amidst  such  distressing  circum- 
stances. This  mission  led  to  the  departure  from  the  Mark 
of  several  hundred  of  them,  who  immigrated  to  Moravia  and 


'  A  full  accouut  of  Lezek's  proceedings  is  found  in  L.  F.,  VI.  p.  121,  etc., 
Reichel's  Zusiitze,  pp.  181-187,  where  twenty-two  charges  are  set  forth 
which  he  brouglit  against  the  Brethren.  Gindely  asserts  that  Lezek  him- 
self originated  the  plot,  that  the  priest  of  Jungbunzlau  was  duped,  but  acted 
in  good  faitli.  The  L.  F.  distinctly  says,  that  the  priest  bribed  Lezek  to  play 
his  part.  See  also  Jaffet's  Ursprung,  p.  63,  etc.;  Hist.  Persecutionum, 
Cap.  XXL 

^  This  Consistory  consisted  of  twelve  members,  eight  clergymen  and  four 
laymen.     It  was  put  under  the  protection  of  the  Utraquist  states. 

^  Palacky,  IX.  pp.  190  and  191.  Of  this  Colloquy,  which  continued  for 
several  days  and  brought  about  vehement  disputations,  as  also  of  the  Ten 
Articles  published  by  the  Masters  of  the  University  and  the  Consistory,  we 
have  given  an  account  on  pp.  143,  144  and  147. 


168  THE    HISTORY    OP 

joined  the  Brethren's  Church.  They  settled  at  Fulneck  and 
in  its  vicinity.^" 

Ever  since  the  accession  of  Uladislaiis  to  the  throne  the 
breach  between  the  Utraquists  and  Catholics  had  been 
widening.  Their  respective  pulpits,  in  particular,  resounded 
with  the  most  vehement  polemics.  In  1483  bloody  tumults 
broke  out  at  Prague  and  terrible  excesses  were  committed. 
At  the  same  time  disputes,  with  regard  to  their  several  rights, 
were  going  on  between  the  barons  on  the  one  side,  and  the 
knights  and  cities  on  the  other.  The  best  minds  of  all  parties 
earnestly  desired  a  pacification.  With  such  an  end  in  view 
a  General  Diet  was  convened,  in  1485,  at  Kuttenberg.  The 
labors  of  this  body  were  crowned  with  success.  Acts  were 
passed  permitting  every  man  to  seek  salvation  in  that  church 
to  which  his  conscience  might  lead  him ;  granting  religious 
liberty  on  all  domains  both  to  the  nobles  and  their  serfs ;  and 
adjusting  the  difficulties  between  the  barons  and  knights,  after 
the  latter  had  been  induced  to  forsake  the  cause  of  the  cities. 

The  Brethren  were  not  included  in  this  pacification,  and 
yet,  for  a  number  of  years,  they  enjoyed  its  benefits.  It  is 
true  that  they  were  cited  before  a  commission  to  give  an 
account  of  their  faith,  and  that  a  resolution  was  adopted 
exhorting  them  to  abjure  their  errors  if  they  would  escape 
banishment.  But  both  these  measures  proved  harmless.  No 
steps  were  taken  to  carry  them  out.'^ 

In  consequence,  no  doubt,  of  the  transactions  of  this  Diet,  a 
Synod  met,  in  the  following  year,  and  carefully  defined  the 
relation  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum  to  other  churches.  The  fol- 
lowing points  were  adopted  : 

For  pious  priests  teaching  the  truth,  wherever  they  may  be 
found,  the  Brethren  are  to  thank  God,  but  they  are  not  to 
leave  their  own  communion  in  order  to  follow  such  priests  or 

^°  Jaffet's  Ursprung,  Keichel's  Zusiitze,  p.  92,  and  his  Stimme  des 
Wilchters,  Goll,  Appendix,  p.  122  ;  Hist.  Persecut.  XX.  5.  An  interesting 
letter  from  the  Waldenses  to  the  Brethren  is  found  in  the  Bohemian  Hist. 
Fratrum  and  is  quoted  in  full  by  Goll,  Appendix,  pp.  121-123,  Note  18. 

"  Palacky,  IX.  p.  263,  272-274  ;  Cerwenka,  II.  p.  64. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  169 

receive  the  sacraments  at  their  hands ;  if  a  body  of  Christians 
should  be  met  with  upholding  the  Word  of  God  in  its  purity, 
or  if  He  should  raise  up  evangelical  teachers  and  reformers, 
the  members  of  the  Unity  are  not  indiscriminately  to  join 
such  Christians  or  to  go  after  such  reformers,  but  the 
Executive  Council  is  to  inquire  into  the  expediency  of  making 
common  cause  with  them ;  no  one  church,  however  numerous, 
constitutes  the  universal  Church  embracing  the  sum  total  of 
believers,  but  wherever  the  true  faith  prevails  as  set  forth  in 
the  Scriptures,  there  is  manifested  a  part  of  the  holy  catholic 
Church/2 

In  the  year  1487,  by  a  formal  resolution  of  the  National 
Court,  the  peasantry  of  Bohemia  lost  the  last  trace  of  their 
liberty  and  Avere  reduced  to  a  state  of  complete  serfdom. 
Absolute  power,  including  the  right  of  capital  punishment, 
was  now  exercised  by  the  nobles  on  their  domains.  They 
practically  became  petty  sovereigns.  At  the  same  time  they 
extended  their  prerogatives  in  other  directions.  The  regular 
members  of  the  Diet  were  barons  and  knights;  representatives 
of  the  cities  secured  a  seat  and  vote  only  when  questions 
affecting  their  interests  were  under  discussion.  In  the 
National  Court  [Landesgericht)  sat  nobles  exclusively ;  the 
National  Registry  [Landtafel)  was  maintained  solely  for  their 
benefit ;  even  the  rights  of  the  crown  were  curtailed  in  their 
favor.  In  this  way  the  legislative,  the  judicial  and,  to  a  great 
extent,  the  executive  power  passed  into  the  hands  of  the 
aristocracy.  While  the  peasantry  passively  submitted  to  this 
yoke,  the  cities,  throughout  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century, 
maintained  a  bitter  contest  for  their  municipal  rights. 

Moravia  constituted  a  crownland  of  Bohemia,  but  had  a 
government  of  its  own,  with  an  independent  diet  and  inde- 
pendent states.     On  the  domains  the  same  system  existed  as 


'^  Lasitius,  III.  38,  as  developed  by  Plitt,  Chapt.  32 ;  Comenius  Hist. 
I  67 ;  Croeger,  I.  pp.  101  and  102.  Why  both  Gindely  and  Cerwenka  pass 
over  this  important  Synod  in  silence,  is  hard  to  understand.  Lasitius 
evidently  quotes  its  official  enactments. 


170  THE    HISTORY   OF 

in  Bohemia,  and  their  owners  asserted  an  authority  which  was 
even  more  unrestricted  than  that  of  the  Bohemian  nobles.'^ 

Both  the  serfdom  of  the  peasants  and  the  power  of  the 
nobility  exercised  a  lasting  influence  upon  the  Unitas  Fratrum. 

The  former  served  to  increase  its  membership.  It  is  true 
that  one  of  its  fundamental  principles  was  obedience  to  the 
constituted  authorities,  as  ordained  of  God ;  but  it  nevertheless 
recognized  the  dignity  of  man  in  every  station  and  said  to  all 
who  entered  its  communion,  whether  they  were  nobles  or 
peasants,  rich  or  poor,  learned  or  unlearned,  "One  is  your 
Master,  even  Christ ;  and  all  ye  are  brethren."  Hence,  as 
Palacky  well  remarks,  the  spirit  of  Slavism,  which  was 
essentially  democratic,  found  its  last  refuge  in  the  Unitas 
Fratrum.^^ 

On  the  other  hand,  the  absolute  power  exercised  by  the 
nobles  on  their  estates,  enabled  such  as  were  friends  of  the 
Brethren,  or  members  of  the  Brethren's  Church,  to  protect 
them  in  times  of  persecution.  If  this  had  not  been  the  case, 
the  Unity  would  have  come  to  an  end  long  before  its  over- 
throw in  the  Anti-reformation. 

Wenzel  Koranda  and  the  Utraquist  Consistory  were 
alarmed  by  the  steady  increase  of  the  Brethren,  but  their 
efforts  to  hinder  it  proved  fruitless.  They  did  not  succeed  in 
even  bringing  about  another  Colloquy. 

In  Moravia  the  enemies  of  the  Unity  were  more  successful. 
At  the  peace  of  Ofen  (1478),  the  claim  of  Matthias  Corvinus 
to  this  country  had  been  formally  acknowledged,  and  now, 
instigated  by  Roman  Catholic  bishops,  he  banished  all  such 
Brethren  as  were  domiciliated  within  its  bounds.  This  meas- 
ly Palacky,  IX.  p.  292,  etc. ;  Schlesinger,  pp.  390-401 ;  Chlumecky's 
Zerotin,  Chap.  I.  The  laws  securing  to  the  nobility  their  prerogatives 
were  published,  in  1500,  and  are  known  as  the  "  Uladislaus  Code"  {die 
Wladislawische  Landesordnung).  As  regards  the  other  provinces  of  Bo 
hernia  we  may  add,  that  the  constitution  of  Lusatia  was  similar  to  that  of 
Moravia,  while  in  Silesia  there  existed  sixteen  dukedoms,  with  independent 
privileges,  but  united  through  a  General  Diet  and  National  Court.  Some 
of  these  dukedoms  stood  immediately  under  the  Bohemian  King,  others 
remained  in  the  hands  of  native  princes  who  were  his  vassals. 

"  Palacky,  IX.  p.  305. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH.  171 

lire  was  meant  to  terrify  them.  He  did  not  doubt  that  they 
would  abjure  their  faith  rather  than  leave  their  homes.  But 
he  little  understood  the  character  of  that  faith  and  the  spirit 
which  it  produced.  Several  hundred  of  them,  with  Nicholas 
of  Schlan  at  their  head,^^  forsaking  houses  and  lands  and  all 
they  had,  unhesitatingly  emigrated  and  took  their  way 
through  Hungary  and  Siebenbiirgen  to  Moldavia  (1488).  The 
Hospidar  Stephen  gave  them  a  friendly  welcome.  But  they 
could  not  accustom  themselves  to  the  barbarism  of  the  country; 
and  its  jiriests,  perhaps  its  nobles  also,  began  to  oppress  them. 
In  order  to  strengthen  their  faith,  the  Council  sent  them,  by 
the  hands  of  Elias  of  Chrenovic,  a  letter  full  of  fraternal 
sympathy  and  godly  admonitions.'*' 

Meantime  yielding  to  the  expostulations  ot  Ciraburg  and 
Pernstein,  who  pointed  out  the  serious  loss  which.  Moravia 
would  sustain  if  its  best  inhabitants  were  expelled,  Matthias 
modified  his  edict  of  banishment.  It  was  to  be  enforced  only 
in  cases  in  which  a  year's  notice  to  emigrate  had  been  given. 
Such  notices  were  never  issued ;  for  the  King  died  in  1490. 
His  successor  on  the  Hungarian  throne  was  Uladislaus  to 
whom,  in  consequence,  Moravia,  with  Lusatia  and  Silesia, 
reverted.  These  changes  induced  the  exiles  in  Moldavia  to 
return  to  their  homes.'" 

'*  Nicholas  was  a  priest  and  member  of  the  Executive  Council,  versed  in 
proverbs,  acquainted  with  everything  relating  to  the  rise  of  the  Unity  and 
fond,  in  his  old  age,  of  relating  to  the  young  the  tribulations  of  early  times. 
He  died  at  Leitomischl,  September  the  twenty-seventh,  1542.  Todtenbuch, 
p.  17. 

'®  This  letter  is  found  in  full  in  L.  F.,  V.  p.  365,  etc.,  Reichel's  Zusiitze, 
pp.  188-191,  see  Croeger,  I.  p.  98. 

1'  Palacky,  IX.  pp.  307  and  308;  Blahoslaw's  Summa,  Goll,  Appendix, 
p.  123,  etc.;  Hist.  Persecut.,  Cap.  XX.  In  the  last  century  the  idea  gained 
ground  among  the  Moravians  that  a  remnant  of  the  Bohemian  Brethren 
had  remained  in  Moldavia  and  eventually  settled  among  the  Caucasian 
Mountains,  where  they  kept  up  their  religion  and  national  customs.  This 
idea  was  based  on  several  printed  sources  (compare  Cranz,  pp.  32  and  33), 
on  the  MS.  diary  of  the  Bohemian  settlement  at  Rixdorf,  near  Berlin,  and 
especially  on  the  reports  of  travelers  and  merchants  who  visited  the  Mora- 
vian settlement  of  Sarepta,  in  Asiatic  Russia.  In  1768  an  exploring  tour 
was  undertaken  by  Kutschera  and  Becher,  from  Sarepta,  to  find  this  rem- 
nant, but  proved  unsuccessful;  in  1781  a  second  attempt  was  made  by 
Grabsch  and  Gruhl,  which  was  also  fruitless.  Briider-Bote,  1877,  pp. 
197-208;   Glitsch's  Geschichte  von  Sarepta,  pp.  100-107  and  208-226. 


172  THE   HISTORY   OF 


CHAPTEK  XIX. 

Dissensions  and  a  Schism.     A.  D.  1490-1496. 


Gregory's  extreme  Views. — Reaction  after  his  Death— Two  Parties. — 
Writings  on  both  Sides.— Luke  of  Prague.— The  Council  Divided. — 
Writings  of  Prokop. — Compromise  at  the  Synod  of  1490  —Jacob  and 
Amos  inveigh  against  the  Compromise. — Bishop  Matthias  and  his 
arbitrary  Course. — Exploratory  Tours  to  the  East  in  search  of  an 
Apostolic  Church.— Prokop  and  Luke  laboring  to  restore  Harmony. — 
Luke's  Writings.— Synod  of  1495.— Bishop  Matthias  acknowledges  the 
Errors  of  his  Course.— Victory  of  the  Liberal  Party.— Gregory's 
Writings  no  longer  authoritative.— Amos  and  Jacob  cause  a  Schism. 
— Sect  of  the  Amosites. 

Extreme  views  always  lead  to  evil.  However  conscien- 
tiously entertained  they  are,  in  the  very  nature  of  the  case, 
one-sided,  and  prevent  those  large  conceptions  and  catholic 
tendencies  out  of  w^hich  alone  grows  real  strength. 

Peter  Chelcicky  will  ever  be  honored  for  originating  the 
ideas  which  eventually  led  to  the  organization  of  the  Unitas 
Fratrura.  But  the  contracted  principles  which  he  implanted 
in  the  minds  of  its  founders,  were  of  such  a  character  as  to 
either  make  of  the  Brethren  a  short  lived  and  bigoted  sect,  or 
plunge  them  into  dissensions  as  soon  as  a  more  liberal  Chris- 
tianity would  begin  to  assert  itself. 

Such  principles  had  been  incorporated  with  the  very  being 
of  Gregory  in  particular.  They  related  both  to  doctrine  and 
discipline.  He  gave  undue  prominence  to  the  efficacy  of 
works;  he  introduced  a  system  of  the  most  rigorous  kind. 
No  member  of  the  Church  was  allowed  to  testify  in  court,  to 
take  an  oath,  to  fill  a  civil  office,  to  keep  an  inn  or  carry  on 
a  mercantile  business  involving  the  sale  of  anything  except 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH.  173 

the  bare  necessaries  of  life ;  and  no  nobleman  could  join  the 
Unity  without  laying  aside  the  prerogatives  of  his  rank  and 
resigning  any  position  of  trust  which  he  might  hold. 

As  long  as  Gregory  lived  these  principles  remained  unques- 
tioned and  were  strictly  upheld,  but  after  his  death  a  reaction 
slowly  set  in.^  Prokop  of  Neuhaus  was  the  first  to  express 
doubts  with  regard  to  the  doctrinal  points.  The  discipline 
was  put  to  a  severe  test.  About  1479,  two  barons  and  several 
knights  applied  for  admission  to  the  Unity.  It  was  the  first 
application  of  the  kind,  and  the  adherents  of  Gregory,  alarmed 
by  manifestations  of  a  more  liberal  tendency,  demanded  that 
the  conditions  which  the  case  involved  should  either  be 
literally  carried  out,  or  the  overture  of  the  nobles  rejected. 
The  former  course  was  pursued.  Some  of  the  applicants 
submitted,  the  rest  withdrew. 

This  occurrence,  together  with  growing  discussions  through- 
out the  Church  on  doctrine  and  discipline,  led  to  the  formation 
of  two  parties,  the  one  advocating  the  system  of  Gregory  in 
all  its  rigor,  the  other  proposing  a  modification  of  some  of  its 
principles.  To  the  first  belonged  the  illiterate  leaders  and 
members,  the  second  comprised  the  well  educated  and  the 
learned.  Each  faction  seized  the  pen  in  order  to  urge  its 
views.  Among  the  writings  which  appeared  may  be  men- 
tioned as  especially  noteworthy,  Gregor  of  Wotic's  treatise  on 
"  The  civil  Power,"  conceived  from  an  ultra  rigorous  point  of 
view,  and  the  answer  to  it,  being  an  explanation  of  the  words 
of  the  Apostle,  "  If  we  say  that  we  have  no  sin,  we  deceive 
ourselves  and  the  truth  is  not  in  us  "  (1  John  1  :  8). 

About  the  time  that  this  controversy  grew  to  be  serious,  an 
ardent  young  Utraquist,  indignant  with  the  course  which  the 
King  pursued  in  expelling  from  his  capital  several  priests 
whose  zeal  had  become  offensive,  left  that  city  and  joined  the 
Unity.     His  name  was  Luke  of  Prague.    He  was  a  Bachelor 

'  Sources  for  the  account  of  the  controversy  and  schism  as  given  in  this 
chapter  are:  Jaffet's  Goliath's  Schwerdt,  and  the  documents  of  L.  F.,  IV. 
which  trtat  almost  exclusively  of  this  subject,  cited  in  Reichel's  Zusatze, 
pp.  132-181,  compared  with  Gindely,  I.  pp.  62-76. 


174  THE    HISTORY    OF 

of  its  University  and  a  learned  man,  familiar  with  the  classics, 
patristic  literature,  and  the  scholastic  writings  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  Of  untiring  activity,  endowed  with  9,  rare  executive 
talent,  devoted,  from  conviction,  to  the  Brethren's  Church 
and  serving  it  with  enthusiasm,  he  was,  for  many  years,  the 
most  prominent  rigure  in  its  history,  and  shaped  its  course  with 
a  firm  hand.  The  controversy  excited  his  deepest  interest. 
In  spite  of  his  youth  he  began  to  exercise,  supported  by 
Prokop  and  Lawrence  Krasonicky,  a  wide  influence  on  the 
side  of  the  liberal  party. 

Prokop  brought  the  points  in  dispute  before  the  Executive 
Council.  In  this  body  a  very  great  difference  of  opinion 
appeared,  some  advocating, faith  almost  to  the  exclusion  of 
works,  others  works  almost  to  the  exclusion  of  faith.  Such 
discord  among  the  leaders  reacted  unfavorably  upon  the  piety 
of  the  members.  In  order  to  correct  this  evil,  Prokop,  in  a 
treatise  on  "  The  Good  Will "  and  a  "  Commentary  on  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount,"  endeavored  to  set  forth  a  middle 
course,  and  induced  the  Synod,  that  met  at  Brandeis  on  the 
Adler,  in  1490,  to  take  up  the  entire  subject  out  of  which 
the  controversy  had  grown.  The  result  was  a  compromise. 
Gregory's  views  should  not  be  relinquished,  but  they  should 
be  modified. 

In  point  of  doctrine  it  was  established  that  both  grace  and 
the  human  will,  both  faith  and  works,  are  necessary  to  salva- 
tion. As  regarded  the  discipline  the  following  rules  were 
adopted  for  the  guidance  of  the  Executive  Council : 

Men  of  rank  may  join  the  Unity  without  laying  aside  their 
prerogatives  or  resigning  their  offices,  but  the  danger  to  which 
their  position  subjects  them  shall  be  carefully  pointed  out ;  in 
case  of  absolute  necessity  members  may  testify  under  oath  in 
court;  under  certain  restrictions  they  may  keep  inns  and 
engage  in  mercantile  pursuits  which  are  not  confined  to  the 
necessaries  of  life ;  if  a  case  is  clearly  just  and  requires  such  a 
step,  the  aid  of  the  civil  tribunals  may  be  invoked. 

But  this  compromise  did  not  put  an  end  to  the  controversy. 
Two  members  of  the  Synod  who  had  been  most  violent  in 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  175 

defending  Gregory's  system,  Jacob  of  Wodnan  and  Amos  of 
Stekna,  disregarding  the  acts  of  the  majority,  began  to  stir  up 
the  parishes  in  their  vicinity  against  the  compromise,  asserting 
that  it  was  of  the  devil,  who  had  taken  possession  of  the 
Unity,  and  speaking  and  writing,  in  other  respects  also,  with 
great  bitterness.  The  controversy  broke  out  afresh  and 
assumed  a  most  unbrotherly  and  acrimonious  character. 

In  such  a  juncture  Bishop  Matthias,  who  was  a  disciple  of 
Gregory's  school,  imagined  that  prompt  measures,  even  though 
they  might  be  arbitrary,  could  alone  save  the  Church.  He 
convoked  another  Synod  which  was  numerously  attended  by 
his  own  party;  caused  the  compromise  of  Brandeis  to  be 
annulled ;  ejected,  by  an  episcopal  mandate,  the  liberal  mem- 
bers from  the  Executive  Council;  filled  their  places  with 
extremists,  and  had  a  resolution  adopted  directing  the  prin- 
ciples of  Gregory  to  be  carried  out  in  all  their  strictness. 
The  expelled  members  of  the  Council  submitted,  without  a 
word,  to  the  dictatorial  act  of  their  Bishop,  and  the  party  which 
they  represented  quietly  accepted  the  decision  of  the  Synod. 

But  an  arbitrary  exercise  of  power  does  not  change  men's 
convictions;  hence  the  course  which  Matthias  had  pursued 
could  not  restore  harmony  to  the  Church.  This  was  keenly 
realized  by  both  sides.  A  feeling  of  uneasiness  and  depression 
prevailed.  It  would  almost  seem  as  if  doubts  began  to  rise, 
at  least  in  some  minds,  whether  the  Brethren  had  acted  wisely 
in  separating  from  the  National  Church  ;  it  is  certain  that  a 
general  longing  manifested  itself  for  fellowship  with  believers 
outside  of  their  own  communion.  Accordingly  the  project 
was  revived  of  trying  to  find,  somewhere  on  earth,  a  body  of 
Christians  free  from  the  contaminations  of  the  papacy  and 
uncorrupted  by  the  sins  of  the  age.  At  the  same  time  the 
idea  was  probably  entertained,  that  such  Christians,  if  dis- 
covered, might  advise  the  Brethren  as  to  the  best  way  of 
settling  their  disputes.^ 

^  Both  Gindely,  I.  p.  67  and  Cerwenka,  II.  pp.  68  and  69,  assert  that  the 
above  reason  was  the  only  one  for  the  exploratory  tours.  This  view  of  the 
case  appears  to  us  to  be  an  utter  misconception. 


176  THE    HISTORY    OF 

Four  men,  Luke  of  Prague,  Mares  Kokovec,  a  knight, 
Martin    Kabatnik,    a   citizen    of    Leitomischl,    and    Caspar, 
from  the  Mark  Brandenburg,  originally  a  Waldensian,  were 
appointed  by  a  Synod  to  explore  the  East  in  search  of  an 
apostolic  church.     Bohuslav  Kostka  von  Postupic,  the  first 
baron   who  became  a  member  of  the   Unity,  furnished  the 
money  and  cared  for  passports  as  well  as  letters  of  introduc- 
tion.    The    party    set   out    in    March,    of    the   year    1491, 
traveling  through  Moravia  and  Silesia  to  Cracow,  thence  to 
Lemberg,  and  thence  down  the  Southern   Danube,  through 
Wallachia,  to  Constantinople.     There  they  separated.     Luke 
visited  Turkey  in  Asia  and  Greece;  Mares,  Russia;  Caspar, 
Turkey  in  Europe ;  Kabatnik,  in  company  of  a  Jew,  Antioch, 
Damascus  and  Jerusalem.     From  Jerusalem  Kabatnik  pro- 
ceeded alone  to  Cairo  and  then  returned  to  the  former  city. 
Having    met    again    at    Constantinople   the   travelers   took 
their  homeward  way  to  Bohemia,  where  they  arrived  after  an 
absence  of  a  year.   Their  report  was  discouraging.    They  had  not 
found  an  apostolic  church,  but  false  doctrines,  corrupt  morals, 
open  licentiousness  prevailing  among  Christians  of  every  name.^ 
As  these  explorers  of  the  East,  where  they  had  vainly 
searched  for  a  pure  type  of  Christianity,  came  back  to  their 
native  land,  Christopher  Columbus  was  preparing  to  leave  his 
adopted  country  on  that  bold  voyage  to  the  West  which  con- 
stituted an  epoch  in  the  world's  history  and  gave  a  continent 
to  Christ's  religion  for  its  freest,  most  aggressive  and  successful 
developments.     To  the  aborigines  of  this  continent,  of  whose 
existence  the  returning  fathers  had  no  conception,  their  spir- 
itual seed  was  ordained  to  bring  the  gospel  and  show  forth  its 
glorious  power  in  a  way  that  has  never  been  surpassed  in  any 
quarter  of  the  earth. 


3  Blahoslaw's  Summa,  Goll,  Appendix,  p.  123;  Comenii  Hist.,  ^66; 
Camerarius,  p.  119,  etc.  Plitt,  Reichel  and  Croeger  put  these  journeys  in 
1481,  which  is  undoubtedly  an  error.  After  his  return  Kabatnik  dictated 
an  account  of  his  tour  to  a  friend,  which  narrative  was  published  and  is 
still  extant.  He  was  a.stonished  at  the  vastness  of  the  Nile,  and  imagined 
that  its  source  must  be  the  Garden  of  Eden.     Gindely,  I.  p.  68. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH,  177 

The  Brethren  continued  to  be  cast  clown.  That  inner 
liarmonv  which  binds  hearts  tog-ether  was  wanting;.  A  blight 
had  fallen  upon  the  joyous  life  of  the  Church.  Both  Prokop 
and  Luke  labored  to  bring  about  a  change;  at  first  from 
divergent  points  of  view,  but  after  a  while  in  full  accord. 
The  latter  composed  an  "Allegory"  in  which  he  compared 
the  Unity  to  a  ship,  and  wrote  treatises  on  "  Judicial  Oaths," 
on  "Admission  to  Church-fellowship,"  and  "  Civil  and  Eccle- 
siastical Courts  of  Justice."  These  works  were  laid  before 
the  Council ;  while  ways  and  means  of  restoring  peace  to  the 
Church  were  anxiously  discussed  in  every  parish.  The 
result  was  a  gradual  change  in  the  vieAvs  of  many  of  the 
extremists. 

]\Ieantime  Bishop  JNIatthias  had  become  a  prey  to  poignant 
self-reproach.  In  1495  he  convened  a  Synod  at  Reichenau 
and  acknowledged,  in  presence  of  the  entire  body,  that  he  had 
grievously  erred,  at  the  same  time  resigning  his  seat  in  the 
Executive  Council  and  declaring  himself  unworthy  of  admin- 
istering the  episcopate.  His  adherents  likewise  retired  from 
the  Council. 

An  investigation  of  his  course  was  at  once  begun.  It 
appeared  that  he  had  acted  from  a  sense  of  duty,  however 
mistaken,  and  that  his  motives  had  been  sincere.  Hence  his 
resignation  was  not  accepted  and  he  was  allowed  to  continue 
in  the  discharge  of  his  episcoj^al  functions ;  but  the  j)residency 
of  the  Council,  as  also  the  position  of  Ecclesiastical  Judge, 
was  taken  from  him  and  conferred  upon  Prokop  of  Neuhaus. 
The  places  made  vacant  by  the  retirement  of  his  adherents 
were  filled  with  those  liberal  men  whom  he  had  ejected  and 
with  others  of  like  mind,  among  them  Luke  of  Prague. 
Lawrence  Krasonicky  was  assigned  to  the  Bishop  as  his 
special  adviser,  and  the  work  of  superintending  the  Unity 
was  divided  among  the  other  members.  In  order  to  remove 
all  irritating  memorials  of  the  controversy,  the  new  Council 
met,  in  the  evening  of  the  day  on  which  these  changes  were 
carried  out,  and  rescinded  the  acts  of  the  Synod  of  Brandeis. 
A  carefully  worded  report  was  drawn  up.  It  spared  the 
12 


178  THE    HISTORY    OF 

feelings   of  the  defeated  party,  and  aimed  at  the  complete 
pacification  of  the  Church. 

Before  adjourning,  the  Synod  formally  declared  the  writings 
ot  Gregory  to  be  no  longer  authoritative.  "  We  content  our- 
selves," were  the  closing  words  of  this  declaration,  "with 
those  sacred  books  which  have  been  accepted,  from  of  old,  by 
all  Christians,  and  are  found  in  the  Bible."* 

The  satisfaction  which  the  proceedings  of  this  Synod 
awakened  among  the  majority  of  the  Brethren,  found  no 
response  in  the  hearts  of  Amos  and  Jacob.  They  refused  to 
be  conciliated.  Hastening  to  their  homes  in  the  Circuit  of 
Prachin,  they  roused  all  its  parishes  to  an  open  revolt. 
Bishop  Matthias  and  Luke  of  Prague,  who  came  to  restore 
order,  could  eifect  nothing.  Their  authority  was  defied. 
The  disaifected  organized,  and  as  there  were  no  priests  among 
them,  elected  ministers  of  their  own  and  had  them  ordained 
by  laymen. 

These  schismatics  received  the  name  of  Amosites.  They 
constituted  a  small  minority  of  the  membership,  but  they 
claimed  to  be  the  true  Unity  and  formally  excommunicated 
all  such  Brethren  as  held  to  the  acts  of  the  Synod  of 
Reichenau. 

An  effort  was  made  to  put  an  end  to  this  schism.  On 
Whit-Monday,  of  1496,  Bishop  Matthias,  Prokop,  Luke  and 
two  other  members  of  the  Council,  met  Amos  and  eleven  of 
his  followers  at  Chlumec ;  but  this  conference  only  served  to 
widen  the  breach.  The  Amosites  began  to  attack  the  Church 
in  publications  of  the  most  rancorous  character,  and  grew  to 
be,  more  and  more,  a  bigoted,  contentious  and  fanatical  sect. 
After  an  existence  of  about  forty-six  years  they  died  out. 

*  Dekrete  d.  Briider  Synoden,  quoted  by  Cerwenka,  II.  p.  72. 


THE   MORAVIAN   CHURCH.  179 


PERIOD  V. 


THE  UNITAS  FRATRUM  UNDER  THE  INFLUENCE 

OF  BISHOP  LUKE  OF  PRAGUE. 

A.  D.  1497-1528. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

Increase  of  the  Church  in  Spite  of  the  Persecutions  inaugu- 
rated by  Uladislaus.     A.  D.  1497-1506. 


The  Work  of  the  Church  .carried  on  according  to  new  Principles. — Its 
rapid  Growth  and  Development. — Luke  of  Prague  and  Thomas  visit 
Italy  and  France. — Their  Intercourse  with  the  Waldenses. — Conse- 
cration of  new  Bishops. — Death  of  Bishop  Matthias. — Election  of 
Luke  and  Ambrose  to  the  Episcopacy. — Luke's  leading  Position. — The 
Pope  and  the  Unitas  Fratrum. — Mission  of  Doctor  Henry  Institoris. — 
Colloquy  at  Olmiitz. — Death  of  Michael  Bradacius. — Coalition  against 
the  Brethren.— Accusation  of  the  Amosites.— The  King  persecutes  the 
Church. — The  Utraquists  and  Catholics.— Diet  of  St.  Jerome.— Activity 
of  the  Executive  Council.  —  Colloquy  appointed  at  Prague.  —  Its 
Failure. — Martyrdom  at  Bor. — Confessions  of  Faith. — End  of  the 
Persecution. 

In  some  essential  particulars  the  Brethren  had  broken  with 
the  past.  A  new  system  began ;  a  new  and  promising  future 
opened.  The  question  whether  they  were  to'  constitute  a 
short-lived  sect  or  a  historic  Church  was  decided.  Illiterate 
men,  however  godly,  and  narrow-minded  views,  however  ven- 
erable their  source,  were  no  longer  to  hamper  their  progress.^ 

*  The  Brethren  of  a  later  day  expressed  very  decided  opinions  with 
regard  to  the  influence  of  unlearned  leaders  and  took  a  position  wholly 
diflferent  from  that  of  Gregory.     This  is   evident   trom   the  annotations 


180  THE    HISTORY   OF 

The  Brethren  shook  off  the  yoke  of  legality  and  assumed 
that  position  of  biblical  Protestantism  to  which  the  Reformers 
of  Germany  subsequently  attained.  While  therefore  the  con- 
troversy, as  long  as  it  lasted,  was  unfortunate,  in  the  end  it 
bore  good  fruits. 

These  showed  themselves  in  the  rapid  growth  of  the  Church, 
both  outwardly  and  inwardly.  It  spread  into  nearly  every 
part  of  Bohemia  and  Moravia ;  at  the  same  time,  its  constitu- 
tion was  developed,  its  discipline  regulated  and  its  ritual 
amplified.  There  gradually  rose  a  spiritual  building  which 
was  firmly  founded  and  symmetrical  in  its  proportions. 

In  order  to  gain  information  which  might  be  useful  in 
completing  it,  Luke  of  Prague  and  Thomas  of  Landskron 
were  sent,  in  1497,  to  Italy  and  France.  At  Rome  they 
were  appalled  by  the  wickedness  which  they  everywhere 
beheld  and  to  which  Alexander  the  Sixth,  one  of  the  most 
notorious  of  the  popes,  gave  tone ;  at  Florence,  standing  in 
the  great  square,  amidst  the  fickle  multitude  that  was  wont  to 
do  him  honor,  they  witnessed  the  cruel  execution  of  Savonarola 
(May  the  twenty-third,  1498),  whose  reformatory  efforts,  what- 
ever may  be  said  of  his  fanaticism,  were  noble  as  their  own.^ 
They  saw  Roman  Catholicism  in  its  native  splendor  also. 
But  they  found  nothing  that  attracted  them ;  only  new  proofs 
of  the  correctness  of  the  protest  with  which  their  own  Church 
had  cut  itself  loose  from  anti-Scriptural  dogmas  and  idolatrous 
practices. 

Longing  for  manifestations  of  the  pure  Gospel  and  for 
fellowship  with  God's  true  people,  Luke  and  Thomas  turned 
their  steps  to  the  Waldenses  of  North    Italy.     These  gave 

appended,  in  1567,  to  a  letter  of  Luke  {vide  Note  7)  in  the  L.  F.,  which 
annotations  say,  that  the  Church  was  almost  ruined  tlirough  its  illiterate 
leaders.  "  But  God  had  mercy  on  His  people  and  saved  them  from  de- 
struction. Through  whom,  do  you  ask  ?  Through  learned  and  pious  men. 
Therefore  we  must  not  be  afraid  of  scholars  and  of  their  enlightened  knowl- 
edge, but  of  those  who  are  wise  in  their  own  conceits,  and  yet  in  their 
ignorance  blindly  trample  on  the  true,  the  good  and  the  useful."  Reichel's 
Zusiitze,  pp.  99  and  200. 
'^  Comenii  Hist.,  §  68. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  181 

them  a  cordial  welcome.  Not  less  warm  was  their  reception 
among  the  Waklenses  of  France.  Their  hearts  were  refreshed, 
and  they  spent  many  days  in  fraternal  intercourse  with  these 
fellow  Christians,  interchanging  doctrinal  views  and  consulting 
on  the  things  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  At  the  same  time  they 
did  not  fail  to  reprove  them  for  that  want  of  courage  in  con- 
fessing the  truth  for  which  they  had  rebuked  their  brethren 
in  Bohemia. 

As  an  acknowledgment  of  this  visit  the  Waldenses  sent  a 
letter  to  the  Executive  Council  of  the  Unity  and  also  wrote 
to  King  Uladislaus  and  to  the  Utraquist  Consistory,  defending 
the  Brethren  against  the  accusations  of  their  enemies.  There 
followed  between  the  two  churches  a  further  correspondence 
Avhich  led  to  an  intimate  literary  intercourse.^ 

After  Luke's  return,  the  tirst  measure  which  the  Synod 
adopted  in  the  way  of  a  further  development  of  the  Church, 
related  to  the  episcopate.  For  thirty-two  years  Matthias  had 
been  the  sole  Bishop.  Now  it  was  deemed  important  to  intrust 
this  office  to  more  than  one  man.  Hence  Matthias  was 
directed  to  consecrate  to  the  episcopacy  Thomas  of  Prelouc  and 
Elias  of  Chrenovic.  This  consecration  took  place  in  1499.^ 
The  Council  thus  consisted  of  three  Bishops,  an  Ecclesiastical 
Judge  and  nine  other  members,  thirteen  in  all. 

In  the  very  next  year  (1500),  however,  while  on  his  way  to 
the  Synod  of  Prerau,  Bishop  Matthias  was  taken  fatally  ill  at 
Leipnik.  Several  members  of  the  Council  hastened  to  his 
bedside.     To  one  of  them  he  dictated  his  last  will  and  testa- 

*  Luke  and  Thomas  brought  to  Bohemia  a  fourth  letter  from  the  Walden- 
ses,  but  to  whom  it  was  addressed  is  not  known.  An  instance  of  the  literary 
intercourse  which  took  place  is  the  famous  Waldensian  work  "  Ayczo  es  la 
causa  del  departiment  de  la  gleysa  Romana."  This  is  nothing  else  than  a 
translation  of  the  work  of  the  Brethren  found  in  L.  F.,  III.,  "  Von  den 
Ursachen  der  Trennung."  Schaff's  Cyclopaedia,  I.  p.  308.  Authorities  for 
the  visit  to  the  Waldenses  are  :  Blahoslaw's  Summa,  GoU,  p.  123 ;  Lasitius, 
III.  p.  40,  etc.,  quoted  by  Plitt,  who  following  Camerarius,  pp.  120  and  121, 
incorrectly  puts  this  visit  in  1489;  Comenii  Hist.,  §  68;  Regenvolscius,  I. 
pp.  36  and  37  ;  Zezchwitz  Katechismen,  p.  164,  etc. 

*  Dekrete  d.  Unitiit,  p.  36,  quoted  by  Cerwenka,  II.  p.  75;  Jaffet's  Goliath's 
Schwerdt,  I.  p.  15,  in  Reichel's  Zusatze,  p.  192. 


182  THE    HISTORY    OF 

ment,  in  whicli  document  he  accused  himself  of  many  faults ; 
warned  his  brethren  against  similar  acts  of  weakness;  and 
exhorted  them  to  avoid  schisms  and  to  keep  ^^  '  unity  of  the 
Spirit  in  the  bonds  of  peace.  He  died,  in  the  fifty-eighth 
year  of  his  age,  on  the  Thursday  prior  to  the  day  of  St.  Paul's 
Conversion  (January  twenty-fifth),  and  was  buried  at  Prerau 
in  a  newly  built  chapel.  His  remains  were  the  first  interred 
within  its  consecrated  walls.  Although  uneducated  and  not 
gifted  with  executive  talents,  he  possessed  a  sound  judgment, 
led  a  life  of  exemplary  piety  from  childhood,  and  found  ac- 
ceptance with  God  and  man.^ 

In  consequence  of  his  decease  the  Synod  met  again,  before 
the  close  of  the  year,  at  Reichenau,  and  determined  that,  in 
future,  four  Bishops  should  stand  at  the  head  of  the  Church. 
Accordingly  Luke  of  Prague  and  Ambrose  of  Skuc  were 
chosen,  and  consecrated  by  Bishops  Thomas  and  Elias  (1500).® 
Thomas  ranked  first,  as  the  presiding  Bishop,  next  to  him 
stood  Elias,  then  Luke  and,  last  of  all,  Ambrose. 

But  Luke  was  the  leading  spirit  and  shaped  the  course  of 
the  Church  not  only  in  spiritual  things,  but  also  in  external 
appointments.  He  gave  to  its  worship  more  form  and  dignity. 
He  introduced  silver  and  gilt  communion  vessels  and  beauti- 
fully embroidered  corporals.  He  developed  the  liturgical  part 
of  its  religious  services.  He  maintained  that,  while  it  rejected 
the  evils  of  Romanism  and  Utraquism,  it  need  not,  on  that 
account,  set  aside  usages  which  were  hallowed  by  age  and 
which  were  proper  and  edifying.  Many  priests,  Sautor  and 
Gall  us  in  particular,  and  not  a  few  of  the  laity,  pronounced 
his  course  to  be  dangerous  and  his  measures  contrary  to  the 
spirit  of  the  Unity.  But  he  was  sustained  by  the  Council 
and  the  Synod,  and  his  views  prevailed.  That  they  helped  to 
spread  the  Church  soon  became  evident.  To  Gall  us  he  wrote 
a  friendly  but  firm  letter,  admonishing  him  to  obey  the  regula- 
tions of  the  Synod,  whatever  might  be  his  private  opinions.^ 

^  This  is  the  testimony  given  him  in  the  Todtenbnch,  p.  3. 
«  Dekrete  d.  Unitat,  p.  42,  etc.,  quoted  by  Cerwenka,  II.  p.  86 ;  Gindely, 
I   p.  91. 

'  Leiier  in  L.  F.,  IX.  p.  101,  etc.,  Reichel's  Zusiitze.  p.  196,  etc. 


THE   MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  183 

The  continued  prosperity  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum  was  odious 
to  its  enemies.  Up  to  this  time,  whenever  it  had  been  per- 
secuted, the  Utraquists  alone  had  been  active ;  but  now  the 
Catholics  too  began  to  give  unwelcome  signs  of  animosity. 
Pope  Alexander  himself  took  the  initiative.  In  February, 
of  1 500,  he  commissioned  Doctor  Henry  Institoris,  a  Domini- 
can friar  and  the  Inquisitor  of  Germany,  to  undertake  the 
conversion  of  the  Brethren.  If  necessary,  he  was  to  invoke 
the  aid  of  the  secular  arm ;  in  any  case,  their  publications, 
especially  Peter  Chelcicky's  "  Picture  of  Antichrist,"  were  to 
be  burned.  Doctor  Henry  began  his  mission  by  offering  the 
Church  a  Colloquy.  This  offer  was  accepted,  and  Bishop 
Thomas  and  Lawrence  Krasonicky  appeared  at  Olmiitz  as 
the  representatives  of  the  Unity.  But  the  discussions  led  to 
no  result.  Hence  the  Inquisitor  began  to  travel  through 
Moravia,  preaching  and  writing  against  the  Picards  and  their 
pernicious  ways.     These  labors  too  were  unsuccessful.^ 

On  the  day  after  Easter,  in  1501,  ]\Iichael  Bradacius  finished 
his  earthly  course.  His  name  will  ever  be  illustrious.  He 
was  one  of  the  most  prominent  and  faithful  characters  in 
the  earliest  history  of  the  Brethren,  manifesting  a  rare  single- 
ness of  purpose  and  transparent  sincerity  of  heart.  Had  he, 
in  1467,  declined  to  yield  to  the  wishes  of  his  brethren  and 
taken  sides  with  the  protesting  Bishop,  the  consequences  would 
have  been  disastrous.  Hence  he  well  merits  the  record  which 
we  find  of  him :  "  He  was  a  great  man  and  performed  great 
works.  He  was  faithful  to  God,  denied  himself  and  patiently 
bore  much  enmity."^ 

The  attempt  made  by  the  papal  see  to  destroy  the  Unitas 
Fratrum   was   followed    by  a  far  more    formidable  assault. 

^  A  work  against  the  Brethren  which  he  published  in  1501  is  still  extant, 
"Institoris  Sancte  Romane  ecc.  fidei  defensionis,"  etc.,  1501,  Olomucz,  xx 
die  Aprilis.     Malin  Library,  No,  40. 

"  Todtenbuch,  p.  4.  Gindely,  I,  p.  91,  asserts  that,  at  one  time,  Michael 
was  saspended  from  the  ministry  on  account  of  drunkenness  ;  but  in  citing 
his  authority  for  this  assertion,  namely,  (Note  6,  p.  499,)  "Michael,"  he  is 
so  obscure  as  to  be  unintelligible.  It  is  certain  that  the  Todtenbuch,  which 
spares  no  one  deserving  of  censure,  says  not  a  word  to  corroborate  Gindely. 


184  THE    HISTORY    OF 

Three  distinguished  and  influential  Catholics,  Boluislav 
Hassenstein  von  Lobkowitz,  whose  fame  as  a  scholar  and 
poet  was  widely  spread  through  Europe,  John,  Bishop  of 
Grosswardein,  the  Chancellor  of  Hungary,^"  and  Doctor 
Augustine  Kasebrot,  a  learned  Canon  of  Olraiitz,  began 
conjointly  to  importune  Uladislaus  to  suppress  the  Brethren 
and  thus  purge  away  that  shameful  heresy  by  which  the 
kingdom  had  been  so  long  disgraced  (1502).  They  found  an 
ardent  supporter  in  his  private  secretary,  John  Slechta  von 
Wsehrd,  and  their  plot  was  furthered,  on  the  one  hand,  by  the 
negotiations,  which  began  at  the  time,  to  bring  back  the  Utra- 
quists  to  the  fellowship  of  Rome,  and,  on  the  other,  by  an 
accusation  which  Baron  von  Beckowic,  in  the  name  of  the 
Amosites,  formally  laid  before  the  King  (1503),  that  the 
Brethren  had  resolved  to  take  up  arms  in  defence  of  their 
Church.  This  charge,  although  it  was  basely  false,  excited 
him  to  such  a  degree  that  he  exclaimed:  "Do  they  mean  to 
play  Zizka?  Well,  well,  well,  we  will  know  how  to  stop 
that!  "11 

On  the  fifth  of  July,  1503,  he  accordingly  sent  from  Ofen 
to  the  Administrator  of  the  Utraquist  Consistory,  to  the 
Catholic  Chapter  at  Prague,  to  the  magistrates  of  that  city 
and  to  Albert  von  Leskowec,  who  was  set  over  the  royal 
towns,  an  edict  forbidding  the  religious  services  of  the  Unity, 
ordering  its  priests  to  be  arrested  and  commanding  its  lay 
members,  on  pain  of  severe  punishment,  to  join  either  the 
Catholic  or  the  Utraquist  Church.  This  edict  was  to  be 
enforced  in  the  capital,  on  all  royal  domains  and  in  all  royal 
cities.  It  could  not  be  made  general  without  the  consent  of 
the  Diet.  The  Administrator  of  the  Utraquist  Consistory 
and  his  clergy  were,  furthermore,  directed  to  preach  against 

^°  This  is  the  same  Bishop  whom  the  Todtenbuch  calls  Borek  and  desig- 
nates as  Bishop  of  Olraiitz,  because,  for  about  fifteen  years,  he  administered 
that  diocese  also.  In  the  last  period  of  his  life  he  joined  the  Franciscans, 
without  entering  one  of  their  convents,  and  received  the  name  of  Barfiisser. 
He  and  Lawrence  Krasonicky  were  schoolmates.     See  p.  155  of  this  History. 

'^  Jaffet's  Entstehung  d.  B.  U.,  p.  67,  in  Reichel's  Zusatze,  pp.  195  and 
196. 


THE    MORAVIAX    CHURCH.  185 

the  Picards  who  "were  worse  than  the  Turks,  because, 
entangled  in  the  toils  of  the  devil,  they  believed  neither  in 
God  nor  in  the  Lord's  Supper."  '^ 

There  was  no  hesitation  manifested  bj  those  who  received 
the  Kinar's  commands.  Before  the  Brethren  discerned  its 
gathering  clouds,  the  storm  burst  upon  them.  The  pulpits  of 
Prague  rang  with  denunciations  of  their  Church  ;  in  the 
towns  under  his  jurisdiction  Leskowec  imprisoned  its  mem- 
bers ;  at  Kuttenberg  they  were  barbarously  treated ;  two 
barons,  Nicholas  von  Lichtenberg  and  Henry  von  Neuhaus, 
by  voluntarily  inaugurating  persecutions  on  their  estates,  filled 
the  heart  of  their  monarch  with  such  satisfaction  that  he  sent 
one  of  them  a  letter  of  thanks.  "  Many  Brethren  became 
martyrs  of  the  truth ;  many  perished,  of  hunger  and  cold,  in 
deep  and  unwholesome  dungeons."  ^^ 

Meantime  the  negotiations  with  regard  to  a  union  of  the 
Utraquists  and  Catholics  were  going  on  at  Pilsen.  On  the 
occasion  of  the  Diet  of  St.  Jerome  (September  the  thirtieth, 
1503),  such  negotiations  were  renewed  at  Prague.  They 
failed  in  consequence  of  the  deep-rooted  prejudices  of  the 
Utraquists.  The  two  parties  held  separate  meetings.  At 
both  the  question  was  discussed  whether  the  royal  edict 
should  be  accepted  and  made  general  throughout  the  king- 
dom. Schellenberg  and  Pernstein,  because  they  were  known 
to  favor  the  Brethren  whose  parishes  clustered  thickly  on 
their  domains,  had  not  been  asked  to  attend  the  council  of 
their  Catholic  peers.'^  When  the  Utraquist  States  heard  of 
this  they  invited  these  two  nobles  to  their  conference.  The 
invitation  was  accepted,  and  both  the  barons  spoke  in  defence 
of  the  Unity.  Baron  Kostka,  too,  manfully  advocated  its 
cause.  After  stormy  debates  it  was  agreed  that  the  Brethren 
should  not   be  condemned  unheard,  but  that  a  Colloquy  with 

12  L.  F.,  VI.  p.  1,  etc ,  quoted  by  Gindely,  I.  p.  106. 

1*  L.  F.,  VI.  p.  8,  etc.,  in  Reichel's  Zustitze,  p.  201. 

'*  Schellenberg  had  recently  married  Catharine  von  Krajek,  the  widow 
of  a  zealous  member  of  the  Church  and  herself  probably  a  member.  She 
had  inherited  her  husband's  large  estates  and  held  them  in  her  own  right. 


186  THE    PIISTORY    OF 

some  of  their  principal  men,  at  which  the  errors  of  their 
Church  were  to  be  pointed  out  to  them,  should  take  place  on 
the  first  of  January,  1 504.  A  commission  was  appointed  to 
superintend  this  Colloquy. 

Amidst  the  troubles  which  were  anew  trying  the  I'aith  of 
the  Unity,  its  Executive  Council  did  not  lose  heart.  Special 
prayers  for  God's  aid  were  ordained ;  Wednesdays  and  Fri- 
days were  set  apart  as  fast-days ;  pastoral  letters  frequently 
appeared  exhorting  the  members  to  remain  steadfast ;  and  a 
resolution  was  adopted  requiring  of  every  one,  on  pain  of 
excommunication,  an  open  acknowledgment  of  his  member- 
ship.^^ To  the  King  was  sent  a  new  Confession  of  Faith 
(1503).  But  he  accepted  it  uugraciously,  expressed  his  dis- 
pleasure with  the  lenient  course  which  the  Utraquist  States 
had  pursued,  and  sent,  by  Nicholas  Trcka,  further  instructions 
to  Prague. 

On  the  thirtieth  of  December  eight  representatives  of  the 
Unity,  Bishop  Luke,  Krasonicky,  Jacob  of  Turnau,  John 
Kasala,  Wenzel,  Viktorin,  Philip  and  Kapra,  reached  that 
city.'^  It  was  commonly  supposed  that  the  approaching 
Colloquy  would  decide  the  fate  of  the  Church.  Its  foes 
looked  forward  to  the  occasion  with  triumphant  anticipations; 
its  friends  with  deep  anxiety.  Schellenberg,  Pernstein,  and 
Kostka  each  sent  a  retainer  to  advise  with  and  protect  the 
deputies  ;  Kostka  wrote  to  Krasonicky  and  exhorted  him  to 
stand  fast  even  if  it  should  cost  him  his  life  f  two  members 
of  the  Unity,  who  happened  to  be  at  Prague,  joined  their 
brethren  and  insisted  on  sharing  their  fate.  And  yet  it  was 
not  martyrdom  or  even  imprisonment  that  awaited  them,  but 
a  ridiculous  farce.  Owing  to  the  death  of  the  Eector  of  the 
University,  who  was  to  have  conducted  the  proceedings,  to 
the  threatening  attitude  of  the  populace  which  crowded  the 

>^  Dekrete  d.  U.,  I.  p.  204,  quoted  by  Gindely,  I.  p.  111. 

'^  L.  F.,  VI.  p.  8,  etc.,  contains  a  very  full  account  of  all  that  transpired 
at  Prague  on  this  occasion.     Reichel's  Zusiitze,  pp.  201-206. 

"  Letter  given  in  part  in  Hist.  Persecut.,  Cap.  XXIII,  2.  Comenius  says 
it  was  addressed  to  Philip. 


THE    MORAVIAN   CHURCH.  187 

streets  of  the  city  denouncing  the  heretics,  to  differences  of 
opinion  among  the  members  of  the  commission,  to  the  fear 
which  they  entertained  that  Trcka  was  charged  with  an  order 
for  the  arrest  of  the  deputies,  and  to  other  causes,  the  Colloquy 
did  not  take  place.  Instead  of  having  an  opportunity  to  con- 
fess their  faith  before  the  entire  commission  and  the  assembled 
Masters,  Luke  and  his  companions  were  led,  through  by-ways 
and  alleys,  to  a  private  house,  where  they  found  the  lay  com- 
missioners and  the  city  magistrates,  who  dismissed  them  with 
the  assurance  that  they  had  fulfilled  their  obligations  by 
merely  appearing  at  Prague  and  that  they  were  now  free  to 
return.  When  the  next  morning  dawned  the  delegation  was 
far  on  its  homeward  way.  This  failure  of  the  Colloquy  was 
generally  regarded  as  a  triumph  for  the  Brethren. 

A  correspondence,  partly  bitter  in  its  tone,  followed  between 
Luke  and  the  Utraquist  Consistory.  He  declined  another 
Colloquy ;  the  Consistory  rejected  his  proposal  to  hold  a 
private  conference  with  the  INIasters. 

Meantime  persecutions  continued  to  rage  on  the  domains 
and  in  the  cities  belonging  to  the  King,  as  also,  occasionally, 
on  other  estates.  Baron  Schwamberg's  name,  in  particular,  is 
stained  with  infamy.  In  his  village  of  Aujezd,  near  Taus, 
lived  John  and  Nicholas  Nadrzibka,  two  brothers,  John  Her- 
bek,  Bartholomew  Hranowitz,  John  Simonowitz,  and  Matthias 
Prokop,  all  humble  members  of  the  Unity.  They  were 
arrested  and  brought  to  trial.  The  village  priest  asked  them 
Avhether  they  would  obey  him  as  the  shepherd  of  their  souls. 
"  Christ  is  the  Shepherd  of  our  souls,"  w^as  their  answer. 
They  were  condemned  to  the  stake.  Astonished  at  the  forti- 
tude with  which  they  received  this  sentence,  Schwamberg 
inquired  the  reason.  "It  is  Christ,"  they  said;  "He  is  our 
hope.  Given  of  God  as  a  sacrifice  for  the  world  He  abides 
the  refuge  of  all  those  who  put  their  trust  in  Him."  On  the 
way  to  their  execution,  which  was  to  take  place  at  Bor,  the 
chief  magistrate  of  this  town  told  Nicholas  Nadrzibka,  with 
whom  he  was  well  acquainted,  to  ask  for  time,  and  even  if  it 
should  be  a  whole  year,  to  consider  the  demands  of  the  priest, 


188  THE    HISTORY    OF 

suggesting  that  in  this  way  he  might  save  his  life.  Nicholas 
stood  still  for  a  moment,  as  though  he  were  pondering  the 
suggestion,  then  exclaimed,  "  The  respite  is  too  long ;  while 
considering  I  might  lose  my  brethren,"  and  calmly  followed 
them  to  death.  They  suffered  on  the  Monday  preceding  the 
Day  of  All  Saints  (November  the  first,  1504).^^ 

In  view  of  the  closing  of  many  of  the  chapels,  a  Synod 
ordained  that,  wherever  public  worship  was  impossible, 
religious  services  should  be  held  in  private  houses.  The 
details  of  these  services  were  carefully  regulated.  General 
gatherings,  in  the  depths  of  the  forests,  also  took  place,  on 
which  occasions  the  Lord's  Supper  was  administered.  At  the 
same  time  the  Council  continued  to  exert  itself  on  behalf  of 
the  oppressed  parishes.  Letters  were  sent  both  to  the  Cath- 
olic and  Utraquist  States,  circumstantially  setting  forth  the 
reasons  of  the  secession  of  the  Brethren  from  the  established 
churches,  and  another  Confession  of  Faith,  a  supplement  to 
that  of  1503,  was  presented  to  the  King  (1504). 

Whether  these  documents  effected  their  purpose  is  not 
evident;  but,  in  1505,  the  persecution  gradually  came  to  an 
end  and  peace  again  gladdened  the  hearts  of  the  Brethren. 
In  the  following  year  the  Queen,  their  most  implacable  foe, 
who  had  never  ceased  to  incite  Uladislaus  against  them,  died 
in  giving  birth  to  a  sou.  Her  persistent  animosity  had  not 
availed.  The  Unity,  which  she  meant  to  destroy,  came  forth 
from  the  persecution  purified  and  strengthened. 


'8  Boh.  Hist.  Frat.,  I.  p.  132;  Hist.  Persecut.,  XXIV.  7 ;  Todtenbuch, 
pp.  4  and  5.  Strange  to  say,  Gindely  asserts  (I.  p.  119)  that  "in  the  his- 
tory of  the  Brethren  this  was  the  last  execution  on  account  of  their  faith  !" 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH.  189 


CHAPTEH  XXI. 

The  Edict  of  St.  James  and  the  General  Persecution  which  it 
brought  about.     A.  D.  1507-1516. 


New  Machinations.  —  Kiisebrot's  Letters.  —  Chancellor  Kolowrat  and 
another  Edict  against  the  Brethren. — The  King's  Letter  to  Martha  von 
Bozkowic. — New  Confessions. — Efibrts  to  bring  about  a  general  Perse- 
cution.— The  Edict  of  St.  James  adopted  by  the  Bohemian  Diet. — Posi- 
tion of  the  Moravian  Diet. — Terrible  Death  of  the  Bishop  of  Gross, 
wardein. — Persecution  in  Bohemia. — Lewis  crowned  King. — Diets  at 
Prague  and  Kuttenberg. — Edict  renewed. — The  Martyr  Poliwka. — 
Wolinsky's  Sufferings. — Noted  Persecutors  of  the  Brethren  die  sud- 
denly.— Continued  Persecution  in  Bohemia. — The  Unity  in  Moravia 
enjoys  Peace. — Secret  Visit  of  Bishop  Luke  to  Bohemia. — Seized  and 
imprisoned. — Death  of  Uladislaus. — End  of  the  Persecution. — Death  of 
Bishop  Elias  and  of  Prokop. — Election  of  two  Assistant  Bishops. 

The  machinations  of  the  men  who  had  persuaded  Uladis- 
laus to  begin  a  persecution  of  the  Church  were  not  yet  at  an 
end.  In  1507  they  incited  him  to  new  measures  of  severity. 
Kiisebrot  had  published,  in  the  previous  year,  a  letter  against 
the  Brethren ;  now  he  issued  another  of  the  same  character. 
Both  were  presented  to  the  King  and  both  denounced  them  in 
inhuman  terms.  They  were,  said  the  writer,  not  worthy  even 
of  death  at  the  stake ;  fire  was  too  pure  an  element  for  them 
to  perish  in ;  they  ought  to  be  torn  to  pieces  by  wild  beasts 
and  have  dogs  to  lick  up  their  blood.^ 

Albert  von  Kolowrat,  the  chancellor  of  the  kingdom, 
proved  to  be  a  powerful  confederate  in  this  new  assault  upon 
the  Unity.  His  position  had  become  one  of  great  influence ; 
and  taking  advantage  of  the  King's  residence  at  Ofen,  in 
Hungary,  he  demeaned  himself  as  though  he  were  regent  of 

^  MS.  Letter  of  Kiisebrot,  quoted  by  Gindely,  I.  p.  130. 


190  THE    HISTORY    OF 

Bohemia.  It  was  he  that  published,  with  the  consent  of 
Uladislaus,  another  edict  against  the  Brethren.  It  cited  their 
bishops  to  an  examination  at  Prague,  on  the  Day  of  St.  John 
(December  the  twenty-seventh).  It  proclaimed  that  their 
Church  was  to  be  suppressed  throughout  the  realm.  It  threat- 
ened such  nobles  as  atibrded  them  protection.^ 

This  edict  offended  William  von  Bernstein  and  other  barons. 
The  former  wrote  to  the  King,  reminding  him  of  their  terri- 
torial rights  and  the  serious  consequences  which  would  ensue 
if  these  were  infringed  upon.^  The  Baroness  Martha  von 
Bozkowic,  an  ardent  member  of  the  Church,  also  sent  him  a 
letter  in  its  defence.  She  inclosed  a  communication  from  the 
Council  asking  permission  to  present  a  new  Confession  of 
Faith.  The  answer  of  Uladislaus,  addressed  to  the  Baroness, 
was  as  follows: 

"  My  dear  well-born  one ! 

You  write  to  us  of  the  Picard  rascals,  as  though  our  purpose 
to  destroy  them,  which  we  have  announced  to  all  the  States  of 
our  kingdom,  were  improper  and  unduly  severe. 

Know  that  what  we  do,  we  do  more  out  of  mercy  than  severity. 
For  while  we  intend;  as  is  proper  and  required  both  by  divine 
and  human  law,  to  burn  and  destroy  these  miserable  and  mis- 
taken heretics,  we,  at  the  same  time,  have  compassion  on  them  in 
that  we  show  them  a  way  of  escape  by  permittiug  them  to  join 
either  the  Catholics  or  the  Utraquists. 

It  is  our  wnll  that  what  we  have  published  shall  strictly  be 
carried  out.  If  this  is  not  done,  be  assured  that  we  will  not  any 
longer  suffer  the  presence  of  such  heretical  rascals,  but  will  chase 
them  out  of  our  kingdom  without  mercy. 

Of  this  inform  your  brethren  who  have  written  to  us."* 

In  consequence  of  this  communication,  in  which  were  in- 
closed Kasebrot's  abusive  letters,  Luke  and  his  colleagues  did 
not  present  their  Confession,  but  had  it  printed  at  Nuremberg. 
They  also  published  Kasebrot's  productions,  appending  criti- 
cisms of  their  own  which  were  equivalent  to  a  new  and 
detailed  exposition  of  their  faith  (1507).  A  Latin  version  of 
this  latter  work,  omitting  the  letters,  appeared  in  the  following 

2  Gindely,  I.  p.  126 ;  Palacky,  X.  p.  137,  etc. 

=*  Palacky,  X.  pp.  137  and  138. 

*  L.  F,  VI,  p.  30,  quoted  by  Gindely,  I.  pp.  127  and  128. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH.  191 

year  (1508).  To  tlie  hearing  appointed  at  Prague,  they  sent 
several  common  members  of  the  Church,  who  were  dismissed 
as  unfit  for  a  theological  examination. 

The  Council  did  this  in  self-defence,  convinced  that  any 
representatives  of  its  own  body  Avould  have  been  arrested. 
But  the  step  was  denounced  as  an  insult  to  the  majesty  of  the 
King.  Urgent  protestations  were  made  to  him  not  only  by 
those  confederates  who  had,  for  the  past  five  years,  been  per- 
sistently plotting  against  the  Brethren,  but  also  by  the  Bishop 
of  Olmiitz,  by  the  Masters  of  the  University  and  the  Utraquist 
Consistory.  All  these  authorities  were  unanimous  in  saying 
that  the  time  had  come  for  crushing  the  Picards  in  a  body. 
The  measures  previously  adopted  had  proved  insufficient  be- 
cause they  had  been  local  in  their  character.  A  general 
persecution,  throughout  the  whole  kingdom  and  the  Moravian 
margraviate,  must  be  inaugurated.  Under  such  a  stroke  the 
Unity  would  succumb  at  last. 

There  is  an  extremely  improbable  tradition  recorded  by  the 
later  Brethren.^  They  say,  that  Uladislaus,  ere  consenting  to 
this  merciless  step,  passed  through  so  severe  a  mental  conflict 
that  he  fell  upon  his  knees  and  besought  God  to  hold  him 
innocent  of  the  blood  which  was  to  be  shed. 

On  the  Day  of  St.  James  (July  the  twenty-fifth),  1508,  a 

royal  edict  was  laid  before  the  Diet  at  Prague  and  adopted 

both  by  the  Catholic  and  Utraquist  States.     Its  chief  points 

were  the  following: 

1.  The  religious  services  of  the  Unity,  whether  public  or  pri- 
vate, are  forbidden ;  2.  The  sale  of  its  publications  is  to  cease 
and  they  are  to  be  destroyed  ;  3.  Its  priests  are  no  longer  to 
administer  the  sacraments  and  solemnize  marriages ;  4.  Its  priests 
are,  furthermore,  to  be  cited  for  recantation  before  the  ecclesias- 
tical tribunals ;  if  they  refuse,  they  are  to  be  punished  by  the 
civil  courts ;  5.  All  barons,  knights  and  magistrates  of  Prague 
as  also  of  other  cities  and  towns  are  commanded  to  carry  out 
this  act,  on  pain  of  an  official  warning  from  the  chief  burgrave 
of  the  kingdom,  and  if  this  does  not  avail,  of  trial  by  the  national 
court ;  6.  Any  one  harboring  a  Picard  and  refusing  to  deliver 
him  to  his  manor-lord  is  to  be  fined  ;    7.  The  members  of  the 

*  Hist.  Persecutionum,  Cap.  XXIV.  1  and  2. 


192  THE    HISTORY    OF 

Unity  are  to  be  instructed  in  the  true  faith  by  Catholic  and 
Utraquist  priests,  into  whose  hands  the  Picard'  parishes  and 
their  revenues  are,  without  exception,  to  be  given.® 

This  edict,  known  as  the  Edict  of  St.  James,  was  published 
on  the  tenth  of  August.  Prior  to  its  adoption  Bishop  John 
of  Grosswardein  and  Baron  von  Rosenberg  were  sent  to 
Briinn,  where  the  Moravian  Diet  was  assembled,  in  order  to 
induce  this  body  to  enact  a  statute  against  the  Unity.  But 
their  efforts  failed,  mainly  through  the  influence  of  Baron  von 
Zerotin,  one  of  the  most  powerful  nobles  of  the  margraviate 
and  a  warm  friend  of  the  Brethren.^  No  sooner,  however, 
had  tlie  Bohemian  Diet  accepted  the  Edict  of  St.  James,  than 
Bishop  John  hastened  to  Olmiitz,  where  another  meeting  of 
the  Moravian  States  was  to  take  place.  He  came  flushed  with 
triumph,  commissioned  and  determined  to  persuade  them  to 
follow  the  example  of  their  Bohemian  peers.  But  w^hen  only 
a  quarter  of  an  hour's  drive  from  the  city,  while  in  the  act 
of  alighting  at  the  monastery  of  Hradish,  he  fell  on  a  sharp 
nail  which  projected  from  his  carriage  and  which  pierced  the 
lower  part  of  his  abdomen,  so  that  his  bowels  were  torn  out 
and  he  miserably  perished:^  No  further  attempt  was  made  to 
influence  the  Moravian  Diet. 

In  Bohemia  the  Edict  of  St.  James  was  rigidly  enforced. 
Persecution  no  longer  remained  optional  wath  the  nobles ;  it 
was  a  registered  law  of  the  kingdom.  The  chapels  of  the 
Brethren  were  closed ;  religious  services  ceased  altogether  or 
were  held,  at  night,  in  forests  and  among  mountains;  the 
priests  were  forced  to  conceal  themselves.  It  is  true  that  the 
domains  of  members  of  the  Church  afforded  retreats  which 
proved  comparatively  secure.  But  even  there  painful  caution 
became  necessary,  and  the  joyous  liberty  of  other  days  was  at 


6  Gindely,  I.  pp.  132-135. 

'  Whether  he  was,  at  this  time,  a  member  of  the  Church  is  not  quite  cer- 
tain ;  his  descendants,  however,  belonged  to  it  and  were  among  its  warmest 
upholders  and  most  generous  benefactors. 

8  Boh.  Hist.  Fr.  I.  264,  quoted  by  Gindely,  I.  p.  137;  Hist.  Persecu- 
tionum,  Cap.  XXV.  3. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  193 

an  end.  Several  Moravian  nobles,  too,  were  induced  to 
oppress  the  Brethren,  although  not  with  the  same  severity  as 
in  Bohemia. 

In  early  Spring  of  1509  Uladislaus  came  to  Prague,  where 
he  caused  his  son  Lewis,  who  was  not  yet  three  years  old,  to 
be  crowned  King  of  Bohemia  (March  the  eleventh).  The 
royal  family  spent  an  entire  year  in  the  capital,  so  that 
Uladislaus  had  an  opportunity  of  attending  the  Diet  which 
met  in  November.  From  reports  laid  before  this  -body  it 
appeared  that  the  Edict  of  St.  James  had  not  been  universally 
observed.  A  resolution  to  enforce  it  Avith  the  utmost  strict- 
ness did  not  prevail ;  on  the  contrary  the  Diet  determined  to 
repeal  it  temporarily,  until  another  Colloquy  had  been  held. 
With  this  end  in  view  the  Bishops  of  the  Church  were 
summoned  to  appear  at  Prague,  on  the  twenty-seventh  of 
December.  But  they  declined  to  obey  the  summons,  and 
Luke  wrote  a  sharp  letter  to  the  Administrator  of  the  Con- 
sistory, pointing  out  the  gross  injustice  of  expecting  the 
Brethren  to  submit  to  doctrinal  instructions  on  the  part  of  the 
Utraquists.  Would  the  Utraquists,  he  asked,  be  willing  to 
submit  to  such  instructions  on  the  part  of  the  Catholics  ?  On 
the  appointed  day  appeared  instead  of  the  Bishops,  eleven  com- 
mon members  of  the  Church,  peasants  and  mechanics.  Luke 
wrote,  that  they  had  been  sent  by  their  manor-lords,  not  by  the 
Executive  Council.     They  were  dismissed  without  a  hearing. 

In  February  of  the  following  year  (1510),  the  Diet,  which 
met  at  Kuttenberg,  renewed  the  Edict  of  St.  James.  The 
persecution  broke  out  afresh.  Luke's  retreat,  hitherto  safe,, 
at  Jungbunzlau,  became  insecure ;  but  he  ceased  not  to  labor 
for  his  afflicted  people.  Fleeing  from  place  to  place,  he  held 
religious  services  in  secret  and  sent  consolatory  letters  to 
parishes  which  he  could  not  visit  in  person.  The  other 
members  of  the  Council  displayed  the  same  activity. 

The  sufferings  which  this  persecution  brought  about  are 
illustrated  by  tAvo  cases  in  particular. 

Soon  after  it  had  begun  Andrew  Poliwka,  a  citizen  of 
Kuttenberg,  which  town,  true  to  its  antecedents,  raged  Avith 
13 


194  THE    HISTORY    OF 

great  fury  against  the  Brethren,  sought  safety  at  Leitomischl. 
His  wife,  who  was  a  Utraquist,  refused  to  accompany  him, 
and  subsequently,  on  the  occasion  of  a  visit  which  he  paid  her, 
betrayed  him  to  the  priests.  He  was  arrested  and  worried 
until  he  consented  to  acknowledge  their  authority  and  remain 
at  Kuttenberg.  But  his  conscience  was  ill  at  ease.  One  day, 
while  attending  his  wife's  church,  where  a  new  priest  was  to 
be  installed,  the  sight  of  the  congregation  adoring  the  host 
roused  him  to  such  a  pitch  that  he  could  no  longer  restrain 
his  indignation.  In  a  loud  voice  he  exclaimed,  addressing 
the  officiating  priest :  "  Silence,  blasphemer,  I  will  speak !" 
Then  turning  to  the  people  he  said :  "  Dear  friends,  what 
are  you  doing  ?  What  are  you  adoring  ?  An  idol  made  of 
bread  !  O  adore  the  living  God  in  heaven  !  He  is  blessed 
forevermore !"  The  priest  ordered  Poliwka  to  be  seized. 
But  a  strange  awe  had  fallen  upon  the  congregation,  and  for 
a  time  no  one  stirred.  At  last  several  of  the  rudest  laid  their 
hands  upon  him,  dashed  his  head  against  a  pillar  and  dragged 
him  bleeding  to  prison.  The  next  day  his  trial  took  place. 
He  persistently  reiterated  what  he  had  said  in  the  church. 
Upon  being  asked  by  whom  he  had  been  instigated  to  act  in 
so  scandalous  a  manner,  he  replied  :  "  Who  instigated  Abrara 
to  forsake  his  idolatry  and  adore  the  living  God  ?"  The 
question  being  repeated  more  urgently,  he  said:  "Who 
induced  Daniel  to  flee  from  idols?"  These  answers  were 
deemed  insufficient,  and  he  was  stretched  on  the  rack.  But 
the  rack  did  not  shake  his  fortitude,  and  the  stake,  to  which 
he  was  condemned,  had  no  terrors.  He  approached  it  praying 
silently ;  the  magistrates,  at  the  instigation  of  the  priests, 
having  forbidden  him  to  address  the  people.  In  the  midst 
of  the  flames,  as  they  began  to  lick  his  face  and  encircle  his 
head,  he  uttered  aloud  one  fervent  petition  :  "  Jesus,  Thou 
Son  of  the  living  God,  have  mercy  upon  me,  miserable 
sinner !"  "  Behold,"  cried  the  priests  exultingly,  "  now  that 
he  is  dying  he  invokes  Jesus,  in  whom  he  would  not  believe, 
and  whose  sacraments  he  refused  to  reverence  !"^ 

^  Boh.  Hist.  Fratrum,  I.  p.  300,  quoted  by  Gindely  ;  Hist.  Persecution um, 
Cap.  XXVI. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  195 

Two  years  later  an  act  of  frightful  cruelty  was  perpetrated 
at  Strakonic,  the  seat  of  Baron  John  von  Rosenberg,  Grand- 
prior  of  the  knights  of  Malta.  This  nobleman  had  a 
dependent,  George  Wolinsky  by  name.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  Unity  and  a  man  of  unusual  intelligence,  whom  the 
Baron  determined  to  convert  and  therefore  ordered  to  join 
eitlier  the  Catholics  or  the  Utraquists.  Wolinsky  manifesting 
no  inclination  to  obey,  the  prior  of  Strakonic  was  summoned. 
This  prior  was  a  just  man,  and  said  to  Rosenberg :  "  No  one 
must  be  tortured  to  accept  the  true  faith ;  reasonable  argu- 
ments alone  are  allowable.  Innocent  blood  cries  to  heaven, 
'Lord,  Lord,  when  wilt  thou  avenge  me?'"  But  several 
noblemen,  who  happened  to  be  present,  advised  the  Baron 
not  to  give  heed  to  such  sentiments.  All  that  the  prior  could 
gain  was  a  week's  time  granted  Wolinsky  for  consideration. 
By  the  advice  of  friends  he  Avent  to  Krumau,  and  appealed 
to  Peter  von  Rosenberg,  one  of  the  most  powerful  barons  of 
the  realm.  On  the  sixth  of  July,  he  returned  to  Strakonic. 
The  respite  was  at  an  end ;  but  he  remained  unmolested  until 
the  seventeenth.  On  that  day  Rosenberg's  cruel  purpose  was 
unfolded.  Wolinsky,  having  declared  that  he  would  not 
deny  his  faith,  was  thrust  into  the  deepest  dungeon  of  the 
castle  and  left  to  perish  of  hunger.  A  piece  of  bread  and  a 
slice  of  meat,  which  he  had  secreted,  were  taken  from  him ; 
across  the  two  doors  of  his  prison  were  fastened  heavy  bars  of 
iron  ;  nothing  was  left  within  except  a  heap  of  straw  on  which 
to  die.  The  next  day  the  prior  came  to  one  of  the  doors, 
called  to  Wolinsky  and  said :  "  Dear  brother,  what  are  you 
doing  to  yourself?  You  will  perish  of  cold  and  hunger. 
Think  of  your  children.;  think  of  your  wife  who  has  so 
recently  been  confined.  The  Baron  means  to  put  her  into 
the  cell  above  yours,  that  she  may  bewail  your  fate.  There- 
fore have  mercy  on  her,  or  she  will  die  !  Yea,  have  mercy  on 
yourself!"  But  Wolinsky  remained  firm.  On  the  following 
morning  (July  the  nineteenth),  Rosenberg  drove  to  Horazdowic, 
where  he  had  an  appointment  with  certain  nobles.  Among 
them  was   Peter  von  Rosenberg  who  pleaded   with   him  in 


196  THE    HISTORY    OF 

Wolinsky's  behalf.  On  a  sudden  the  Baron's  conscience 
awoke.  Ordering  his  carriage  he  hastened  back  to  Strakonic, 
where  he  arrived  on  the  twenty-first,  and  immediately  caused 
the  dungeon  to  be  opened.  Within  its  gloomy  walls  his 
prisoner  had  been  famishing  for  five  days.  He  was  carried 
out  in  the  last  extremity  of  weakness,  bereft  of  speech,  gasp- 
ing for  breath.  At  this  sight  the  Baron  burst  into  tears, 
exclaiming :  "  That  he  is  still  living  rejoices  me  more  than 
if  I  had  received  twenty  Schock  .'^*'  I  will  be  kind  to  him !" 
Restoratives  were  administered  and  he  was  conveyed  to 
Rosenberg's  own  apartments  in  the  castle,  where  he  gradu- 
ally regained  his  strength.  "  Now  that  you  are  well  again," 
said  the  Baron,  "  I  command  you  to  abjure  the  Picards  and 
join  the  Church."  Wolinsky's  answer  was  as  firm  as  ever. 
He  solemnly  asseverated  that  nothing  could  induce  him  to 
deny  his  faith.  Rosenberg  said  no  more,  but  set  him  at 
liberty." 

In  contrast  with  such  afflictions  endured  by  members  of  the 
Unity,  there  occurred  a  series  of  casualties  among  its  enemies 
which  were  so  remarkable  that  they  excited  general  attention, 
and  were  looked  upon,  within  its  communion,  as  judgments 
of  God.  The  death  of  the  Queen  and  the  miserable  end  of 
the  Bishop  of  Grosswardein,  which  have  been  mentioned  in 
another  connection,  stand  first  on  the  list.  Next  is  recorded 
the  fate  of  Chancellor  von  Kolowrat.  On  his  return  from 
the  Diet  of  Kuttenberg  he  stopped  at  the  house  of  Baron 
Colditz,  and  informed  him,  with  malignant  joy,  of  the  renewal 
of  the  Edict  of  St.  James.  Colditz  turned  to  his  servant, 
Simon,  a  member  of  the  Unity  who  was  standing  by,  and 
asked  him  what  he  thought  of  such  intelligence.  "  Not  every 
one  concerned  has  consented  to  the  edict,"  was  his  answer. 
Kolowrat  inquired  of  him  what  he  meant.  Pointing  upward 
Simon  said  :  "  There  is  one  in  heaven  who  will  bring  your 

'°A  Schock  Groslien  contained  sixty  Groschen,  or  about  nine  dollars  and 
twenty  cents;  hence  twenty  Schock  were  equivalent  to  about  one  hundred 
and  eighty-four  dollars. 

»  Gindely,  I.  pp.  146-148. 


THE   MORAVIAN   CHURCH.  197 

enactments  to  nought,  if  they  are  not  in  accordance  with  His 
holy  purpose."  "  You  miserable  knave,"  exclaimed  the 
Chancellor,  "  your  turn  will  come  in  good  time  !"  Leaving 
the  castle  in  great  anger  he  hastened  to  Graupen,  one  of  his 
towns.  But  scarcely  had  he  reached  it  when  there  apj)eared 
on  his  foot  a  malignant  carbuncle  of  which  he  died,  in  spite 
of  the  eiforts  of  the  most  skilful  physicians.  A  still  more 
sudden  stop  was  put  to  Doctor  Kasebrot's  persecutions. 
While  at  dinner  he  fell  dead  from  his  chair,  Henry  von 
Neuhaus  who,  as  we  have  shown,  was  one  of  the  first  to 
oppress  the  Brethren,  drove,  one  morning,  in  a  sleigh  to  the 
chase. .  The  sleigh  upset,  he  fell  on  his  hunting  knife  and 
was  killed.  Puta  von  Swihow,  another  bitter  enemy  of  the 
Church,  frightened  by  a  storm  which  swept  over  his  castle, 
retreated  to  its  cellar  for  safety.     He  was  found  dead. 

In  view  of  such  occurrences  it  is  not  surprising  that  the 
saying  went  abroad,  "  Is  any  one  weary  of  life,  let  him  lay 
his  hand  upon  the  Picards."  '^ 

But  the  persecution  did  not,  on  that  account,  cease.  It 
continued,  with  more  or  less  severity,  throughout  Bohemia. 
In  Moravia,  on  the  contrary,  the  churches  had  peace,  and  the 
Executive  Council,  which  had  transferred  its  seat  to  that 
country,  carried  on  its  work  unhindered.  This  diiference  in 
the  experiences  of  the  two  sections  of  the  Unity  was  unfor- 
tunate. For  nearly  four  years  most  of  the  Bohemian  parishes 
had  been  without  pastors.  Not  a  few  of  the  members  began 
to  despond.  They  compared  the  sufferings  which  they  were 
bearing  with  the  prosperity  of  their  Moravian  brethren.  A 
spirit  manifested  itself  not  in  accord  with  that  steadfastness, 
patience  and  endurance  which  had  rendered  the  Unitas 
Fratrum  illustrious  in  the  midst  of  its  former  trials. 

This  state  of  affairs  induced  Bishop  Luke  to  undertake  a 
secret  visit  to  Bohemia.  At  Janowic,  however,  he  fell  into 
the  hands  of  Peter  Suda,  a  notorious  robber-knight,  "the 
prince  and  master  of  all  thieves"  (1515).     The  unfortunate 

'^  The  above  casualties  are  all  narrated  in  the  Hist.  Persecutionum, 
Cap.  XXV. 


198  THE    HISTORY   OF 

Bishop  was  loaded  with  chains,  cast  into  a  dungeon  and 
repeatedly  threatened  with  torture  and  the  stake.  To  add  to 
his  sufferings  came  a  severe  attack  of  illness.  Through 
the  intervention  of  Baron  Krajek,  who  applied  to  the 
National  Court  for  his  release  on  the  plea  that  Luke  was  one 
of  his  dependents,  he  was  at  last  set  free,  after  giving  bail 
for  his  appearance,  within  six  months,  at  Prague,  where  his 
trial  was  to  take  place. 

In  the  following  year  (1516),  on  the  thirteenth  of  March, 
Uladislaus  died.  The  legacy  which  he  left  the  Unitas 
Fratrum  was  a  solemn  charge  to  its  enemies  to  destroy  it 
utterly.  This  charge  was  set  forth  in  his  last  testamerit  and 
given  "  for  the  sake  of  his  soul's  salvation  and  of  the  true 
faith."  But  it  was  not  carried  out.  His  son  and  successor 
being  only  ten  years  old  the  government  fell  into  the  hands 
of  prominent  nobles.  Disturbances  broke  out ;  bloody  feuds 
were  frequent  between  robber-knights  and  powerful  cities; 
the  disputes  of  the  Utraquists  with  the  Catholics  grew  un- 
ceasino;  and  bitter.  Under  such  circumstances  the  Edict  of 
St.  James  became  a  dead  letter.  The  Unity  revived.  Its 
fugitive  priests  returned  to  their  parishes ;  the  chapels  were 
opened  and  public  services  held  as  of  old. 

Two  prominent  members  of  the  Executive  Council,  Bishop 
Elias,  and  Prokop,  the  Ecclesiastical  Judge,  had  finished 
their  course  prior  to  the  breaking  out  of  the  persecution. 
The  former  died  on  the  twenty-third  of  March,  1503,  at 
Prossnitz;  the  latter,  on  the  thirteenth  of  September,  1507, 
at  Brandeis  on  the  Adler.^^  In  consequence,  no  doubt,  of 
the  tribulations  which  came  upon  the  Church  soon  after  the 
decease  of  Elias,  the  election  of  his  successor  was  postponed ; 
and  now  that  peace  was  restored  the  Synod  determined, 
instead  of  choosing  a  new  bishop,  to  appoint  two  assistant 
bishops.  They  were  to  have  power,  when  commissioned  by 
a  bishop,  to  ordain  ministers  and  to  assist  at  consecrations  to 

1^  Todtenbuch,  pp.  4  and  6.  This  necrology  says  that  Elias  was  faithful 
in  his  work,  very  friendly  in  his  ways  and  found  favor  with  God  and  man. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH.  199 

the  episcopacy ;  in  the  Council  they  were  to  rank  next  after 
the  bishops.  To  this  new  office  Wenzel  Wroutecky  and 
Daniel  Hranicky  were  elected  (1516).^^  They  received  con- 
secration at  the  hands  of  Bishops  Thomas,  Luke  and 
Ambrose. 


"  JafFet's  Goliath's  Schwerdt,  p.  15 ;   Beichel's  Zusatze,  pp.  230,  etc.; 
Gindely,  I.  p.  186. 


200  THE    HISTORY    OF 


CHAPTER  XXII 

Doctrine  and  Life  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum  at  the  Beginning  of 
Luther's  Reformation.     A.  D.  1517. 


General  Principles.— Three  Categories  of  Faith.— The  Trinity.— The 
Church.— Seven  Sacraments. — The  Communion  of  Saints. — The  Re- 
mission of  Sin.— The  Virgin  Mary  and  the  Saints, — Purgatory. — 
Remarks  on  the  Doctrinal  System  of  the  Brethren. — Their  Religious 
Life. 

We  have  reached  the  year  which  saw  the  beginning  of 
Luther's  Reformation  and  which  constitutes  the  boundary 
line  between  the  Middle  Ages  and  modern  history.  A  brief 
survey  of  the  doctrine  and  life,  of  the  ministry,  of  the  consti- 
tution and  ritual  and  discipline,  of  the  growth  and  enterprises 
of  the  Unitas  Fratrum  will  therefore  be  in  place.  Such  a 
survey  will  show  how  bright  was  its  light  shining  amidst  the 
darkness  of  Romanism,  and  establish  its  position  as  a  church 
of  Reformers  before  the  Reformation. 

The  Confessions  presented  to  Uladislaus,  the  Apology  of 
1503  found  in  a  Lissa  Folio,  the  answer  to  Kasebrot's 
attacks  and  the  Statutes  of  the  Unity,  give  a  full  account 
both  of  its  doctrine  and  life  in  this  period.^ 

From  these  sources  we  derive,  in  the  first  place,  some 
general  principles. 

1  The  Confessions  are  :  1.  Oratio  excusatoria  atque  satisfactiva  Fratrum 
Waldensium  Regi  Wladislao  ad  Ungariam  missa,  1503 ;  Lydius,  Part  II. 
pp.  1-21;  Freheri  Rerum  Boh.,  p.  238,  etc.;  Brown's  Fasciculus,  II.  pp. 
162-169.  Lydius  has  confounded  the  titles  of  the  Confessions  of  1503  and 
1504;  and  Freherus  and  Brown  have  followed  him.  Dr.  H.  Plitt,  in  his 
"  Lehrwise,"  doubts  this ;  but  the  evidence  in  favor  of  the  interchange  is 
clear  and  strong :  comp.  Czerwenka,  II.  93,  Note.     In  this  and  the  other 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  201 

The  Brethren  have  seceded  from  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  because  of  its  doctrinal  errors  and  idolatrous  worship, 
and  have  founded  the  Unity.  This  Unity  is  of  God,  for  it 
stands  on  faith  in  the  Trinity  and  is  built  upon  the  foundation 
of  the  prophets,  of  Jesus  Christ  and  of  His  apostles,  Christ 
being  its  only  Redeemer.  In  it  have  been  instituted,  according 
to  the  teachings  of  the  New  Testament  and  the  example  of  the 
primitive  church,  an  independent  ministry,  an  order  of  public 
worship  and  a  system  of  discipline.  Its  members  strive  to  lay 
aside  sin,  to  lead  pure  and  holy  lives,  to  exhort  one  another 
daily.  And  in  as  much  as  they  see  the  confusion  prevailing 
throughout  the  church  generally  and  perceive  that  no  dis- 
tinction is  made  between  what  is  necessary  and  what  is  less 
so,  they  maintain  that  in  Christianity  some  things  are  "  essen- 
tial "  (essentialia),  some  things  "  auxiliary "  {mmisterialia), 
and  somethings  "accidental"  {accidentilia).  Essential  things 
relate  to  the  Father  and  the  Son  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  com- 
prising, on  God's  part,  the  grace  of  God  the  Father,  the 
merit  of  Christ  and  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost;  and  on 
man's  part,  faith,  love  and  hope.  Auxiliary  things  are  those 
by  which  the  essential  are  made  known,  conferred  and  appro- 
priated ;  hence  the  word  of  God,  the  power  of  the  keys  and 
the  sacraments.  Accidental  things  refer  to  the  time,  place 
and  mode  of  exercising  the  auxiliary,  and  therefore  constitute 
the  ceremonies  and  external  rites  of  religion. 

Turning  from  such  general  principles  to  the  individual 
doctrines  of  the    Brethren,    we    find    that   they   accept   the 

Confession  the  Brethren  adopt  the  name  of  Waldenses  simply  for  con- 
venience' sake,  in  order  that  the  King  may  at  once  know  what  body  of 
Christians  is  addressing  him,  Waldenses  being  the  name  which  the 
Brethren  generally  bore.  2.  Confessio  Fidei  Fratrum  Waldensium  regi 
Wladislao  at  Hungariam  missa,  1504,  Lydius,  II.  pp.  21-34;  Freherus, 
p.  245,  etc.;  Brown,  II.  pp.  162-189.  3.  Confession  of  1507,  in  Bohemian, 
Metropolitan  Lib.  at  Prague.  4.  Excusatio  Fratrum  Waldensium  contra 
binas  litteras  Doctoris  Augustini  datas  ad  Regem.  Lydius,  II.  pp.  34-91 ; 
Freherus,  p.  249,  etc.;  Brown.  II.  pp.  162-189.  5.  Apology  of  1503,  MS., 
L.  F.,  III.  The  Statutes  of  the  Unity  are  found  in  the  "  Dekreten  "  and  have 
been  used  by  us  in  so  far  as  they  are  reproduced  in  German  by  Czerwenka. 


202  THE    HISTORY    OF 

Apostles',  the  Nicean  and  the  Athanasian  Creeds,  and  in  the 
Confession  of  1503,  introduce  their  own  articles  with  the 
following  words :  "  Living  faith  is  the  viniversal  foundation 
of  human  salvation ;  it  is  imparted  by  the  gift  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  and  through  the  merit  of  Christ's  grace."^  But  such 
faith,  they  further  say,  is  to  be  understood  and  defined  in  a 
threefold  manner.  In  so  far  as  it  relates  to  the  truth  of 
God's  being,  it  is  to  "believe  concerning  God"  {credere  de 
Deo);  in  so  far  as  it  involves  the  truth  of  His  revelation 
through  His  word,  it  is  to  "  Ijelieve  God  "  (credere  Deo);  and 
in  so  far  as  it  implies  the  intent  of  this  revelation — man's 
appropriating  to  himself  that  which  God  bestows  and  conse- 
crating his  heart  and  life  to  Him  and  His  service — it  is  to 
"  believe  in  God "  (credere  in  Deum)?  In  this  three-fold 
sense  the  Brethren  confess  their  faith  in  the  Trinity. 

I.  The  Trinity. — The  dispenser  of  salvation  is  the  Almighty 
God,  one  in  His  being  but  triune  in  His  person,  the  Father,  the 
Son  and  the  Holy  Ghost. 

The  Father. — The  Brethren  believe  concerning  God  the  Father 
{de  Deo  Patre):  that  He  begot  His  only  Son  from  all  eternity, 
gave  Him  for  the  redemption  of  the  world,  and  works  salvation 
through  His  merits,  according  to  the  purpose  of  His  own 
election  ;  they  believe  God  the  Father  (Deo  Patri),  in  that  they 
accept  His  testimony  of  Christ  delivered  from  heaven,  "  This  is 
my  beloved  Son,  hear  ye  Him  ;"  and  they  believe  in  God  the 
Father  {in  Deum  Patrem),  in  that  they  love  and  obey  Him  with 
all  their  heart. 

The  Son. — Concerning  Christ  (de  Christo)  they  believe :  that 
He  is  the  true  God,  in  being,  power  and  wisdom  equal  with  the 
Father  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  proceeding  by  an  eternal  generation 
from  the  Father  ;  that  by  Him  the  worlds  were  made ;  that  in 
Him  is  eternal  life ;  that  in  order  to  bring  salvation  to  the 
human  race  He  became  man  ;  that  He  ascended  to  heaven  and 
sits  at  the  right  hand  of  the  Father,  interceding  for  those  who 
are  hereafter  to  share  His  glory  ;  that  He  will  return  and  put 
all  things  under  His  feet.     They  believe  Christ  (Christo)  in  as 


2  Lydius,  II.  p.  3. 

*  Such  a  distinction  of  the  categories  of  faith  was  made  by  Augustine, 
Beda  and  Peter  Lombard,  adopted  by  Hus,  and  derived  from  him  by  the 
Brethren.  Luther  approved  of  this  distinction.  See  "  Vom  anbeten  des 
Sacraments,"  1522,  fol.  15. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  203 

much  as  they  acknowledge  all  His  commandments  to  be  true. 
They  believe  in  Christ  (In  Christum)  when  they  recognize  in 
Him  their  God  and  Saviour,  accept  His  woi'ds  with  full  con- 
fidence, love  Him  with  a  perfect  love  and  are  united  with  His 
faithful  members  in  faith  and  love. 

The  Holy  Ghost. — They  believe  concerning  the  Holy  Ghost 
(de  Spiritu  Sancto):  that  He  is  the  true  God  with  the  Father 
and  the  Only  Begotten  Word  and  proceeds  from  both  ;  that  in 
as  much  as  He  vivifies,  renews  and  changes  men  through  faith, 
they  attain  to  a  share  in  Christ's  meritorious  grace — in  other 
words,  they  attain  to  justification,  truth,  strength  and  salvation 
to  the  uttermost  ;*  that  the  Holy  Ghost  keeps  the  Church  upon 
the  foundation  of  faith  in  Christ;  that  through  the  Holy  Ghost 
the  Scriptures  are  inspired,  the  members  of  the  Church  united, 
the  gifts  necessary  for  its  government  and  for  obtaining  eternal 
life  in  glory  dispensed.  They  believe  the  Holy  Ghost  (Spiritui 
Sancto)  when  fully  assenting  to  the  divine  Scriptures;  and  they 
believe  in  Him  (hi  iSpiritum  Sanctum),  in  as  far  as  with  full 
knowledge  and  faith  unfeigned  they  love  Him,  and  together 
with  the  members  upon  whom  He  has  breathed,  keep  all  His 
revelations  unto  eternal  glory. 

With  regard  to  other  cardinal  points  of  doctrine  the 
Brethren  teach  as  follows  : 

n.  The  Holy  Catholic  Church. — The  Holy  Catholic 
Church  is  the  entire  body  of  the  elect  (iiumerus  omnium 
e/ectorum),  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the  world,  whom 
God  in  Christ,  through  the  Holy  Spirit,  elects,  justifies,  and  calls 
to  the  glory  of  salvation,  out  of  which  body  there  is  no  salvation. 
In  its  visible  form,  however,  the  Church  is  a  mixed  body  and 
comprises  wicked  men  also.  The  Brethren  do  not  claim  to  be 
the  only  true  Church,  but  strive  to  be  members  of  the  only  true 
Church.  They  have  chosen  the  narrow,  sad  and  despised  way 
which  Christ  the  Redeemer  took,  and  on  which  the  Church,  His 
Bride,  condemned  and  rejected  by  the  world,  follows  in  His 
footsteps. 

III.  The  Sacraments. — The  seven  sacraments,  together  with 
the  preaching  of  the  Gospel,  are  means  of  grace. 

1.  Baptism. — Those  who  have  attained,  in  mature  years,  to 
faith  and  been  renewed  in  heart,  are  to  be  baptized  in  the  name 
of  the  Triune  God,  the  external  "washing  of  water"  being  a  sign 
of  the  internal  cleansing  through  faith  and  of  a  union  with  the 

*  "  Cujus  munere  fidei  vivificantis,  renovantis  et  reforraantis  ad  Christi 
participationem  meritoriae  gratiae,  justificationis,  veritatis,  fortudinis, 
perfectaeque  salutis,  unusqiaisque  pervenit."     Lydius,  II.  p.  6. 


204  THE    HISTORY    OF 

Church.^  Baptism  is  to  be  administered  to  children  also,  in 
order  that,  guided  by  their  sponsors,  they  may  be  incited  and 
accustomed  to  a  life  of  faith  {ad  vitam  fidei  invitandos  esse, 
assuescendosque) . 

2.  Confirmation. — Children  are  to  be  brought  to  the  bishop  or 
to  a  jiriest,  who  catechizes  them  with  regard  to  the  truths  of 
religion  and,  when  they  have  promised  to  lead  righteous  lives, 
confirms  them  with  prayer  and  the  laying  on  of  hands. 

3.  The  Lord's  Supper. — In  the  Lord's  Supper  the  body  of 
Christ  is  present  in  the  bread,  and  the  blood  of  Christ  in  the 
wine.  Such  presence  is  sacramental  or  mysterious.  The  words 
with  which  Christ  instituted  this  sacrament  must  be  accepted  in 
simplicity  and  faith,  and  all  explanations  of  them  avoided,  except 
with  regard  to  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation  and  the  belief 
that  bread  and  wine  constitute  mere  symbols.  The  Scriptures 
teach  neither  the  one  nor  the  other  view ;  and,  furthermore, 
give  no  authority  whatever  for  the  adoration  of  the  host.  The 
sacrament  is  to  be  enjoyed,  not  adored. 

4.  Ordination  to  the  Priesthood. — The  priesthood  was  instituted 
by  Christ  himself,  the  chief  Bishop  and  High  Priest  of  the 
Church.  He  is  its  Head,  not  the  Pope  ;  therefore  the  priesthood 
does  not  proceed  from  the  Pope,  and  his  authority  must  not  be 
acknowledged.  Three  things  are  necessary  in  order  to  render 
ordination  a  sacrament :  a  holy  life,  fasting  and  prayer,  and  the 
laying  on  of  hands. 

5.  Marriage. — Marriage  is  a  union,  formed  in  Christ,  between 
a  man  and  a  woman,  and  at  the  same  time  a  type  of  Christ's 
union  with  a  believing  soul  and  with  the  whole  Church, 

6.  Penance. — When  confession  is  made  with  a  humble  and 
contrite  heart,  in  true  faith  and  sincerity  of  mind,  and  when  the 
priest,  in  Christ's  stead  and  by  authority  of  the  Chui'ch,  repre- 
sents to  the  penitent  the  magnitude  of  his  guilt,  and  the  penitent 
humbly  subjects  himself  to  the  power  of  the  keys,  —then  penance 
is  a  sacrament.  But  if  these  conditions  are  not  fulfilled,  penance 
is  an  empty  work  devoid  of  Christ's  grace. 

7.  Extreme  Unction. — In  this  sacrament,  which  is  based  upon 
the  teaching  of  St.  James  (V:  14  and  15),  the  unction  is  a  sign 
of  the  forgiveness  of  sins ;  yet  the  assurance  that  they  are 
forgiven  does  not  depend  upon  the  pouring  of  the  oil  but  wholly 
upon  the  faith  of  the  sick. 


*  The  rebaptism  of  such  as  joined  the  Brethren's  Church  was  still  prac- 
ticed, although  voices,  within  its  communion,  were  raised  against  this 
usage. 


THE    MORAVIAN    rHl'lHH.  205 

IV.  The  Communion  of  Saints. — All  those  members  of  the 
Church  who,  in  living  faith,  make  use  of  God's  gifts  of  grace  and 
of  the  means  of  grace  which  He  has  instituted,  laboring  together 
for  the  general  good — constitute  the  communion  of  saints.  Only 
the  elect  can  have  part  in  true  faith,  in  divine  grace  and  in 
Christ's  righteousness;  the  impenitent  and  wicked,  even  though 
they  receive  the  word  and  the  sacraments,  do  not  belong  to  the 
communion  of  the  saints.  Such  as  do  belong  to  it,  however  far 
they  may  be  led  astray,  are  not  lost  but  eventually  reclaimed. 

V.  The  Remission  of  Sin. — Whoever  truly  repents  and  be- 
lieves, receives  the  remission  of  sin  ;  and  by  partaking,  in  living 
faith,  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  is  assured  of  such  forgiveness. 

VI. — The  Virgin  Mary. — To  praise  God  that  the  Incarnate 
Son  was  born  of  the  Virgin  Mary  ;  to  call  her  blessed  and  to 
celebrate  the  days  sacred  to  her — is  right.  But  to  worship  her, 
or  to  pray  to  her,  or  to  bend  the  knee  before  her,  or  to  expect 
help  from  her — is  not  right.  Christians  must  follow  her  example, 
in  so  far  particularly  as,  at  Cana,  she  said  of  her  Son  :  "  What- 
soever He  saith  unto  you,  do  it." 

VII.  The  Saints. — The  saints  are  those  who,  in  life,  received 
the  grace  of  God  through  the  merits  of  Christ,  and  the  gift  of 
the  Holy  Ghost.  In  their  footsteps  men  must  walk ;  but  they 
must  not  pray  to  them  or  adore  them. 

VIII.  Purgatory. — The  Bible  knows  nothing  of  a  place 
where,  after  death,  men  are  purged  from  sin  and  prepared  for 
heaven.  After  death  comes  the  judgment.  When  treating  of 
the  other  world  the  Scriptures  speak  only  of  hell  and  of 
Abraham's  bosom. 

From  this  survey  of  the  doctrinal  system  of  the  Brethren 
it  appears,  that  they  occupied  a  biblical  standpoint  and  upheld 
an  evangelical  faith.  The  only  remnant  of  Romanism  was 
their  teaching  seven  sacraments ;  but  instead  of  explaining 
these  in  a  Romish  way — that  a  mere  outward  participation  in 
them  is  of  avail — they  made  their  efficacy  to  depend  wholly 
upon  the  faith  of  the  recipient. 

Gindely  maintains  that  their  view  with  regard  to  justifi- 
cation was  in  full  accord  with  that  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church.^  This  is  a  grave  error.  The  faith  by  which  a  man 
is  justified  they  'did  not  understand  in  a  Romish  sense, 
although  they  taught  that  it  must  work  by  love ;  and  what  is 


Gindely,  I.  p.  122,  and  Dogm.  Ansichten,  pp.  361-370. 


206  THE    HISTORY   OF 

more,  the  doctrinal  reasons  which  they  assigned  for  separating 
from  the  Catholics  cannot  be  reconciled  with  Gindely's 
assertion/ 

It  may  rather  be  said  that  the  essential  features  of  the 
system  of  the  Reformers  were  practically  contained  in  that  of 
the  Brethren  before  the  Reformation.  The  difference  between 
the  two  was  this:  the  Reformers  gained,  from  a  scientific 
point  of  view,  a  deeper  insight  into  theology  than  the 
Brethren,  and  hence  defined  dogmatical  tenets  more  clearly 
and  systematically.  But  from  the  standpoint  of  practical 
religion,  the  question  "  What  must  I  do  to  be  saved  ?" — 
would  have  received  the  same  answer  from  a  minister  of  the 
Brethren's  Church  as  from  a  minister  in  the  time  of  the 
Reformation.  Yet  the  former  would  have  set  forth,  more  earn- 
estly than  the  latter,  holy  living  as  a  result  and  sign  of  saving 
faith,  and  in  doing  this,  would  have  had  the  Bible  on  his  side.^ 

In  the  period  of  which  we  are  treating  the  Brethren  were 
distinguished  by  their  high  standard  of  spirituality.  The 
walk  and  conversation  of  all  classes  were  made  to  conform,  as 
far  as  possible,  to  rules  laid  down  by  the  Synod  and  the 
Executive  Council.^ 

The  ministers  set  the  example.  Their  labors  were  earnest, 
their  prayers  unceasing,  their  lives  holy.  Such  sins  as  dis- 
graced the  Catholic  and  Utraquist  priesthood,  rarely  occurred. 
The  nobility,  whatever  their  prerogatives  in  the  eye  of  the 

'  The  Brethren  say,  as  recorded  in  the  "  Dekreten,"  that  the  R.  C. 
Church  reverses  the  plan  of  salvation;  sets  aside  the  merits  of  Christ; 
changes  the  work  of  the  Holy  Ghost  into  a  work  of  man;  and  teaches 
sinners  to  earn  forgiveness  through  meritorious  acts. 

^  The  tendency  of  German  Moravian  writers,  such  as  John  Plitt,  Bishop 
Croeger,  and  especially  Dr.  Herman  Plitt,  is  to  make  prominent  the  weak 
points  of  the  theology  ot  the  U.  F.  prior  to  the  Eeformation,  and  to  ascribe 
undue  weight  to  its  influence  in  subsequently  shaping  that  theology.  While 
no  one  can  deny  that  the  Reformation  did  exercise  an  influence,  to  a  certain 
extent,  upon  the  doctrinal  system  of  the  Brethren,  its  original  biblical 
character  and  evangelical  features  ought  rather  to  be  urged,  both  of  which 
are  astonishing  when  we  consider  the  age  to  which  they  belonged.  John 
Plitt  accuses  the  Brethren  of  a  tendency  to  worship  the  Virgin  Mary  ! 

^  Czerwenka,  II.  pp.  115-122,  according  to  the  "  Dekreten." 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  207 

civil  law,  were  not  recognized  as  a  privileged  order  by  the 
statutes  of  the  Unity.  Not  only  were  these  alike  binding 
upon  them  and  upon  the  humblest  member,  but  there  existed 
also  special  rules  for  their  conduct  as  manor-lords  and  office- 
bearers under  the  government.  In  the  same  way  were  pre- 
scribed, according  to  the  Scriptures,  the  duties  of  dependents 
and  serfs  and  servants.  The  laborer  in  the  field,  the  artisan 
in  his  shop,  and  the  tradesman  with  his  wares,  were  not 
forgotten.  Their  concerns  were  carefully  regulated  with  a 
view  to  industry,  to  honesty  and  to  the  glory  of  God. 
Certain  occupations  were  deemed  dishonorable  and  hence 
were  forbidden.  To  this  class  belonged  the  manufacture  of 
dice,  the  theatrical  profession,  painting,  music,  astrology, 
witchcraft,  usury,  alchemy,  pandering  and  prostitution. 

Piety  adorned  especially  the  homes  of  the  Brethren. 
Parental  discipline  was  strict;  the  children  were  instructed 
in  religion ;  the  spiritual  welfare  of  the  servants  was  pro- 
moted ;  around  the  family  altar  gathered,  every  morning  and 
evening,  the  entire  household.  Extravagance  and  immodesty 
in  dress,  immoderate  feasting  and  unbecoming  pastimes  were 
forbidden.  From  public  amusements,  especially  the  annual 
village-fairs,  the  Brethren  stood  aloof.  They  were  noted,  too, 
for  their  temperance  in  the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks,  the 
retailing  of  which  was  discouraged  in  every  possible  way. 
Not  less  remarkable  was  the  manner  in  which  they  hallowed 
the  Lord's  day,  desecrated  as  it  was  by  the  people  in  general. 
The  poor  and  sick  were  cared  for  with  all  tenderness  and  love. 
Whenever  a  member  of  the  Church  undertook  a  journey,  he 
notified  his  priest,  or  one  of  the  elders,  in  order  that  he  might 
be  included  in  the  prayers  of  the  congregation  and  publicly 
committed  into  the  keeping  of  God. 

Such  was  the  religious  life  of  the  Unity.  While,  to  a 
certain  extent,  that  puritanical  element  still  appears  which 
was  originated  by  Peter  Chelcicky — the  picture  is  attractive. 
The  Brethren  were  true  to  their  profession,  reached  a  type  of 
Christianity  unprecedented  in  their  age,  and  showed  them- 
selves to  be  a  royal  priesthood  and  a  peculiar  people. 


208  THE   HISTORY   OF 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

The  Ministry,  Constitution,  Ritual  and  Discipline  of  the  Unitas 

Fratrum  at  the  Beginning  of  Luther's  Reformation. 

A.  D.     1517. 


Bishops. —  Priests.  —  Deacons. — Their  Ordination. — Acolytes.  —  Synods. — 
The  Executive  Council. — Its  President. — The  Judge. — Parishes,  and 
their  Lay  Officers. —Official  Visits. — Installations. — Public  Worship 
and  the  Administration  of  the  Sacraments. — Marriages  and  Funerals. 
— Festival  Days. — Fast  and  Prayer  Days. — The  Discipline, 

The  ministry  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum  embraced  the  three 
orders  of  bishops,  priests  or  presbyters,  and  deacons.^  Candi- 
dates for  the  ministry  were  called  acolytes  and  filled  a  distinct 
office  in  the  Church. 

Bishops  were  elected  by  the  priests,  who  held  a  secret 
meeting  for  this  purpose,  after  having  spent  a  day  in  fasting 
and  prayer.  In  case  they  could  not  all  assemble,  such  only 
were  convened  as  resided. in  the  district  where  the  Executive 


^Sources  for  this  chapter  are:  Dekrete  d.  B.  U.,  as  reproduced  in 
German  by  Czerwenka,  II.  pp.  76-84  ;  Gindely,  I.  pp.  79-88  ;  Apologia 
verae  doctrinse,  etc.,  1532-1538  ;  Quinta  Pars,  Lydius,  I.  Second  Part,  p. 
332,  etc.;  Ratio  Disciplinse  Ordinisque  Ecclesiastici  in  Unitate  Frat.  Boh., 
drawn  up  in  1616,  together  with  the  notes  of  Comenius  (Halle  ed.  of  1702); 
and  Seifferth's  Ch.  Constitution  of  the  Boh.  Brethren.  London,  1866. 
The  ministry  and  discipline  were  the  same  in  1517  as  in  1616,  and  in  the 
century  that  intervened  but  few  changes  were  made  in  the  constitution  and 
ritual ;  hence  the  Ratio  Discipline  constitutes  an  important  authority  for 
our  review.  The  changes  were  mostly  unessential  and  are  noted  in  the 
text. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  209 

Couucil  had  its  seat.  The  election  was  by  ballot  and  each 
ticket  contained  three  names.  The  tickets  were  given  to  the 
presiding  Bishop,  who  was  not  permitted  to  examine  them 
until  the  third  day,  when  they  were  opened  and  counted  in 
the  presence  of  the  Executive  Council.  In  order  to  a  choice 
a  unanimous  vote  was  necessary.  If  the  result  was  not 
unanimous,  a  second  ballot,  restricted  to  those  who  had 
received  the  highest  number  of  votes,  was  ordered;  in  case 
they  scattered  even  now,  the  presiding  Bishop,  after  con- 
sulting with  the  Council,  decided  which  of  the  candidates 
should  receive  the  appointment.  This  mode  of  election  was 
gradually  changed  in  so  far,  that  bishops  were  publicly 
chosen  at  a  General  Synod  and  by  a  majority  of  votes ;  but 
the  tickets  were  still  opened  and  counted  in  private  by  the 
Council.     Priests  only  could  be  elevated  to  the  episcopacy. 

The  consecration  of  bishops  was  conducted  with  the  utmost 
solemnity — in  early  times,  in  secret,  at  a  later  period,  in 
public — and  generally  the  day  after  the  result  of  the  election 
had  been  determined.  The  priests,  or  in  subsequent  times 
the  entire  Synod,  having  assembled  and  engaged  in  religious 
exercises,  the  presiding  Bishop  announced  that  God  had  heard 
the  prayers  of  His  servants ;  that  a  new  bishop  had  been 
chosen  ;  and  that  it  was  the  duty  of  the  brother  thus  elected, 
when  his  name  would  be  made  known,  to  obey  the  divine 
call  without  hesitation  and  present  himself  before  God  and 
the  Church.  Thereupon  another  bishop  published  the  name. 
This  was  the  first  intimation  which  the  priest,  who  had  been 
chosen,  received  of  his  election.  His  feelings  may  be  imagined 
when  he  came  forward  and  was  asked  by  the  presiding  Bishop, 
in  presence  of  the  entire  assembly,  whether  he  believed  that  he 
had  been  called  of  God  and  whether  he  was  willing  to  offer 
the  service  of  his  life  to  God  and  the  Church  ?  If  he 
answered  in  the  affirmative,  the  duties  of  the  episcopal  office 
were  read  to  him  from  the  apostolic  canon ;  after  which  he 
took  the  solemn  oath  prescribed  for  bishops,  promising  to 
discharge  his  episcopal  obligations  and  functions  faithfully, 
sincerely  and  constantly.  Thereu]3on  the  whole  assembly  fell 
14 


210  THE    HISTORY    OF 

on  their  knees  and  the  presiding  Bishop  prayed  that  God 
would  ratify  in  heaven  what  had  been  done  on  earth,  that  He 
would  endow  His  servant  with  the  gifts  necessary  for  the 
office  he  was  to  fill,  and  grant  to  him  the  spirit  of  wisdom 
and  power.  The  act  of  consecration  immediately  followed, 
the  presiding  Bishop  invoking  the  name  of  God  and  repeating 
the  prescribed  formula,  while  all  the  bishops  present  took 
part  in  the  imposition  of  hands.  Meanwhile  the  congregation, 
still  kneeling,  engaged  in  silent  intercessions  and,  when  the 
consecration  had  taken  place,  united  in  the  Veni  Creator 
Spiritus.  At  the  conclusion  of  this  hymn  the  bishops 
embraced  their  new  colleague  and  welcomed  him  to  their 
ranks  as  a  brother,  while  the  other  ministers  pledged  to  him 
their  right  hands  in  token  of  obedience.  The  service  was 
closed  with  the  celebration  of  the  Holy  Communion. 

The  official  title  commonly  given  to  a  bishop  was  "  Senior." 
This,  says  the  Ratio  DiscipUnce,  was  owing  to  the  fact  that 
the  former  name  "  had  become  odious  through  the  anti- 
Christian  abuse  of  it ;"  nevertheless  it  very  frequently  occurs 
in  the  writings  of  the  Brethren. 

The  special  duties  of  the  bishops  were :  the  ordination  and 
the  superintendence  of  the  ministers;  official  visits  to  the 
churches;  watching  over  the  doctrine  and  discipline;  over- 
seeing the  publication  offices  of  the  Unity ;  and  providing  for 
the  training  of  youths  of  good  parts  for  the  service  of  the 
Church.  Districts,  or  dioceses,  were  assigned  to  the  bishops 
at  an  early  time,  and  when  the  Unitas  Fratrum  had  increased 
to  three  Provinces,  the  episcopacy  was  represented  in  each 
Province. 

When  deacons  were  to  be  advanced  to  the  priesthood,  they 
were  subjected  to  a  very  careful  examination,  first  by  members 
of  the  Council  and  then  by  a  bishop.  The  latter  examination 
was  particularly  strict.  It  was  "  a  trial  of  the  conscience"  of 
the  deacon :  whether  he  proposed  to  follow  Christ  from  pure 
love  or  for  a  livelihood  ?  whether  he  sought  the  flock  or  the 
fleece?  whether  he  was  ready  to  impart  to  his  hearers  not 
the  Gospel  of  God  only,  but  his  own  soul  also?     (1  Thess. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  211 

2  :  8.)-  The  testimonials  furnished  by  the  elders  of  the 
parishes  in  which  the  candidates  had  served  as  deacons,  were 
scrutinized  by  the  priests  assembled  at  a  Synod,  on  which 
occasion  the  ordination  took  place.  Their  assent  to  these 
testimonials,  or  their  dissent  from  them,  was  sent  to  the 
bishops  in  writing. 

Priests  were  usually  ordained  in  the  ember  weeks,  on  a 
Sunday ;  in  the  early  period  of  the  Church,  with  closed  doors, 
but  in  a  later  period  publicly.  The  candidates  were  pre- 
sented to  the  Bishop  by  two  members  of  the  Council,  with 
these  words : 

"Venerable  brother  in  Christ,  the  Bishop,  we  bear  witness 
before  God  and  this  Church,  that  these  men  are  of  worthy 
parentage  and  education,  and  that  their  lives  have  hitherto  been 
honest  and  unblamable ;  also,  that  having  been  examined  by  us, 
they  have  been  found  to  be  sound  in  doctrine  and  faith,  and  of 
a  sincere  intention  to  serve  Christ  and  the  Church.  We  therefore 
request,  in  the  name  of  the  congregations  they  are  to  serve,  that 
you  would  confer  on  them  the  pastoral  office,  by  the  power  com- 
mitted to  you  by  Christ  and  the  Church,  and  that  you  would 
confirm  them  in  the  same." 

The  Bishop  replied : 

"This  testimony  of  yours,  given  in  the  presence  of  the  Church 
of  Christ,  is  admitted  ;  and  your  petition  shall  be  granted  in  the 
name  of  God."  ^ 

Thereupon  a  series  of  questions  was  put  to  the  candidates ; 

having  answered  these  they  took  the  prescribed  oath  of  fidelity 

to  God  and  the  Church.     Then  the  Bishop  addressed  them 

and  said : 

"Beloved  brethren,  that  you  may  entertain  a  firm  hope  of 
divine  assistance,  listen  to  Christ,  the  eternal  High  Priest  inter- 
ceding for  you;  who,  when  about  to  sanctify  himself  as  a  victim 
for  the  sins  of  the  world,  most  fervently  commended  to  His 
Father  all  His  followers  who  should  proclaim  redemption." 

^  "  This  last  trial  of  the  conscience,"  says  Comenius,  "  was  sometimes 
so  affectingly  conducted,  that  instances  are  not  wanting  of  persons  having 
shrunk  from  the  office  through  alarm  of  conscience,  or  their  age,  or  inex- 
perience ;  feeling  more  disposed  to  work  out  their  own  salvation  than  to 
be  engaged  in  caring  for  that  of  others."     Seifferth's  Ch.  Con.,  p.  188. 

^  Comenius,  in  Seiiferth's  Ch.  Con.  pp.  188  and  189. 


212  THE    HISTORY    OF 

Another  bishop  now  read,  from  the  seventeenth  chapter  of 
St.  John,  the  high  priestly  prayer  of  Christ.  "  It  was  seldom 
heard  without  tears,"  says  Comenius.  The  act  of  ordination 
followed,  with  prayer  and  the  imposition  of  hands,  the  Bishop 
repeating  the  prescribed  formula  and  the  congregation  kneeling 
and,  as  at  episcopal  consecrations,  singing  the  Veni  Creator 
Spiritus.  Finally  the  Bishop  delivered  a  charge  to  the  newly 
ordained  priests,  at  the  close  of  which,  during  the  singing  of 
the  one  hundred  and  thirty-third  psalm,  they  pledged  to  him 
and  his  colleagues  their  right  hands  in  token  of  obedience, 
and  to  the  other  ministers  in  token  of  fellowship.  The 
service  was  generally  concluded  with  the  celebration  of  the 
Holy  Communion. 

At  the  head  of  each  parish  stood  a  priest.  It  was  his  duty 
to  preach  and  administer  the  sacraments,  to  solemnize  mar- 
riages, to  instruct  the  old  and  young  in  the  truths  of  religion 
according  to  the  catechism  and  the  Confessions  of  the 
Brethren,  and  to  devote  himself  to  pastoral  work.  Theo- 
retically he  was  permitted  to  marry,  but  practically  obstacles 
were  thrown  in  his  way.  Permission  must,  in  each  case,  be 
given  by  the  Executive  Council,  and  a  married  priest  was 
debarred  from  the  discharge  of  certain  ministerial  functions. 
In  later  times,  however,  such  restrictions  were  removed.  A 
priest  was  supported,  in  part,  by  the  voluntary  gifts  of  his 
parish,  and,  in  part,  by  the  work  of  his  own  hands.* 

The  priests  were  assisted  by  deacons.  These  instructed 
the  young  in  the  truths  of  religion,  preached,  baptized,  and 
distributed  the  elements  at  the  Lord's  Supper.  They  were 
not  allowed  to  administer  this  latter  sacrament,  and  could 
baptize  only  by  direction  of  a  priest.     Deacons  were  advanced 

*  Dr.  Kiisebrot,  in  his  attack  upon  the  Unity,  ridiculed  this  custom.  In 
their  reply  the  Brethren  said:  "Let  him  consider  the  beginning  of  the 
primitive  Church,  whether  there  were  many  of  the  noble,  powerful,  wise  or 
rich,  in  these  offices.  We  are  not  ashamed  of  our  priests  because  they 
labor  with  their  own  hands;  for  both  apostolic  teaching  and  example  so 
lead  us,  and  indeed  we  would  rather  see  this,  than  that,  giving  way  to 
indolence,  they  should  frequent  taverns,  and  follow  vanity  and  vice." 
Seifferth's  Ch.  Con.  p.  188. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  213 

to  their  office  from  the  ranks  of  the  acolytes,  and  their  ordina- 
tion was  conducted  in  a  way  similar  to  that  of  the  priests. 

Acolytes  were  youths  living  .with  the  priests  and  preparing 
for  service  in  the  Church.  They  engaged  in  the  prescribed 
studies ;  read  the  Scriptures  at  private  worship  and  sometimes 
delivered  a  brief  exhortation;  taught  the  catechism  to  the 
children  in  the  schools;  attended  the  priests  on  their 
journeys ;  opened,  closed  and  lighted  the  chapels,  and  rang 
the  bell  for  public  service.  Acolytes  were  formally  inducted 
into  their  office  at  Synods.  Their  duties  were  read  to  them  ; 
they  promised  faithfulness  and  obedience ;  and  pledged  their 
right  hands  to  a  bishop  in  token  of  both. 

We  turn  to  the  constitution  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum. 

Its  highest  authority  was  the  General  Synod  which,  in  the 
period  under  review,  met  once  a  year ;  in  later  times,  every 
three  or  four  years.  To  it  came  the  bishops,  the  members  of 
the  Executive  Council,  the  priests,  the  deacons,  the  acolytes 
and  the  patrons  of  the  churches,  so  that  there  were  often 
several  hundred  persons  gathered.  But  only  the  bishops,  the 
members  of  the  Council  and  those  priests  who  had  charge  of 
parishes,  took  part  in  the  deliberations  and  were  entitled  to  a 
vote. 

On  the  day  before  the  opening  of  the  Synod  a  preliminary 
meeting  of  the  Executive  Council  was  held.  At  this  meeting 
an  opportunity  was  given  for  a  fraternal  interchange  of  views 
with  regard  to  the  personal  relations  of  the  members.  After 
a  searching  charge  by  the  presiding  Bishop  to  the  whole 
Council,  he  and  his  episcopal  colleagues  conferred  together  in 
one  apartment  and  the  remaining  members  in  another. 
Faults  were  freely  confessed  and  forgiven,  differences  ad- 
justed and  offences  removed.  Then  the  entire  body  again 
assembled,  their  mutual  trust  and  love  renewed,  and  agreed 
on  an  order  of  business. 

In  the  evening  of  the  following  day  the  Synod  was  opened, 
in  the  chapel,  by  the  presiding  Bishop,  who  gave  thanks  unto 
God  and  welcomed  the  brethren.  The  next  morning  a 
synodical  sermon  was  preached,  and  then  legislation  began. 


214  THE    HISTORY    OF 

But  it  was  not  carried  on  by  the  Synod  in  one  body.  There 
were,  what  might  be  called,  two  Houses  ;  the  upper  consisting 
of  the  bishops  and  Council,  the  lower  of  the  priests.  In  the 
former  the  presiding  Bishop  occupied  the  chair;  the  latter 
chose  its  president.  The  two  Houses  interchanged  their 
propositions  and  nothing  of  moment  was  transacted  without 
the  consent  of  both.  Meanwhile,  under  the  supervision  of 
the  bishops,  the  deacons  and  acolytes  held  meetings  of  their 
own  at  which  theological  studies  were  carried  on  and  exami- 
nations instituted.  The  bishops  also  consulted  with  the 
patrons  in  relation  to  the  business  which  these  might  wish 
to  bring  forward.  Religious  services  took  place  every 
morning,  afternoon  and  evening;  and  daily  sermons  were 
preached.  On  such  occasions  the  entire  Synod  assembled. 
It  was  closed  with  a  charge  to  the  ministers  by  one  of  the 
bishops,  to  which  a  priest  replied  in  the  name  of  the  former^ 
thanking  the  bishops  for  their  paternal  care.  Then  followed 
the  celebration  of  the  Holy  Communion.  The  Acts  of  the 
Synod  were  registered  and  each  bishop  received  a  copy. 

Particular  Synods — Particulares  Synodi — as  they  were 
called,  met  frequently.  These  consisted  of  a  smaller  number 
of  bishops  and  priests,  and  transacted  business  that  was  local 
in  its  character.  The  Acts  of  such  Synods  were  communi- 
cated to  all  the  bishops. 

The  executive  authority  was  vested  in  the  Council.  This 
consisted  of  the  bishops  and  generally  of  ten  other  members, 
among  whom,  in  the  earliest  period  of  the  Unity,  were  lay- 
men.^ At  a  later  time  priests  only  were  chosen ;  and 
eventually  an  election  to  the  Council  involved  a  consecration 
as  assistant  bishop.  Thus  the  body  became  exclusively 
episcopal.  The  tenure  of  office  was  for  life  and  new  mem- 
bers, after  taking  an  oath  of  fidelity,  were  inducted  by  the 
presiding  Bishop.  Vacancies  were  filled  by  the  Council 
itself,  but  its   choice  was   restricted   to  such   priests  as  the 


^  In  the  long  period  in  which  Matthias  was  the  only  bishop,  the  Council 
embraced  thirteen  members. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  215 

churches  nominated.  In  course  of  time  this  rule  was 
abrogated  and  the  General  Synod  filled  vacancies.  The 
members  of  the  Council  resided  in  different  parishes  and  its 
chief  seat  was  occasionally  changed.  It  was  the  province  of 
this  body  to  appoint  priests  to  the  various  churches ;  to  pro- 
vide for  official  visits ;  to  elect  the  Ecclesiastical  Judge ;  and 
in  every  particular  to  care  for  the  welfare  of  the  Unity.  In 
this  way  an  associate  form  of  government  was  produced.  No 
bishop  could  act  independently.  In  all  matters  of  moment 
he  was  bound  to  consult  not  only  his  episcopal  colleagues  but 
also  the  other  members  of  the  Council.  At  the  same  time, 
however,  the  bishops  ranked  according  to  the  priority  of  their 
consecration,  and  the  President  of  the  Council  exercised  great 
influence.  He  was  the  presiding  Bishop  of  the  whole  Unity, 
convened  the  Executive  Council  and  the  General  Synod,  and 
took  the  lead  at  both. 

At  the  meetings  of  these  bodies  he  afforded  every  member 
an  opportunity  to  speak  on  every  question,  beginning  with 
the  youngest  and  ending  with  the  oldest.  When  all  present 
had  expressed  their  opinions,  he  rehearsed  and  weighed  them, 
showed  whether  they  could  be  reconciled,  and  in  what  manner 
a  common  conclusion  could  be  reached.  If  this  was  impos- 
sible, he  pointed  out  the  different  results  to  which  the  views 
of  the  members  had  led  and  the  reasons  for  each  result,  and 
then  presented  the  question  for  renewed  discussion,  always 
striving  to  bring  about  unanimity  if  possible. 

An  office  of  great  authority  was  that  of  the  Ecclesiastical 
Judge.  Although  not  inhering  in  the  episcopacy,  it  seems 
to  have  been  filled  by  the  presiding  Bishop,  except  toward 
the  end  of  the  episcopate  of  Matthias,  in  1495,  when  it  was 
given  to  Prokop,  in  whose  hands  it  remained  for  twelve 
years.  This  was  owing,  however,  as  we  have  shown  in 
another  connection,  to  the  arbitrary  course  which  Matthias 
pursued.  The  Judge  settled  all  disputes  in  the  Church,  that 
were  referred  to  him,  making  known  his  decision  publicly ; 
in  the  event  of  his  finding  it  impossible  to  adjust  a  case,  he 
laid  it  before  the  Council.     From  this  body  an  appeal  could 


216  THE    HISTORY    OF 

be  taken  to  the  General  Synod ;  but  such  an  appeal  was 
final.  In  course  of  time  the  office  of  Ecclesiastical  Judge 
disappeared. 

The  various  churches  of  the  Unity  were  all  governed  by 
the  same  rules  and  developed  according  to  one  system. 
Inquiring  more  closely  into  the  character  of  both,  we  find 
many  points  of  interest,  which  become  attractive  and  memor- 
able when  we  call  to  mind  the  age  to  which  they  belonged. 

The  membership  of  a  Brethren's  church  was  classified ; 
embracing  Beginners  {Incipientes),  Proficients  (Proficientes), 
and  the  Perfect  {Perfecti),  or  those  "going  on  unto  per- 
fection."^ Beginners  were  such  as  were  "learning  the  first 
elements  of  religion" — children  and  converts  from  "the 
idolaters;"  Proficients,  such  as  "having  become  well  ac- 
quainted with  those  elements,  exercised  themselves,  more  and 
more,  in  the  knowledge  of  the  will  of  God  and  in  its  practical 
observance ; "  and  the  Perfect,  "  such  as  had  made  eminent 
attainments  in  the  knowledge  of  divine  things  and  had 
become  so  established  in  faith,  love  and  hope,  as  to  be  able  to 
enlighten  others."^  Hence  this  last  class  generally  furnished 
a  church  with  its  lay-officers. 

Of  these  there  were  three  boards :  the  elders,  the  almoners, 
and  the  sediles.  They  were  elected  by  the  people.  The  elders, 
or  overseers,  watched  over  the  membership  with  pious  care 
and,  in  every  other  way,  assisted  the  priest  in  his  pastoral 
work.  Associated  with  them  was  a  body  of  female  elders — 
widows  and  single  women — whose  duty  it  was  to  oversee  and 
labor  among  their  own  sex.  Their  ministrations  to  the  sick 
and  their  other  works  of  charity  were  distinguished.  The 
almoners  provided  for  the  poor  of  the  parish  and  had  charge 
of  the  money  contributed  toward  their  support.  Individual 
gifts  were  frequently  received ;  at  Christmas  and  on  the  Day 
of  John    the    Baptist  (June    the    twenty-fourth),  collections 

^  "Sive  ad  perfectionem  tendentes."     1  Cor.  2:6;  Heb.  5  :  13  and  14. 

'  Seifferth's  Ch.  Con.  pp.  104  and  105.  This  classification  is  set  forth  in 
full  in  the  third  part  of  the  Conf.  of  1532-1538  (Lydius,  Part  II,  p.  177, 
etc) ;  it  undoubtedly  existed  in  1517. 


THE    MORAVIAX    CHURCH.  217 

were,  every  year,  instituted.  The  rediles  formed  the  trustees 
of  a  church.  They  managed  its  financial  affairs;  looked 
after  the  parsonage  and  chapel  and  school-house;  and 
rendered  an  annual  account  to  the  parish,  whose  contribu- 
tions were  paid  quarterly. 

The  centre  of  every  parish  was  the  Zbor,  or  the  parsonage.^ 
It  was  a  large  edifice  in  which  lived  not  only  the  priest,  but 
also  the  deacons  who  assisted  him,  the  acolytes  under  his 
charge,  and  usually  the  female  elders  of  his  church.  Not 
unfrequently,  too,  superannuated  ministers  found  a  home 
there  and  traveling  brethren  a  lodging-place.  The  entire 
household  was  governed  by  strict  rules.  There  were  fixed 
hours  for  rising,  for  private  devotions,  for  family- worship, 
for  study  and  manual  labor  and  for  retiring  to  rest.  Idleness 
was  unknown  ;  from  morning  to  night  the  parsonage  teemed 
with  activity  and  life.  Nor  did  the  parishioners  fail  to 
frequent  its  apartments.  They  came  to  engage  servants,  to 
seek  counsel,  to  lodge  complaints  and  to  settle  disputes.  So 
constant  were  these  visits  that  the  enemies  of  the  Brethren 
reviled  them  for  "running  into  the  House"  about  every 
trifle.  The  chapel,  for  public  worship,  was  either  under  the 
same  roof  with  the  parson  age,  or  constituted  a  separate  edifice. 
In  early  times  the  parsonage  included  the  parochial  school 
likewise;  at  a  later  period  school-houses  were  constructed. 
Noblemen  belonging  to  the  Unity,  or  the  parishes  themselves, 
erected  all  these  buildings ;  the  town  and  village  churches 
remained  in  the  hands  of  the  Utraquists  and  Catholics. 

Every  parish  was  visited,  once  a  year,  by  the  bishop  set 
over  the  diocese  to  which  it  belonged.  He  was  generally 
accompanied  by  several  members  of  the  Council  and  by  some 
of  the  neighboring  priests.  In  case  he  was  prevented  from 
appearing  in  person,  a  member  of  the  Council  took  his  place. 
Such  visits  were  very  thorough,  involving  a  close  inspection 

*  The  Zbo7-  or  sbor  (a  church)  was  also  called  Dum  (the  house);  hence 
the  phrase  do  sboru  jeti,  that  is,  "  to  go  into  the  house,"  gradually  came  to 
mean  "to  attend  divine  service."  Herrnhut,  1875,  No.  6,  Feb.  6,  upon 
which  authority  is  based  the  description  which  follows. 


218  THE    HISTORY    OF 

of  the  parish  in  every  particular.  The  pastor  was  examined 
in  relation  to  its  state  and  his  own  work  and  life ;  the  deacons 
and  acolytes  were  questioned  with  regard  to  the  manner  in 
which  they  discharged  their  duties;  the  elders  were  inter- 
rogated both  as  to  the  obligations  which  they  had  assumed 
and  as  to  the  degree  of  faithfulness  manifested  by  the  pastor ; 
the  female  elders  were  asked  to  give  a  report  of  what  they  had 
accomplished ;  and  finally,  in  conjunction  with  the  elders  and 
sediles,  the  buildings  and  other  property  belonging  to  the 
parish  were  inspected.  The  bishop,  moreover,  preached, 
took  occasion  to  instruct  and  admonish  the  different  classes  of 
the  membership,  and  always  administered  the  Holy  Com- 
munion. If  a  new  pastor  had  been  appointed,  he  installed 
him  with  great  solemnity ;  if  new  elders  had  been  elected, 
he  formally  inducted  them  into  their  office;  and  if  a  new 
chapel  had  been  built,  he  dedicated  it  to  the  worship  of  God. 
The  Day  of  the  Lord  was  kept  holy  throughout  the  parish. 
In  summer  five  public  services  were  held;  in  winter  four. 
The  first  and  'second  took  place  in  the  forenoon.  At  both, 
after  singing  and  prayer,  sermons  were  preached.  Prior  to 
the  sixteenth  century  the  text  was  restricted  to  the  Gospel  or 
Epistle  appointed  for  the  day,  and  the  most  of  the  prayers 
were  intoned  by  the  priest;  subsequent  to  that  period  liberty 
was  given  to  select  a  text — although  the  old  order  was  com- 
monly observed — and  the  intoning  fell  into  disuse.  In 
prayer  both  priest  and  congregation  kneeled.  At  noon,  after 
an  early  repast,  the  children,  in  the  j^resence  of  their  parents 
and  sponsors,  were  instructed  by  the  deacons  in  the  catechism. 
This  was  the  service  which  took  place  in  summer  only.  At 
"the  time  of  vespers"  a  third  sermon  was  delivered,  gen- 
erally on  the  Epistle  for  the  day ;  and  at  sunset  followed  a 
service  of  song  and  prayer.  When  this  had  been  concluded 
the  congregation,  expressing,  each  to  the  other,  good  wishes 
for  the  night — "  May  you  rest  in  peace  and  in  God  ! " — 
returned  to  their  homes,  joyful  and  glad  of  heart.^ 

^  According   to  the    Ratio  Disciplinae,  p.  31,  it  became   customary,  in 
course  of  time,  to  select  the  text  of  the  first  forenoon  sermon  from  the 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH.  219 

Divine  service  was  held  in  the  course  of  the  week  also. 
Moreover,  as  opportunity  offered,  not  only  the  three  classes  of 
Beginners  and  Proficients  and  the  Perfect,  but  likewise  the 
married  members,  the  single  men,  and  the  single  women,  met 
separately  and  were  addressed  by  the  pastor  on  topics  suitable 
to  their  respective  circumstances.  In  the  season  of  Lent  on 
Wednesday  and  Friday  evenings,  the  so-called  Salva  took 
place,^^  at  which  meetings  the  mystery  of  redemption  was 
"  diligently  inculcated,  especially  upon  the  young." 

Children  were  baptized  a  few  days  after  their  birth.  The 
service  was  impressive.  First  of  all,  the  parents  and  sponsors 
were  taught  their  respective  duties  from  the  Scriptures ;  then, 
in  answer  to  questions  put  by  the  officiating  minister,  the 
parents  authorized  the  sponsors  to  take  part  in  the  religious 
training  of  the  child,  and  the  sponsors  accepted  this  responsi- 
bility, both  parties  pledging  their  right  hands  in  token  of 
their  mutual  promise.  All  kneeling,  a  fervent  prayer  by 
the  minister  followed.  He  besought  God  to  grant  to  the 
child,  through  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  new  birth  in  Christ  Jesus 
and  a  part  in  the  covenant  of  His  Church ;  parents  and 
sponsors  reverently  responding  Amen!  Thereupon  the 
minister  baptized  the  child  with  pure  water,  in  the  name  of 
the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  A  brief 
exhortation  closed  the  service. 

The  baptismal  covenant  was  renewed  in  the  rite  of  con- 
firmation which,  as  a  rule,  took  place  on  the  occasion  of  an 
episcopal  visit,  but  was  not  necessarily  administered  by  a 
bishop.  The  young  people  having  come  forward,  were  ques- 
tioned in  relation  to  the  sincerity  of  their  purpose  and  their 
faith  in  Christ.  They  renounced  the  world,  the  flesh  and 
the  devil;  professed  their  faith  by  reciting,  in  concert,  the 
Apostles'  Creed;  and  kneeling,  repeated  after  the  officiating 
minister  a  prayer  for  pardon  and  grace  to  lead  holy  lives. 

Prophets  ;  of  the  second,  from  the  Gospels ;  of  the  sermon  at  vespers  from 
the  Epistles,  and  to  combine  with  the  evening  song  the  reading  of  the 
entire  Bible  in  order,  as  also  brief  comments  on  the  portions  read. 

^^  The  name  Salvn  was  derived  from  the  hymn  Salva  nos  Jesu,  rtx  cceli, 
'•  Save  us,  .Jesus,  heavenly  King." 


220  THE    HISTORY    OF 

He  then  imparted  absolution,  and  confirmed  them  with  the 
imposition  of  hands  and  an  invocation  to  God. 

No  service  was  conducted  with  greater  solemnity  than  that 
of  the  Holy  Communion.  We  will,  in  imagination,  visit  a 
parish  at  such  a  season. 

The  day  for  the  celebration  of  this  sacrament  is,  we  find, 
appointed  two  or  three  weeks  previously,  and  with  the 
appointment  the  priest  combines  earnest  exhortations,  ad- 
dressed to  the  communicants,  to  "prove  their  ownselves." 
At  a  subsequent  time  he  delivers  a  special  discourse  on  the 
meaning  of  the  Lord's  Supper  and  on  the  duty  of  further 
preparing  for  it  in  the  most  prayerful  way  and  with  the  most 
searching  self-examination.  Then  confession  takes  place, 
either  in  public  or  in  private,  followed  by  a  solemn  charge 
on  the  part  of  the  priest  to  repent  and  do  the  first  works.  He 
imparts  absolution  with  the  imposition  of  hands.^^  Entering 
the  chapel  on  the  appointed  day,  we  find  it  filled  with 
reverent  worshipers.  A  hymn  is  sung,  prayer  offered  and  a 
sermon  preached;  after  which,  while  another  hymn  swells 
through  the  sanctuary,  the  priest  and  his  assisting  deacons 
approach  the  communion  table  which  is  covered  with  a  white 
linen  cloth  and  on  which  stand  the  sacred  vessels — the  flagon, 
the  chalice  and  the  paten  with  common  bread. '^  Turning  to 
the  communicants  the  priest  exhorts  them  to  call  upon  God 
for  the  pardon  of  their  sins.  All  fall  on  their  knees ;  the 
priest  leads  in  a  fervent  prayer,  closing  with  the  Lord's 
Prayer,  and  the  people  respond  Amen!  Still  kneeling  they 
sing  a  short  hymn.  Then  all  rise  and  the  priest,  having 
admonished  them  to  believe  implicitly  that  their  prayers 
have    been  heard  and    that  their   sins  have    been    forgiven, 

**  In  a  later  period  of  the  Church  the  communicants,  according  to  the 
Ratio  Disciplinre,  called  at  the  parsonage,  either  by  families,  or  masters 
with  their  servants,  and  were  carefully  examined  by  the  priest  with  regard 
to  their  spiritual  state.  Such  as  proved  unworthy  were  forbidden  to  partici- 
pate in  the  Lord's  Supper,  unless  they  promised  a  thorough  amendment. 

^^  In  accordance  with  a  resolution  of  the  General  Synod,  adopted  in 
1534,  wafers  were  thereafter  substituted  and  lighted  candles  were  permitted 
on  the  communion  table. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  221 

pronounces  a  general  absolution.  And  now  he  consecrates 
the  elements  with  the  words  of  institution — prior  to  the 
sixteenth  century  these  words  were  always  chanted — and 
invites  the  congregation  to  draAV  near  to  the  table  of  the 
Lord.  First  the  priest  and  the  deacons  partake  ;  then  the 
people  come  forward  with  all  reverence  and  in  regular  order. 
The  manor-lords,  in  their  capacity  of  magistrates,  take  the 
lead ;  next  the  elders  approach  ;  then  the  men,  and  last  the 
women — in  each  case  according  to  age — and  receive,  kneeling, 
both  the  bread  and  the  cup  from  the  hands  of  the  officiating 
ministers.^^  Meanwhile  hymns,  treating  of  the  sufferings  and 
death  of  Christ,  are  sung  in  sweet  harmony.  When  all  the 
communicants  have  partaken,  the  priest  offers  a  prayer  of 
thanksgiving,  to  which  he  adds  intercessions  for  the  Church 
universal,  for  rulers  and  lords  of  domains,  for  friend  and  foe, 
for  the  fallen  and  the  penitent  and  the  sick,  for  all  states  and 
conditions  of  men.  In  conclusion,  without  making  the  sign 
of  the  cross,  he  pronounces  the  benediction,  all  the  people 
saying  Amen !  Before  leaving  God's  house  they  engage  in 
silent  prayer. 

Neither  at  the  Holy  Communion  nor  on  any  other  occasion 
were  priestly  vestments  used. 

The  marriage  ceremony  was  performed  in  the  chapel  and 
accompanied  with  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures  and  a  dis- 
course. At  funerals  an  address  was  delivered  and,  on  the 
way  to  the  grave,  the  school  children,  led  by  the  minister, 
sang  hymns.  The  festivals  of  the  Christian  Church,  as  also 
the  days  of  the  Apostles  and  of  some  of  the  martyrs,  were 
duly  celebrated.  Four  times  in  the  year,  Wednesday  and 
Friday  were  observed  as  days  of  solemn  supplication  to  God, 
both  in  public  and  in  private.  All  work  ceased  ;  the  people 
assembled  in  their  chapels ;  discourses  were  delivered ;  con- 
fession of  sin  was  made  and  fervent  prayer  offered.     Prayer 

"  In  the  fifteenth  century  the  Brethren  received  the  elements  standing, 
as  a  protest  against  the  adoration  of  the  host ;  but  this  practice  gave  such 
offence  and  caused  such  fierce  perseciitions,  that  they  were  obliged  to 
relinquish  it.     R.  D.,  pp.  37  and  38. 


222  THE    HISTORY    OF 

was  continued,  in  the  closet  and  the  family  circle,  as  far  as 
possible,  throughout  the  whole  day.  On  such  occasions  the 
Brethren  fasted,  as  also  at  the  approach  of  danger  from 
persecutions,  war  or  pestilence,  and  whenever  ordinations  t(j 
the  ministry  were  about  to  take  place. 

The  discipline  exercised  within  the  Unitas  Fratrum,  con- 
stituted one  of  its  brightest  jewels.  Carefully  regulated 
according  to  the  Scriptures,  this  discipline  embraced  three 
degrees.  The  first  consisted  of  private  admonition  and 
reproof;  the  second  of  public  reproof  and  exposure ;  the  third 
of  excommunication  and  entire  exclusion  from  the  Church. 

If  a  brother  saw  his  brother  sin,  it  was  his  duty  and 
privilege,  in  all  kindness,  to  point  out  the  offense.  In  case 
the  reproof  remained  without  effect,  the  offender  was  cited 
before  the  elders,  or  the  pastor,  and  admonished  by  them. 
Did  he  acknowledge  his  fault,  he  was  dismissed  in  peace ;  did 
he  continue  refractory,  he  was  suspended  from  the  Holy 
Communion  until  he  had  given  evidence  of  true  repentance. 
In  serious  cases  a  condition  was  fixed.  If  his  offence  had 
remained  unknown  to  the  church,  he  was  required  to  ask 
pardon  of  the  elders  privately ;  but  if  it  had  been  made 
public,  he  was  obliged  publicly  to  seek  forgiveness  of  the 
assembled  congregation.  In  the  event  of  his  remaining  con- 
tumacious, or  of  a  gross  transgression,  he  was  formally  and 
publicly  excommunicated,  the  people  setting,  as  it  were,  their 
seals  to  the  sentence,  in  that  they  exclaimed  Amen  !  Amen  ! 

To  such  discipline,  in  its  three  degrees,  all  the  members  of 
the  Unity  were  subject,  "  from  the  child,"  says  the  Ratio 
DueipLince,  "  to  the  old  man,  from  the  serf  to  the  lord,  from 
the  acolyte  to  the  bishop."  It  was  enforced  "neither  in  a 
hypocritical,  nor  in  a  violent  and  tyrannical  manner,  but  as 
the  Apostle  has  advised,  in  the  spirit  of  meekness,  with  deep 
compassion,  in  the  name  and  by  the  authority  of  Christ,  to 
edification  and  not  to  destruction."  " 

"  R.  D.,  pp.  53  and  55.  Seifferth's  Ch.  Con.,  p.  172.  The  review  given 
in  the  above  chapter  shows  in  how  many  points  of  constitution,  of  worship 
and  of  discipline  the  Unitas  Fratrum  of  the  present  day  resembles  the  Unity 
which  existed  at  the  time  of  the  Reformation. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  223 


CH.A.PTER  XXIY. 

The   Growth   and  Enterprises  of  the   Unitas  Fratrum  at  the 
Beginning  of  Luther's  Reformation.     A.  D.  1517. 


The  principal  Churches  of  the  Brethren  in  Bohemia. — The  Establishments 
of  Carmel  and  the  !Mount  of  Olives  at  Jungbunzlau  and  Leitomischl. 
— The  principal  Churches  in  Moravia. — The  number  of  Members. — 
Noble  Families,  belonging  to  the  Unity. — Its  Schools. — Its  Publication 
Offices. — The  first  Catechism. — The  lirst  Hymnal. — Other  Publications. 

The  Uuitas  Fratrum  was  no  longer  a  small  body  of  obscure 
believers,  but  a  flourishing,  influential  and  numerous  church. 
While  accurate  statistics  are  wanting,  an  approximately  correct 
idea  of  its  growth  may  be  given. 

In  Bohemia  it  had  three  principal  centres.^  The  first  may 
be  called  the  Reichenau-Kunwald,  or  the  Jungbunzlau- 
Leitomischl  centre.  It  stretched  from  the  eastern  end  of 
Bohemia  westward  to  Jungbunzlau  and  Brandeis  on  the 
Elbe,  and  from  Vilimow  and  Kuttenberg  in  the  South  to 
Turnau  and  Braunau  in  the  North.  Within  these  limits 
there  was  scarcely  a  town  of  any  importance  in  which  the 
Brethren  had  not  established  themselves,  so  that  the  number 
of  churches  reached  about  one  hundred  and  fifty.  The  most 
noteworthy  were  those  at  Skuc,  Richenburg,  Landskron, 
Brandeis  on  the  Adler,  Hohenmaut,  Chrudin  and  Chotzen, 
in  the  circuit  of  Pardubitz ;  Senftenberg,  Kunwald,  Reich- 
enau,  Pottenstein,  Kosteletz,  K5niggratz,  Neustadt  on  the 
Mettau,  Krcin  and  Jaromir,  in  the  circuit  of  Koniggratz; 
Jungbunzlau,  Bidschow,  Nimburg,  Brandeis  on  the  Elbe, 
Turnau,  and  Weisswasser,  in  the  circuit  of  Jicin. 

^  The  chief  authority  for  this  chapter  is  Gindely,  I.  pp.  92-94,  96,  108, 
109,  121,  122,  12-4  and  12G,  who  assigns  the  centres  given  above. 


224  THE    HISTORY    OF 

The  second  centime  may  be  named  the  Stekna  centre,  in  the 
southwestern  part  of  Bohemia.  It  was  connected  with  the 
first  by  churches  scattered  in  the  line  of  Vilimow,  Beneschau, 
Wotitz,  Tabor  and  Frauenberg,  near  Budweis,  and  its  most 
important  seats  were  those  at  Stekna,  Wodnan,  Wolin, 
Klosterle,  Strakoniz,  Mirovic,  Klattau,  Schliisselberg,  Taus, 
Aujezd  and  Haid. 

The  third  centre  may  be  designated  the  Saaz-Lenesic  centre, 
in  the  western  section  of  the  country.  This  centre  flourished 
in  the  early  period  of  the  Unity ;  in  later  times  it  suffered 
greatly  from  persecutions.  Its  prominent  churches  were  at 
Saaz,  Lenesic,  Ploscha,  Laun,  Bilin,  Briix  and  Teplitz. 

The  chief  seat  of  the  Brethren  remained,  for  the  most  part, 
within  the  first  centre.  Originally  it  was  at  Kunwald,  then 
at  Reichenau,  later  at  Brandeis  on  the  Adler,  and  in  the  time 
of  Bishop  Luke,  at  Jungbunzlau.  In  this  town  stood  a  large 
edifice — once  a  Franciscan  convent — which  was  renovated  and 
given  to  the  Unity  by  Baron  Krajek.  It  contained  a  chapel, 
a  school  and  the  residence  of  the  principal  members  of  the 
Council.  This  structure  was  called  "  Mount  Carmel."  A 
similar  establishment  at  Leitomischl  was  known  as  "  Mount 
of  Olives."  Jungbunzlau,  Pardubitz  and  Leitomischl  con- 
stituted the  three  domains  on  which  the  Brethren  were  most 
thickly  settled. 

jNIoravia  comprised  two  centres,  of  which  the  one  may  be 
named  Prerau-Prossnitz  and  the  other  Eibenschiitz.  In  the 
first  the  leading  churches  were  at  Prerau,  which  always 
remained  the  chief  Moravian  seat  of  the  Brethren,  Prossnitz, 
Wischau,  Eywanowitz,  Tobitschau,  Chropin,  Kajetan,  Krem- 
sier,  Straznic,  Ungarisch-Brod,  Walachisch-Meseritsch,  Weiss- 
kirchen,  Neutitschein,  Kunewalde  and  Fulneck;  in  the 
second,  at  Eibenschiitz,  Kauitz,  Mahrisch-Kromau,  Bitesch, 
Trebitsch  and  Datschitz. 

According  to  the  Historia  Persecutionum  the  number  of 
chapels  and  therefore  of  parishes,  in  1500,  both  in  Bohemia 
and  Moravia,  was  about  two  hundred.^     But  this  is  too  low 

^  Hist.  Persecutionum,  Cap.  XX.  8. 


THE    MORAVIAIM    CHURCH.  225 

an  estimate.  The  researches  of  Gindely  have  shown  that 
there  were  between  three  hundred  and  four  hundred  cliurches 
in  Bohemia  alone,  and  that  the  number  of  members  amounted 
to  between  seventy-seven  thousand  and  one  hundred  thousand. 
At  the  same  time,  there  were,  according  to  one  account,  about 
seventy  thousand,  according  to  another,  about  one  hundred 
thousand  members  in  Moravia.  Hence,  taking  the  low^est 
estimates,  it  appears  that  at  the  beginning  of  the  Reformation 
the  Brethren  had,  in  Bohemia  and  Moravia,  more  than  four 
hundred  churches  and  a  membership  of  at  least  one  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand,  and  probably  of  two  hundred  thousand 
souls.'^ 

Some  of  the  prominent  noble  families  connected  with  the 
Unity  were  tiiose  of  Kostka,  Pernstein,  Krajek,  Waldstein, 
Sternberg,  Zcrotin,  Bozkowic  and  Kaunitz.  Particularly 
zealous  on  its  behalf  were  sevei'al  women  of  ancient  lines: 
Joanna  von  Krajek,  Crescencia  Zmrzlik,  Anna  von  Ostrowic 
and  her  daughter,  Martha  von  Bozkowic,  as  also  a  daughter 
of  Baron  von  Schellenberg,  ^\'ho  was  a  Catholic  and  one  of 
the  most  powerful  supporters  of  the  Catholic  church.  Gindely 
says:  "The  Brethren  hung  together  like  an  unbroken  chain, 
from  the  royal  palace  to  the  humblest  cottage."* 

The  enterprises  of  the  Unity  were  its  schools  and  publica- 
tion offices.  Of  the  former  there  existed,  in  addition  to  the 
parochial  schools  found  in  every  parish,  several  higher  ones, 
especially  at  Jungbuuzlau  and  Leitomischl,  attended  by  young 
people  not  connected  with  the  Unity,  among  whom  Avere  not 


^  From  a  conversation  between  George  Volinsky  and  Baron  Rosenberg 
(Gindely  I.  p.  94,  Vide  p.'195  of  this  History),  it  appears  that  in  1513,  the 
Brethren  had  about  eleven  thousand  full  grown  men  in  Bohemia.  Reckon- 
ing the  men  as  the  one-seventh  of  tlie  whole,  number,  this  must  have 
amounted  to  seventy-seven  thousand.  From  Dr.  Henry  Institoris  Sancte 
Romane  ecc.  fidei  defensionis,  (Vide  p.  183  of  this  History,)  we  gather  that 
there  were  said  to  be,  in  1500,  about  one  hundred  thousand  Brethren  in 
Moravia;  but  Gindely  claims  tliat  the  number  in  Bohemia  was  larger 
than  in  Moravia.  Consequently  our  estimate  in  the  text  is  not  too  high, 
but  perhaps  too  low. 

*  Gindely,  I.  p.  126. 
15 


226  THE    HISTORY    OF 

a  few  young  nobles.  We  know  nothing  with  regard  to  the 
course  of  study  or  the  system  of  education  in  this  early  period. 

In  1517  the  Unity  had  two  publication  offices.  The  one 
was  at  Jungbunzlau,  estal)lished  in  1500;  the  other  at  Leito- 
mischl,  established  in  1507.  In  1519  a  third  was  opened  at 
Weisswasser.^  The  superintendent  of  the  office  at  Jung- 
bunzlau  was  Nicholas  Claudianus,  a  distinguished  physician 
and  learned  man."  All  the  three  offices  were  supplied  with 
printing  presses  of  their  own,  and  sent  forth  numerous  works. 

In  1505  appeared  the  first  Catechism  of  the  Brethren 
entitled  Detinske  otazky — "  Questions  to  the  children " — 
written  by  Bishop  Luke,  and  the  first  Hymnal,  edited  by  the 
same  author,  containing  paraphrases  and  translations  of  old 
Latin  hymns  together  with  many  original  compositions. 
Both  these  works  are  lost.  Other  publications  were  the 
Confessions  of  Faith,  mentioned  in  previous  chapters; 
numerous  polemical  writings  by  Luke  and  Krasonicky; 
Luke's  answer  to  an  attack,  by  Catholic  priests,  upon  the 
Catechism  ;  his  Treatise  on  the  Incarnation,  his  Commentaries 
on  the  Psalms,  on  the  Gospels  and  Epistles  of  the  Ecclesias- 
tical Year,  on  the  Third,  Fourth  and  Sixth  chapters  of  St. 
John's  Gospel,  and  on  the  Eleventh  chapter  of  St.  Paul's  first 
Epistle  to  the  Corinthians ;  several  monographs  against  re- 
baptism,  written  by  his  brother,  John,  a  distinguished  physi- 
cian ;  and  a  map  of  Bohemia  drawn  by  Claudianus  and  issued 
under  his  supervision.'' 

These  are  only  a  few  instances  of  the  literary  activity  of  the 
Brethren.  Between  the  years  1500  and  1510,  sixty  works 
appeared  in   Bohemia,   of   which    not   less    than    fifty  were 

*  At  this  time  there  were  only  two  other  presses  in  Bohemia,  the  one  at 
Pilsen  (1468)  in  the  hands  of  the  Catholics,  the  otlier  at  Prague  (1488),  in 
the  hands  of  the  Utraquists. 

*  He  was  one  of  the  deputies  sent  by  the  Church  to  Erasmus  of 
Eotterdam,  and  under  his  supervision  the  Apohigy  of  1507  was  printed  at 
Nuremberg.     He  died  in  1526.     Goll,  p.  124,  Note  23. 

^  This  map  was  printed  at  Nuremberg,  as  were  also  several  of  tlie  Con- 
fessions of  Faith. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  227 

published  by  tlie  Brethren.  The  press  was  a  power  in  their 
hands.  They  used  it  conscientiously  to  the  spread  of  the 
true  faith  and  the  glory  of  God. 

The  Bohemian  version  of  the  Bible,  translated  from  the 
Vulgate  and  published  at  Venice,  in  1506,  was  not,  as  has 
been  generally  supposed  by  Moravian  writers,  a  work  of  the 
Brethren.     It  originated  in  the  Utraquist  Church.* 

^  This  has  been  clearly  shown  by  William  G.  Malin  in  his  Treatise  on  the 
Bohemian  Bible,  published  in  liis  Catalogue,  p.  135,  etc.,  and  also  in  the 
Transactions  of  the  Moravian  Historical  Society,  I.  p.  143,  etc. 


228  THE    HISTORY    OF 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

Intercourse  of  the  Brethren  with  Erasmus  and  L/uther ;  and 
other  Events  to  the  Death  of  Luke.     A.  D.  1517-1528. 


Death  of  Bishop  Tliomas. — Skoda  elected  to  the  Episcopacy. — Pacification 
of  St.  Wenzel. — Erasmus  of  Eotterdam  and  the  Brethren. — His  letter 
and  Introduction  to  the  New  Testament. — Bohemia  and  Germany 
from  the  Point  of  View  of  their  Reformations. — Lutheran  Movement 
in  Bohemia. — Luke  and  Luther. — Deputation  to  Luther. — Luke's  and 
Luther's  Controversial  Writings.  —  Second  Mission  to  Luther. — Its 
Object  and  Failure. — Estrangement  between  the  Leader  of  the  Ee- 
formation  and  the  Head  of  the  LTnity. — Luke  and  the  Zwinglian 
System. — Strifes  in  the  National  Church. — Gallus  Cahera. — Utraquist 
Reaction. — The  Brethren  appeal  to  the  King. — Battle  of  Mohacs  and 
Death  of  the  King. — Luke  and  the  Amosites,  the  Habrowanites  and 
the  Anabaptists. — Death  of  Bishop  Luke. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  memorable  year  which  constituted 
the  dawn  of  a  new  era  in  the  world's  history,  there  lingered 
among  the  Brethren  their  aged  Bishop  Thomas,  the  last  of  the 
founders  of  their  Church  and  the  only  representative  of  its 
primitive  ways  and  pristine  simplicity.  But  the  approaching 
revival  of  the  pure  Gospel  was  not  to  gladden  his  heart.  He 
died  at  Prerau,  on  the  twenty-third  of  February,  1517. 
Humble,  forbearing,  ready  to  yield  for  the  sake  of  peace,  he 
allowed  Luke  to  follow  a  course  which  he  could  not  always 
approve,  and  beheld,  without  a  murmur,  his  position  as  pre- 
siding Bishop  overshadowed  through  the  commanding  influ- 
ence of  his  colleague.  "Lord,"  he  was  sometimes  heard  to 
pray,  "  if  I  am  standing  in  the  way  of  Thy  work,  take  me 
hence  !  "  ^     Although  not  as  learned  a  man  as  Luke,  he  was 

'  Todtenbuch,  pp.  6  and  7,  wliich  incorrectly  assigns  the  year  1518  as  the 
date  of  his  death.     Comp.  the  Boh.  Hist.  Frat.,  cited  by  Gindely,  I.  p.  166. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  229 

well  educatecl  and  displayed  considerable  literary  ability.^  At 
Prerau  there  was  a  burial-place  which  the  Barons  of  Slavkov 
subsequently  purchased  and  shared  with  the  Brethren.  On 
that  ground  Thomas  was  interred ;  and  in  course  of  time 
many  other  bishops  were  there  laid  to  rest. 

Martin  Skoda  was  now  elected  to  the  episcopacy  and  con- 
secrated by  Bishops  Luke  and  Ambrose,  and  the  Assistant 
Bishops  Daniel  and  Wenzel  (1517).  Luke  became  the  pre- 
siding Bishop.  He  assigned  the  second  place  to  Skoda,  thus 
interfering  with  the  rights  of  Ambrose.^ 

Meanwhile  the  disturbances,  caused  by  the  death  of  Uladis- 
laus,  were  brought  to  an  end  through  the  so-called  Pacification 
of  St.  Wenzel  (September  the  twenty-eighth,  1517).  The 
states  acknowledged  the  Emperor  Maximilian  and  King 
Sigismund  of  Poland,  whom  the  late  monarch  had  appointed, 
as  the  guardians  of  young  Lewis,  and  chose  six  directors  to 
administer  the  government. 

This  adjustment  of  national  affairs  did  not  affect  the  con- 
dition of  the  Brethren.  They  continued  to  enjoy  tranquillity. 
In  order  to  establish  their  position  still  more  fully,  the 
Council  determined  to  enlist  the  aid  of  Erasmus  of  Rotterdam 
— that  illustrious,  liberal-minded  and  yet  faint-hearted  scholar 
who,  after  having  done  more  than  any  other  man  to  bring  on 
the  Reformation,  trembled  when  it  came  and  abandoned  it 
at  the  threatening  beck  of  Rome.  He  had  several  corre- 
spondents in  Bohemia.  Among  them  was  John  Slechta  von 
Wsehrd,  whose  bitter  animosity  to  the  Brethren  has  been 
mentioned  in  another  connection.  In  one  of  his  letters  this 
man  gave  Erasmus  an  account  of  the  religious  parties  in 
Bohemia  and  spoke  in  a  disparaging  tone  of  the  Unity.  The 
aus^ver  of  Erasmus  was  strongly  in  its  favor.     He  wrote  : 


^  The  Third  L.  F.,  p.  202,  etc.,  contains  one  of  his  treatises  (Eeichel's 
Znsiitze,  pp.  232-244),  addressed,  in  the  form  of  a  letter,  to  the  K.  C.  Baron 
Albert  von  Sternberg  and  showing  that  the  U.  F.  was  a  work  of  God.  It  is 
a  treatise  of  great  merit. 

^  Jaffet's  Sword  of  Goliath,  I.  p.  16,  in  Keicliel's  Znsiitze,  p.  245  ;  Gindely, 
I.  p.  186. 


230  THE    HISTORY    OF 

"  That  the  Brethren  elect  their  own  teachers  is  not  contrary  to 
the  custom  of  the  Ancient  Church,  for  in  this  manner  St. 
Nicholas  and  St.  Ambrose  were  elected.  That  they  choose  men 
who  have  not  received  a  thorough  education  and  who  are 
unlearned,  is  excusable,  because  the  piety  of  their  lives  may  well 
be  considered  as  a  substitute  for  learning.  That  they  call  them- 
selves brethren  and  sisters,  I  can  not  recognize  as  wrong,  but 
wish  to  God  that  this  mode  of  address  might  become  common 
among  all  Christians.  That  they  have  less  faith  in  the  teachers 
of  the  Church  than  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  is  right.  That 
Christ  and  His  Apostles,  when  they  consecrated  the  elements, 
wore  their  ordinary  dress,  is  extremely  probable ;  although  I 
deem  it  improper  to  despise  what  the  Fathers,  for  good  reasons, 
have  introduced.  If,  as  you  say,  they  take  such  great  delight  in 
the  Lord's  Prayer,  we  must  not  forget  that  this  Prayer  con- 
stitutes a  part  of  our  own  mass ;  and  in  regard  to  ecclesiastical 
feasts,  their  view  seems  to  me  to  be  not  very  different  from  that 
of  Jerome's  age,  whereas  in  our  day  such  feasts  have  enormously 
multiplied  and,  more  than  anything  else,  afford  the  common 
people  occasions  for  vice  of  every  kind,  forcing  them  to  be  idle 
and  preventing  them  from  earning  the  daily  bread  which  they 
and  their  families  need."  * 

In  reliance  upon  this  letter  the  Executive  Council,  in  1519, 
sent  Nicholas  Claudianus  and  Lawrence  Wotic  to  Erasmus, 
at  Antwerp.  The  two  deputies  presented  the  Latin  Confes- 
sion of  1508,  begging  him  to  examine  this  document  and  if 
he  approved  of  it,  to  furnish  a  favorable  testimony  for  pub- 
lication. In  due  time  they  received  his  cautious  answer. 
He  had  found,  he  said,  no  errors  in  the  Confession,  but  a 
public  testimonial  would  be  dangerous  to  himself  and  useless 
to  the  Brethren.  This  was  the  reply  which  the  deputies 
brought  back  to  Bohemia,  where  the  disappointed  heads  of 
the  Church  comforted  themselves  with  Christ's  words :  "  But 
I  receive  not  testimony  from  man."  ^ 

And  yet  Erasmus  was  so  impressed  with  the  character  of 
the  Unity  that,  in  the  introduction  to  the  second  edition  of 
his  Greek  Testament,  which  appeared  in  the  same  year,  he 


*  Comenii  Hist.  Fr.  §  72,  p.  22;  Plitt,  Sect.  36;  Regenvolscius,  Cap.  XI. 
pp.  54  and  55. 
5  John  5  :  34. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  331 

referred  to  the  Brethren,  without  mentiouing  them  by  name, 
m  the  following  appreciatory  terms  :" 

"  I  call  that  man  a  true  theologian  who  teaches  not  artificially 
and  through  forced  deductions  of  reason,  but  with  fervency  of 
spirit,  by  his  actions,  his  eyes,  his  whole  life,  that  earthly  things 
are  nothing ;  that  the  Christian  must  not  depend  upon  the  world's 
protection,  but  must  trust  wholly  in  God  ,  that  he  is  not  to  requite 
evil  with  evil,  but  to  bless  them  who  curse  him,  to  do  good  to 
them  who  despitefully  use  him,  to  love  with  his  whole  heart  and 
to  aid  all  the  godly  as  members  of  one  body,  at  the  same  time 
bearing  patiently  with  the  wicked  who  will  not  be  converted ; 
that  those  who  are  deprived  of  their  possessions  and  driven  from 
their  hearths  and  homes,  those  who  mourn  and  are  persecuted, 
may  be  called  blessed ;  that  in  their  case  death  is  but  the 
transition  to  immortality.  Whoever,  constrained  by  the  spirit  of 
Christ,  preaches,  urges,  enforces,  invites  and  encourages  to  such 
doctrines,  is,  I  say,  a  true  theologian,  even  though  he  be  only  a 
digger  of  the  soil  or  a  weaver  of  linen ;  and  whoever,  through 
his  walk  and  conversation,  testifies  to  the  truth  of  such  doctrines, 
is  a  great  doctor." ' 

But  this  commendation,  while  gratifying  in  spite  of  its 
veiled  form,  did  not  induce  the  Brethren  to  make  new  over- 
tures to  Erasmus.  Their  attention  was  absorbed  by  his 
greater  and  more  heroic  cotemporary  at  Wittenberg. 

The  religious  development  of  Bohemia,  after  the  close  of 
the   Hussite   wars,   attracted    comparatively   little    notice    in 

®  This  introduction  was  entitled :  Eatio  sen  Methodus  comnendio  per- 
veniendi  ad  veram  Theologiam;  and  was  also  published  separately  in  1522. 
Herzog's  Encyklop.,  IV.  p.  115. 

'  "Is  denique  luagnus  est  doctor."  Comenii  Hist  Fr.,  ?  71,  p.  21.  The 
visit  to  Erasmus  is  described  by  Blahoslaw  in  his  Summa  (Goll,  pp.  124 
and  125),  Lasitius,  III.  pp.  87-89,  cited  by  Plitt,  Camerarius,  pp.  125  and 
126,  Kegenvolscius,  Cap.  VIII.  p.  37.  Coraenius  and  Regenvolscius  assign 
tlie  year  1511  as  the  time  of  the  visit,  which  date  is  adopted  by  Gindely 
and  Czerwenka.  We  have  followed  Goll,  p.  1 24,  Note  22,  who  shows  from 
the  date  of  Slechta's  letter  to  Erasmus,  October  the  tenth,  1519,  based 
upon  Erasmi  Ep.  Opus.  Bar.,  1538,  that  the  visit  could  not  have  been  paid 
until  that  year.  Plitt,  Section  35,  knows  of  the  date  of  this  letter,  but  says 
that  it  had  nothing  to  do  witli  the  sending  of  the  deputies,  and  that  the 
great  fame  of  Erasmus  and  the  wish  to  secure  a  testimonial  were  the  sole 
cause  of  this  mission.  In  as  much,  however,  as  Blahoslaw  brings  it  into 
connection  with  Slechta's  letter  we  have  followed  Goll,  although  we  are  not 
prepared  to  say  that  his  jjosition  is  not  assailable. 


232  THE    HISTORY   OF 

Germany.  It  was  a  development  which  that  country  could 
not  understand.  Not  only  did  the  difference  in  language  and 
that  mutual  antipathy  which  was  deeply  grounded  in  the 
Teutonic  and  Slavonian  races  stand  in  the  way,  but  the  Ger- 
mans were  not  ripe  for  a  change,  and  continued  patiently 
to  bear  the  Romish  yoke.^  It  was  only  at  times  that  preachers 
of  the  Hussite  faith,  like  Hans  Boheim  and  Frederick  Reiser, 
appeared  among  them;  and  in  but  a  few  countries — Suabia, 
Bavaria  and  Franconia — were  converts  found."  Even  the 
Church  of  the  Brethren,  although  it  was  the  goodliest  and 
most  fruitful  tree  which  grew  out  of  the  Bohemian  Reforma- 
tion, neither  won  admiration  nor  took  root  on  German  soil. 

Luther's  Reformation,  on  the  contrary,  awakened  immediate 
and  general  interest  in  B(j]iemia  and  Moravia.  The  members 
of  the  Unity  recognized  in  his  doctrines  that  which  they 
had  been  maintainino;  for  more  than  half  a  centurv  ;  the 
Utraquists  looked  upon  him  as  a  champion  of  their  cause, 
in  so  far  as  he  attacked  the  papacy  with  which  they  had 
broken,  while  not  a  few  of  the  more  enlightened  among  them 
lon<j;ed  for  better  thin2;s  than  their  Church  could  furnish,  and 
were  horrified  by  the  immorality  of  tlieir  priests,  which  was 
growing  to  be  a  national  scandal ;  the  German  settlers,  whose 
number  was  large,  could  not  but  give  heed  to  a  work  which 
so  powerfully  affected  their  mother-country 

Thus  it  came  to  pass  that,  in  1519,  a  Lutheran  movement 
began  at  Prague,  inspired,  in  part,  by  the  startling  sermons 
of  Matthias  the  Hermit,  who  suddenly  apjicared  in  its  streets, 
preaching  against  the  degeneracy  of  the  times;  renewed 
through  those  denunciations  of  the  Utraquist  Church  which 
fell  from  the  lips  of  the  subsequently  notorious  Thomas 
Miinzer,  when  he  came  to  the  capital  in  1521 ;  and  greatly 

^  In  Germany  anl  other  countries,  "Bohemian"  and  "Hussite"  were 
terms  of  reproach.  Henry  t'le  Eiglith  and  Dr.  E;^k  used  tliem  in  their 
controversies  with  Luther. 

"Reiser  sufiered  martyrdom  at  Strasburg  in  1458  (Ftcfe  p.  149  of  this 
History).  His  interesting  biography  may  be  found  in  Boehm's  V.  Reiser's 
Ref.  des  K.  Sigmuml,  Chap.  IV,  pp.  78-93 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  233 

stren2:thened  by  letters  from  Luther  himself  (1522),  addressed 
to  the  Utraquist  states  and  to  Count  Schlick  who  had  intro- 
duced a  radical  reform  at  Elbogen,  exhorting  both  to  remain 
true  to  the  Gospel  and  not  to  forget  the  innocent  blood  of 
Hus  and  Jerome. 

Bishop  Luke  watched  these  developments  with  an  eagle 
eye.  At  first  his  heart  yearned  toward  the  German  Reformer ; 
but  when  young  Bohemians,  who  had  studied  at  Wittenberg, 
brought  back  wild  notions  of  evangelical  liberty  and  began  to 
denounce  the  Brethren  as  a  "degenerate  monastical  sect," 
whose  discipline  was  contrary  to  the  Gospel,"^  he  experienced 
a  revulsion  of  feeling  and  looked  upon  Luther's  work  with 
suspicion  and  alarm.  In  this  frame  of  mind  he  wTote,  in 
1520,  a  violent  treatise  arainst  o-enuflectious  at  the  sacrament, 
and  in  1521  another,  hotly  defending  rebaptism. 

In  the  same  year  Luther  appeared  before  the  Diet  of 
Worms  as  the  hero  of  his  age,  manfully  declining  to  retract 
what,  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  he  knew  to  be  eternally  true. 
His  abduction  to  the  Wartburg  followed.  In  early  spring 
of  1522  he  left  this  castle,  passed  through  the  gloomy  forest 
by  which  it  was  surrounded  and  which  had  witnessed  his 
silent  reveries  and  heard  his  ejaculatory  prayers,  and  boldly 
made  his  way  back  to  Wittenberg.  When  the  news  of  his 
return  reached  Luke,  he  was  moved  to  open  direct  communi- 
cation with  the  intrepid  Reformer.  Whether  his  wonderful 
courage,  which  showed  how  supremely  confident  he  was  in  the 
justness  of  his  cause,  had  dissipated  the  Bishop's  scruples,  or 
w^iether  he  was  constrained  by  other  motives,  is  not  clear. 
In  any  case  his  proposition  met  with  favor  on  the  part  of  the 
Council.  Two  deputies,  John  Horn  and  Michael  Weiss,  were 
sent  to  Wittenberg,  where  they  arrived  in  May."  Thus,  for 
the  first  time,  representatives  of  the  Reformers  before  the 
Reformation  met  its  illustrious  leader.  He  gave  them  a 
cordial  welcome,  and  they  congratulated  him,  in  the  name  of 

10  Gindely,  I.  p.  187. 

"  Blahoslaw's  Summa,  Goll,  p.  125 ;  Comenii  Hist.  Fr.,  |  74,  p.  22 ; 
Regenvolscius,  Cap.  XI.  p.  55. 


234  THE    HISTORY    OP 

their  Church,  on  having  recognized  the  light  of  truth,  and 
expressed  the  hope  that  it  would  spread  and  illumine  the 
earth. ^^  A  conversation  followed  on  the  faith  of  the  Brethren 
as  taught  in  their  new  catechism,  which  had  recently  appeared 
in  Bohemian  and  German.  Luther  begged  the  deputies  to 
have  the  doctrine  of  the  Lord's  Supper  set  forth  more 
explicitly  and  in  a  separate  treatise.  In  this  connection  they 
delivered  a  letter  from  Paul  Speratus,  containing  certain  ques- 
tions in  relation  to  the  same  subject.  These  questions  had 
been  drawn  up  by  Benedict  Optatus,  after  reading  the  Con- 
fessions and  catechism  of  the  Unity,  and  sent  to  Speratus, 
who  referred  them  to  Luther,  Optatus  and  Speratus  were 
tAvo  of  his  most  enthusiastic  admirers.  They  had  come  to 
Moravia  in  1522,  and  were  zealously  spreading  his  tenets. 

In  June  of  the  same  year  Luther  sent  an  answer  to  the 
questions  which  had  been  laid  before  him.  This  answer  was 
published,  so  that  Luke  made  use  of  it  when  writing  the 
treatise  for  which  the  Reformer  had  asked.  It  bore  the  title 
of  "Faith  Victorious"  and  was  composed  in  Bohemian;  but 
a  Latin  translation  was  forwarded  to  Wittenberg.  In  the 
beginning  of  the  next  year  (1523)  Luther  transmitted  his 
reply,  together  with  a  copy  of  Melancthon's  Loci  Communes. 
Luther's  work  was  written  in  German,  entitled  Vom  Anbeten 
des  Sacraments  des  heyligen  leychnams  Christi,  and  addressed 
to  Meynen  liehen  herzen  und  freunden  den  Brildern  genant 
Valdenses  in  Behmen  und  MehrenP 

While  it  set  forth,  with  much  candor,  the  points  in  which 
the  Brethren  seemed  to  him  to  err,  its  tone  was  kind  and  con- 
ciliatory.    But  it  roused  Luke,  who  seized  his  pen  and  wrote 


^^  Qui  ipsi  gratularentur  lumen  agnitse  veritatis,  et  apprecarentur,  ut  ea 
sese  ipsius  opera,  in  orbem  terraruni  quern  latissime  effunderet.  Regen- 
volscius,  p.  55. 

^*  "  Concerning  the  Adoration  of  the  sacred  body  of  Christ,  To  my  dear 
hearts  and  friends,  the  Brethren,  called  Waldenses,  in  Bohemia  and  Mo- 
ravia." Printed  at  Wittenberg,  anno  1523.  It  is  a  quarto  pamphlet  of  32 
pages.  In  July  of  the  same  year  the  Brethren  published,  under  a  title  of 
their  own,  a  Bohemian  translation  at  Leitomischl. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH.  235 

a  rejoinder  (June,  1523),  defending  the  seven  sacraments  and 
the  doctrine  of  the  Lord's  Supper  as  taught  by  the  Brethren, 
and  adding  his  views  on  celibacy  and  justification.  In  regard 
to  the  last  point  these  views  were  extreme.  He  spoke  of  a 
righteousness  existing  in  the  believer,  through  the  grace  of 
God  and  for  the  sake  of  Christ,  which  righteousness  belonged, 
in  a  certain  sense,  to  the  believer  and  rendered  a  daily  appro- 
priation of  the  merits  of  the  Saviour  unnecessary.  This  was 
clearly  a  polemical  position  for  which  the  Unity  was  not 
responsible.  He  was  driven  to  it  by  the  fear  that  evangelical 
liberty  would  degenerate  into  licentiousness.  Luther  remained 
silent ;  but  Luke  continued  to  write  until  he  had  produced 
three  more  works  which  were  all  polemical  in  their  character. 
The  first  treated  of  Repentance ;  the  second  of  Marriage ;  the 
third  of  Love. 

That  he  was  actuated  by  pure  motives  and  not  by  the  desire 
of  controversy  becomes  clear  from  the  second  mission  to 
Wittenberg  (1524).^^  Horn  and  Weiss  were  again  the 
deputies.  They  received  instructions  to  confer  with  Luther 
not  only  on  the  Lord's  Supper,  but  also  on  the  constitution 
and  especially  the  discipline  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum.  Luke 
and  his  colleagues  remembered  those  enactments  of  the  Synod 
of  1486  which  spoke  of  reformers  whom  God  might  raise  up, 
and  imagined  that,  through  the  agency  of  the  new  movement, 
that  development  might  perhaps  be  made  general  which  had 
been  going  on  for  sixty-seven  years  within  their  own  com- 
munion. In  other  words,  they  hoped  to  impress  the  disci- 
plinary character  of  the  Church  of  the  Brethren  upon  the 
churches  that  would  grow  out  of  the  German  Reformation.^^ 
But  they  were  disappointed.  The  second  visit  to  Luther 
instead  of  producing  such  a  result,  brought  about  an  estrange- 
ment between  him  and  Luke.     For  eight  years  the  Unitas 

'*  Regenvolscius,  p.  56 ;  Comenii  Hist.  Fr.,  §  75. 

'^  Tliis  is  the  view  ot  John  Plitt  (Section  39),  based  upon  intimations 
found  in  the  writings  of  the  Brethren.  It  is  undoubtedly  correct.  Gindely 
is  unable  to  appreciate  the  Brethren  in  their  relations  to  the  Reformers ; 
whenever  he  writes  on  this  subject  his  words  are  flat  and  his  views  pointless. 


236  THE    HISTORY    OF 

Fratrum  stood  aloof  from  the  Reformation.  One  cause  of 
this  rupture  was  the  dissatisfaction  which  the  two  deputies 
expressed  with  the  free  way  of  living  at  Wittenberg,  especially 
aniono;  the  students  i^"  but  there  must  have  existed  other  causes 
also  which  have  not  been  put  on  record.  In  his  Tischreden 
Luther  subsequently  took  occasion  to  censure  the  discipline  of 
the  Brethren  with  great  severity. 

Luke's  opposition  to  the  Zwinglian  system  was  still  more 
decided.  He  met  with  it  in  1525.  Three  of  its  ardent  fol- 
lowers, who  had  belonged  to  a  monastic  order  at  Breslau — 
Michael  Weiss,  John  the  Monk  and  John  Cizek — applied 
for  admission  to  the  Unity,  without  letting  their  real  views 
become  known.  As  they  could  preach  in  the  German 
lano-uao-e,  and  German  preachers  were  needed,  the  Council 
gladly  accepted  their  services.  Weiss  was  appointed  to  the 
parish  at  Landskron;  but  no  sooner  had  he  established  an 
influence  than  he  began  to  spread  Zwinglian  principles  and, 
as  he  said,  to  reform  the  Unity.  He  was  warmly  supported 
by  John  the  Monk  and  Cizek,  and  the  peace  of  not  a  few 
churches  was  marred.  Luke  warned  the  promoters  of  this 
discord  to  forbear ;  and  the  Council,  at  a  special  convocation, 
reaffirmed,  with  great  solemnity,  the  doctrine  of  the  Lord's 
Supper  as  taught  by  the  Brethren.  But  while  Weiss  died 
and  John  the  Monk  disappeared,  Cizek  remained  contuma- 
cious.    Hence  he  was  excommunicated.''' 

Meantime  the  National  Church  had  been  gradually  divided 
into  a  conservative  party,  which  leaned  toward  Rome,  and  a 
liberal  faction,  which  identified  itself  with  the  Lutheran 
movement.  This  latter  wing,  however,  was  composed  of 
discordant  elements,  and  the  preaching  of  its  priests  presented 
an  incongruous  mixture  of  opinions.  In  1523  Gallus  Cahera 
became  prominent.  He  Avas  a  graduate  of  the  University  of 
Prague  who,  after  quarreling  with  his  parish  at  Leitmeritz, 

'6  Lasitius,  V.  39,  cited  by  Plitt. 

"  Gindely  I.  pp.  191,  192.  The  above  Michael  Weiss  must  not  be 
confounded  with  the  hymnologist  and  deputy  to  Wittenberg,  who  bore  the 
same  name. 


THE    MORAVIAN   CHURCH.  237 

had  spent  several  months  at  Wittenberg,  blinding  the  eyes  of 
Luther  and  winning  his  friendship  under  insincere  pretences. 
Ambitious,  fickle  and  false-hearted,  he  now  appeared  at  Prague, 
presented  a  letter  from  the  Reformer,  and  thrust  himself 
forward  as  his  champion.  Through  the  most  persistent 
intrigues  he  succeeded  in  gaining  the  administratorshii)  of  the 
Utraquist  Consistory.  He  labored  iu  the  interests  of  the 
Reformation ;  Martin  Luther's  nam©  was  continuallv  on  his 
lips;  he  caused  articles  of  faith  to  be  adopted  that  were 
almost  wholly  evangelical  in  their  character  (1524).  But 
when  a  reaction  set  in  he  instantly  became  its  ardent 
supporter,  turned  his  back  upon  the  Reformation,  abandoned 
Luther,  banished  from  Prague  all  priests  of  evangelical  views 
and  helped  to  restore  Utraquism  in  its  most  conservative 
form.  To  this  reaction  the  Diet  set  its  seal  by  recommending 
a  union  of  the  Utraquists  and  Roman  Catholics  and  adopting 
measures  against  the  Brethren  (January,  1525). 

As  soon  as  this  became  known,  the  Executive  Council  drew 
up  a  letter  to  the  King,  praying  for  his  protection  and  boldly 
declaring,  that  "no  disgrace,  no  sufferings,  not  the  loss  of 
their  freedom,  not  the  sacrifice  of  their  lives  or  of  their 
possessions  would  induce  the  Brethren  to  deny  the  truth."  ^* 
This  letter  was  sent  to  Ofen  but,  at  the  instigation  of  Arch- 
bishop Salkan  and  Cardinal  Campeggio,  withheld  from  the 
King  (1525).  These  prelates  were  afraid  that  such  a  docu- 
ment might  interfere  with  the  negotiations  which  were  about 
to  begin  between  the  Utraquists  and  the  Catholics.  It  soon 
appeared,  however,  that  the  suspicions  of  the  former  were  as 
great,  and  the  demands  of  the  latter  as  intolerant,  as  on  all 
former  occasions  of  the  kind.  No  union  was  effected .  On 
the  contrary  the  King  tried  to  curb  the  reactionary  zeal 
of  Cahera,  but  without  success.  At  Prague  and  throughout 
the  kingdom  religious  disturbances  increased,  until  they  were 

'^  This  letter  was  written  in  Bohemian.  The  original  is  lost,  bnt  a 
German  translation  exists.  It  ought  not  to  be  counted  as  one  of  the  Con- 
fessions of  the  Brethren.  It  was,  as  the  German  translation  says,  a  Sende 
Brief.     Malin  Library,  No.  882. 


238  THE    HISTORY    OF 

hushed,  for  a  time,  by  a  suddeu  and  fearful  shock.  On  the 
twenty-ninth  of  August,  1526,  Solynian  the  Magniticent,  with 
his  fierce  host  of  three  hundred  thousand  Turks,  totally 
defeated  I^ewis,  at  Mohacs,  in  Hungary.  While  fleeing  from 
the  field  of  carnage  the  young  King  fell  from  his  horse  and 
was  killed. 

The  last  years  of  Bishop  Luke's  life  were  troubled  by 
sectarian  animosities.  His  ancient  enemies,  the  Amosites, 
bestirred  themselves.  At  their  head  stood  John  Kalenec. 
This  man  wrote  with  intense  bitterness  against  the  Brethren 
and  against  Luke  personally  (1525).  Luke  replied  and  the 
controversy  Avas  prolonged  until  1527,  when,  owing  to  the 
cruel  persecutions  of  Cahera,  the  Amosites  disappeared  from 
Prague,  which  was  their  chief  seat. 

But  now  the  Habrowanites,  or  the  Lultschian  Brethren,  a 
fanatical  sect  organized,  in  1527,  on  his  estate  in  Moravia,  by 
Baron  John  Dubcansky  von  Habrowan,  with  the  assistance 
of  Matthias  the  Hermit  and  Wenzel  of  Lultsch,  began  to 
pester  the  Unity.  Dubcansky  made  overtures  to  Luke  and 
proposed  a  conference.  These  overtures  were  declined. 
Although  Dubcansky  became  very  indignant,  he  did  not 
relinquish  his  project,  but  was  silenced  merely  for  a  time.^^ 

In  Moravia  there  were  many  Anabaptists.  Might  not 
these  enter  into  a  fraternal  fellowship  with  the  Unity  ?  So 
thought  some  of  their  friends  among  the  nobility  who  urged 
the  holding  of  a  conference.  Luke  and  the  Council  yielded 
to  such  persuasions.  Three  conferences  took  place,  but 
resulted  in  bitter  denunciations  of  the  Brethren,  not  in  a 
brotherly  union  with  them.  They  were,  said  the  Ana- 
baptists, gross  idolaters.'^'^  Such  a  result  was  inevitable. 
There  could  be  no  affinity  between  the  Unitas  Fratrum  and 
a  fanatical  sect. 

And  yet  these  negotiations  were  not  absolutely  fruitless; 
for   they  opened   the   eyes  of  Luke  to  the   impropriety  of 


*'  L.  F.,  IV.  contains  the  correspondence.     Reichel's  Zusiitze,  pp.  240-248. 
20  L.  F.,  V.  cited  by  Gindely  I.  pp.  124,  125. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  239 

rebaptism.  In  a  letter  to  a  friend  he  said,  that  he  no  longer 
considered  it  essential  and  that  it  would  be  well  to  abolish 
this  practice  in  course  of  time. 

And  now  the  career  of  this  illustrious  Bishop  was  drawing 
to  a  close.  For  many  years  he  had  been  afflicted  with  stone. 
This  disease  became  aggravated  as  he  grew  older  and  brought 
on  his  end.  He  died  on  Friday,  the  eleventh  of  December, 
1528,  at  Jungbunzlau,  aged  seventy  years,  and  was  buried 
the  next  day  in  Mount  Carmel.  He  left  an  elaborate  will 
addressed  to  the  ministers  of  the  Church.^^  In  this  document 
he  commends  his  soul  to  God,  asks  his  brethren  to  forgive  his 
faults,  suggests  in  what  way  the  government  of  the  Church 
shall  be  carried  on,  leaves  his  writings  in  its  hands,  gives 
some  account  of  its  property,  recommends  the  poor  to  its 
special  care,  and  solemnly  declares  that  he  dies  with  unchang- 
ing loyalty  to  the  Unity  of  the  Brethren. 

Luke  was  a  great  man,  "  mighty  in  word  and  deed."  ^^ 
He  gave  to  the  Unitas  Fratrum  a  new  and  better  form. 
Gregory  was  its  founder,  Luke  its  renovator.  Without  him 
it  would  have  gradually  petrified  and  become  incapable  of 
inward  development  or  of  outward  growth. 

His  literary  activity  never  flagged,  resulting  in  the  pro- 
duction of  eighty-five  works.^  They  are  written,  however, 
in  a  style  that  is  obscure,  inelegant  and  perverted  with  a 
multitude  of  Latinisms  and  Germanisms.  As  a  historian  he 
is  not  only  without  authority  but  he  also  not  unfrequently,  by 
reason  of  his  strong  polemical  bias,  misleads  his  readers. 

Luke's  colleague.  Bishop  Ambrose,  died  eight  years  earlier, 
in  1 520,  at  Jungbunzlau,  and  was  buried  in  Mount  Carmel. 

"  Todtenbuch,  pp.  8-11. 

22  Todtenbuch,  p.  8. 

23  Gindely  in  Bohm.  Muscal-Zeitschr.,  1861,  p.  278. 


240  THE    HISTORY    OP 


PERIOD  VI 


THE  UNITAS  FRATRUM  IN  ITS  RELATION  TO  THE 
REFORMERS  AND  ITS  CONSEQUENT  DE- 
VELOPMENT.    A.  D.  1529-1580. 


CHAPTER  XXYI. 

Further  Intercourse,  between  the  Unitas  Fratrum  and  Luther; 
new  Confessions  of  Faith.     A.  D.  1529-1539. 


Finding  and  Burial  of  the  Body  of  Lewis. — Ferdinand  the  First  elected 
King  of  Bohemia  and  Hungary. — His  Polity. — Tlie  Unitas  Fratrum 
undisturbed. — Election  of  Bishops. — Ciklowsky,  Bily  and  Horn. — 
Synod  of  1532. — John  Augusta  and  his  bold  Course. — Election  of 
Bishops.  —  Augusta,  Baworinsky  and  Veit.  —  The  Unitas  Fratrum 
assumes  a  new  Position. — A  Confession  of  Faith  presented  to  the 
Elector  of  Brandenburg.— Published  by  Luther  at  Wittenberg  with  a 
Preface  of  his  own. — Rebaptism  relinquished. — Persecution  in  royal 
Cities. — The  Presentation  of  a  Confession  of  Faith  to  Ferdinand  the 
First. — He  promises  the  Brethren  Peace. — The  Elector  of  Saxony  and 
their  Confession. — Missions  to  Luther  and  Negotiations  with  regard  to 
the  Publication  of  their  Confession  and  of  their  Apology. 

For  more  than  six  weeks  the  body  of  the  unfortunate 
young  king  lay  buried  in  a  rude  grave,  dug  by  unknown 
hands,  on  the  bank  of  the  Danube,  near  the  spot  where  he 
had  perished.  Thither  came  Ub'ich  Zettritz  and  other  nobles, 
sent  by  the  Queen  to  search  for  the  corpse,  found  this  grave, 
disinterred  the  remains,  and  conveyed  them  to  Stuhlweissen- 
burg,  in  Hungary,  where  amidst  solemn  chants  and  imposing 
ceremonies,  they  were  deposited  in  the  royal  vault.  Lewis 
was  the  last  of  the  Jagellons.  In  consequence  of  his  death, 
Bohemia  fell  to  the  House  of  Hapsburg.     On  the  twenty- 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  241 

third  of  October,  1526,  one  of  its  representatives,  the  Austrian 
Archduke  Ferdinand,  a  brother  of  the  Emperor  Charles  the 
Fifth,  was  chosen  king  by  the  Diet.  After  having  promised 
to  maintain  the  constitution,  to  uphold  the  Compactata,  and 
to  respect  the  prerogatives  of  the  nobility,  and  after  having 
given  a  written  declaration  that  he  had  no  inherited  claim  to 
the  kingdom,  but  was  its  sovereign  merely  by  election,  his 
coronation  took  place  at  Prague,  on  the  twenty-fourth  ot 
February,  1527/  Soon  after  he  was  chosen  king  of  Hun- 
gary, and  in  1531,  Roman  king. 

The  policy  which  Ferdinand  set  on  foot  exerted  a  lasting 
influence  upon  the  Unitas  Fratrum.  This  policy  may  be 
designated  as  Spanish-Austrian  in  its  character.  He  had 
been  educated  in  Spain  and  was  a  bigoted  Romanist.  While 
his  religious  convictions  were  sincere  and  he  meant  to  be  just, 
his  mind  was  warped  by  its  one-sided  training,  he  gave  no 
heed  to  the  solemn  calls  of  his  age  and  failed  to  comprehend 
that  the  world  had  been  turned  into  a  new  current  which  no 
human  hand  could  arrest.  To  restore,  at  all  hazards,  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  to  its  former  supremacy  throughout 
Bohemia  and  Moravia ;  and  to  re-establish  the  royal  authority 
which  had  been  overshadowed  by  the  power  of  the  nobles; — 
such  was  his  purpose.  But  he  was  too  prudent  to  let  it  be- 
come i^rematurely  known ;  nor  had  the  time  arrived  for 
carrying  it  into  execution.  Hungary  and  the  Turks  absorbed 
his  attention.  John  Zapolya,  the  Prince  of  Transylvania,  had 
set  up  a  rival  claim  to  the  Hungarian  crown  and  had  invoked 
the  aid  of  Solyman,  w^hose  hordes  anew  invaded  the  country, 
advanced  into  Austria  and  besieged  Vienna.  Under  such 
circumstances  Ferdinand  did  not  interfere  in  the  relig-ious 
affairs  of  Bohemia  and  Moravia,  except  that  he  began  severe 
measures  against  the  Anabaptists.^ 

^  Queen  Maria,  the  childless  widow  of  Lewis,  was  Ferdinand's  sister,  and 
Anna,  the  sister  of  Lewis,  was  Ferdinand's  wife. 

^  The  Anabaptists  owed  their  origin  to  Thomas  IMiinzer  and  were  a  body 

of  mystical  fanatics,  distorting  the  principles  of  the  Reformation.     They 

aimed  to  establish  a  union  of  all  the  spiritually  minded,  a  government 

sustained  by  immediate  revelations  of  God,  and  a  church  having  all  things 

10 


242  THE    HISTORY    OF 

The  Unitas  Fratrum  pursued  its  way  unhindered.  Bishop 
Martin  Skoda,  having  succeeded  Luke  as  President  of  the 
Council,  convoked  a  synod  at  Brandeis  on  the  Adler.  It 
met  in  September,  1529,  and  elected  Wenzel  Bily,  Andrew 
Ciklowsky  and  John  Roh  to  the  episcopacy.  They  were 
consecrated  by  Skoda  and  the  Assistant  Bishops  Wenzel  and 
Daniel.^  Two  of  them,  however,  exercised  the  functions 
of  their  office  but  a  short  time.  Ciklowsky  —  eloquent, 
faithful  to  God  and  of  a  heroic  mind,  but  stern,  passionate, 
and  peculiar  in  his  ways — died  a  few  weeks  after  his  conse- 
cration ;  Bily  fell  into  sin  and  was  deposed.*  John  Roh,  on 
the  contrary — who  was  also  known  as  Horn,  or  Cornu — took 
part  for  eighteen  years  in  the  government  of  the  Church, 
ruling  faithfully  and  well.  He  was  a  native  of  Taus  and 
had  been  ordained  to  the  priesthood  in  1518.  Although  not 
a  learned  man,  he  spoke  several  modern  languages  with 
fluency.  Of  keen  understanding  and  liberal  in  his  views,  he 
realized  the  importance  of  the  events  which  the  Reformation 
was  brinffino;  about;  and  having;;  been  associated  with  both 
the  deputations  to  Luther,  he  had  learned  to  honor  him  as  its 
heroic  leader.  But  as  long  as  Skoda  stood  at  the  head  of  the 
Unity,  Horn  made  no  attempt  to  change  the  exclusive  policy 
which  prevailed  and  which  had  been  introduced  by  Luke. 

And  yet  this  policy  Avas  hastening  to  an  end.  In  1532,  on 
the  fourteenth  of  April,  there  met,  at  Brandeis  on  the  Adler, 
a  synod  which  led  the  Unitas  Fratrum  to  a  position  of 
prominence  and  influence  such  as  it  had  aever  before  occupied. 
At  this  meeting  Bishop  Skoda,  being  advanced  in  years, 
resigned  his  presidency  in  favor  of  Horn,  and  announced 
that  new  bishops  were  to  be  chosen  and   other  vacancies  in 

in  common.  They  were  particularly  numerous  in  Moravia,  where  they  had 
about  sixty  congregations.  Some  of  the  nobles  were  their  friends  and  they 
had  accessions  even  from  the  higher  ranks  of  the  Eoman  Catholic  clergy. 

3  Jaffet's  Sword  of  Goliath,  I.,  p.  17,  in  R's  Z.  p.  250. 

*  Todtenbuch,  pp.  11  and  12.  Ciklowsky  died  October  twenty-eighth, 
1529,  and  was  buried  at  .Jungbunzlau,  by  the  side  of  Luke,  whose  devoted 
disciple  he  had  been.  Bily  repented  and  was  re-admitted  to  church-fellow- 
ship, but  not  allowed  to  exercise  episcopal  functions.     He  died  in  1533. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  243 

the  Council  to  be  filled.  Such  elections  were  about  to  begin, 
when  a  young  priest,  John  Augusta  by  name,  rose  and 
addressed  the  synod.  He  said  that  he  spoke  in  the  name  of 
a  number  of  his  fellow  priests ;  that  he  and  they  were 
unanimously  of  the  opinion  that  the  Executive  Council  had 
become  torpid  and  was  an  inactive  body;  that  it  did  not 
show  itself  equal  to  the  requirements  of  the  age;  and  that 
there  must  be  infused  into  it  a  new  and  vigorous  element. 
Augusta  did  still  more.  With  an  imperturbable  self-posses- 
sion, which  struck  the  older  members  of  the  synod  dumb,  he 
offered  himself  and  four  of  his  friends — Martin  Michalek, 
Michael  Weiss,  Mach  Sionsky  and  John  of  Tein — as  can- 
didates for  the  Council.^  They  were  elected.  But  a  still 
greater  triumph  awaited  the  bold  speaker.  He  and  two  of 
his  associates,  Benedict  Baworinsky  and  Veit,  who  fully 
shared  his  progressive  views,  were  chosen  bishops  and  conse- 
crated by  Skoda,  Horn,  Wenzel  and  Daniel.  Skoda  died 
soon  after.  He  was  a  man  of  simple  ways  and  distinguished 
piety.''  Bishop  Horn  being  in  sympathy  with  the  position  of 
his  new  colleagues,  the  Unity  now  assumed  a  far  more  con- 
spicuous attitude.  From  this  time  forth  its  history  constitutes 
an  important  part  of  Bohemian  history  in  general.^ 

The  man  who  took  the  initiative  in  bringing  about  this 
change,  John  Augusta,  was  the  son  of  a  hatter,  and  born  at 
Prague,  in  the  year  1500.  Originally  a  member  of  the 
Utraquist  Church,  he  was  offended  by  the  immoral  lives  of 
its  priests,  sought  fellowshiji  with  the  Nikolaites,  who  failed 
to  satisfy  his  longings,  and  at  last  found  peace  among  the 
Brethren.  In  1524  he  joined  the  church  at  Juugbunzlau, 
and  soon  began  to  prepare  for  the  ministry.      Not  having 

5  Boh.  Hist.  Fr.,  I.  p.  897,  cited  by  Gindely. 

®  Gindely,  without  assi.2:ning  any  authority,  says  that  Skoda  died  before  the 
meeting  of  this  Synod.  Czerwenka  follows  him.  But  the  presence  of  Skoda 
at  the  Synod  is  evident  from  .Jaffet,  Sword  of  Goliath,  I.  p.  18,  R's  Z.  p.  251. 

'  The  synod  of  1532  adopted  a  resolution  with  regard  to  the  writings  of 
Luke,  similar  to  that  in  relation  to  the  writings  of  Gregory.  Luke's 
doctrinal  position  was  to  be  of  authority  only  in  so  far  as  it  fully  agreed 
with  the  Bible.     The  Unity  acknowledged  no  other  standard. 


244  THE    HISTORY    OF 

enjoyed  a  classical  education,  he  now  took  up  the  study  of 
Latin,  which  language  he  mastered.  In  1529  he  was 
ordained  a  deacon,  and  in  1531  advanced  to  the  priesthood.^ 

Augusta  must  be  classed  among  those  men  who  are  born 
to  rule.  His  energy  was  boundless,  his  will  indomitable. 
The  persistence  with  which  he  pursued  his  aims  degenerated, 
at  times,  into  obstinacy  ;  and  the  ambition  which  inflamed 
him,  too  often  kept  his  steps  away  from  the  paths  of  humility 
and  disqualified  him  for  learning  of  his  Divine  Master 
meekness  and  lowliness  of  heart.  And  yet  he  was  a  great 
man  and  his  works  were  illustrious.  Endowed  with  natural 
gifts  of  an  extraordinary  character,  he  became  Bohemia's  most 
distinguished  preacher,  earned  the  title  of  "  the  Bohemian 
Luther,"  stood  high  among  many  eminent  nobles  as  a  trusted 
counsellor  and  friend,  corresponded  with  the  leading  Re- 
formers of  Germany  and  Switzerland,  and  labored  for  the 
Unity  with  burning  zeal  and  fiery  enthusiasm.  His  career 
was  a  drama  setting  forth  heroic  incidents,  tragic  scenes,  a 
lamentable  fall.  No  other  bishop  of  the  Brethren  was  like 
him  in  his  glory  and  in  his  shame. 

His  colleague  Baworinsky,  the  scion  of  a  noble  house, 
possessed  rare  gifts  both  as  a  speaker  and  writer;^  his  col- 
league Veit — the  brother  of  Martin  INIichalek — had  studied 
at  the  University  of  Prague,  attained  the  degree  of  a  Bachelor 
and  was  eminent  for  his  scholarship. 

Soon  after  the  adjournment  of  the  synod  a  new  Confession 
of  Faith  was  drawn  up,  probably  by  Horn  and  Augusta,  and 
printed  at  Jungbunzlau  (1532).  This  was  done  at  the 
instance  of  Baron  Conrad  von  Krajek,  in  order  that  the 
document  might  be  presented  to  the  Margrave  George  of 
Brandenburg,  a  supporter  of  the  Reformation,  who  had 
expressed  a  desire  to  become  acquainted  with  the  doctrines  of 
the  Brethren.  The  Confession  was  written  in  Bohemian. 
Michael  Weiss  produced  a  faulty  German  translation,  which, 

8  Todtenbuch,  pp.  49-51. 

^  On  the  authority  of  Blahoslaw,  which  is,  however,  not  substantiated  by 
a  reference,  Gindely,  I.  p.  221,  calls  Baworinsky  an  idiot !  What  we  have 
said  in  the  text  is  based  upon  the  record  given  in  the  Todtenbuch,  p.  13. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  245 

moreover,  contained  interpolations  of  his  own.  This  version, 
through  the  overhasty  zeal  of  several  Swiss  who  were  visiting 
Jungbunzlau,  was  printed  at  Zurich,  before  the  Bishops  could 
prevent  its  publication  (1532).^"  In  consequence  they  had  a 
correct  German  translation  made  (1533),  and  sent  it  to  Luther 
by  the  hands  of  Martin  Michalek  and  another  deputy.  In 
the  name  of  the  entire  Council  these  messengers  begged 
Luther  to  have  the  document  printed  at  Wittenberg,  and  to 
write  a  preface  of  his  own.  He  consented ;  and  the  work 
appeared  in  due  time.^^  In  this  way  the  connection  between 
the  Unitas  Fratrum  and  the  Reformer  of  Wittenberg  was 
renewed.  It  would  seem  that  neither  party  alluded  to  the 
estrangement  which  had  taken  place  in  the  time  of  Bishop  Luke. 

In  his  preface  Luther  says,  that  he  has  published  the  Con- 
fession, because  he  desires  to  promote  the  unity  of  faith  among 
all  Christians ;  and  because  although  the  Brethren  express 
themselves  in  a  way  which  he  would  not  adopt,  the  document 
shows  how  diligently  they  have  studied  the  Scriptures,  how 
near  to  this  divine  standard  they  have  remained,  and  how 
groundless  it  is  to  call  them  heretics. 

A  copy  of  the  Confession,  as  printed  at  Wittenberg,  was 
presented  to  the  Margrave  of  Brandenburg. 

Both  the  Zurich  and  Wittenberg  editions  spread  over 
Germany,  exciting  general  interest.  At  the  same  time  the 
discrepancies  between  them  were  apparent.  Hence  Wolfgang 
Musculus  and  other  Lutheran  divines  of  Augsburg  wrote  to 
Bishop  Horn  to  know  which  was  the  authorized  translation. 
In  the  course  of  the  correspondence  which  followed,  they 
suggested  the  issuing  of  a  Latin  version. 


'"  "  Rechenschaffl  des  Glaubens,  der  Dienst  vnd  Cerimonien  der  briider 
in  Behmen  vnd  Mehren.  Getruckt  zu  Zurich  bey  Christofflel  Froschouer." 
A  duodecimo  of  XLVI  fols.     Malin  Library,  No.  808. 

11  "  Rechenschaffl  des  glaubens :  der  dienst  vnd  Ceremonien,  der  Briider 
in  Beheman  vnd  Mehrern,  welche  von  etlichen  Pickarten,  vnd  von  etlichen 
Waldenser  genant  werden.  Sampt  einer  nutzlichen  Vorrliede  Doct.  Mart. 
Luth.  Gedruckt  zu  Wittenberg  durch  Hans  Luffl.  MDXXXIII.  A 
quarto  of  98  pages,  which  are  not  numbered.  Malin  Library,  No.  345. 
Luther's  Preface  is  reprinted  in  Gindely's  Quellen,  pp.  32-35. 


246  THE    HISTORY    OF 

Before  this  suggestion  could  be  carried  out,  an  important 
change  in  the  practice  of  the  Church  was  made.  Voices  had 
occasionally  been  raised  within  the  Unity  itself  against  the 
rebaptism  of  Roman  Catholics.  In  particular  had  this  usage 
been  condemned  by  John  Cerny,  a  distinguished  physician 
and  the  brother  of  Luke.  But  yet  it  had  been  continued 
from  year  to  year.  Now  however  that  time  had  arrived,  of 
which  Luke  himself  had  spoken  prior  to  his  death,  when  the 
question  of  abolishing  the  practice  could  no  longer  be  avoided. 
Not  only  were  more  liberal  views  with  regard  to  baptism 
spreading  among  the  Brethren,  but  the  Diet  had  also  adopted 
a  sev^ere  edict  against  rebaptism  as  administered  by  the  Ana- 
baptists. This  edict  might  be  made  to  apply  to  the  Unity 
likewise,  although  its  usage  had  nothing  in  common  with 
theirs.  Under  these  circumstances  Bishop  Horn  issued  a 
circular  letter  asking  each  church  to  decide  the  question  pre- 
liminarily for  itself.  Thereupon  a  synod  was  held  at  Jung- 
bunzlau  (1534).  By  an  almost  unanimous  vote  this  body 
abolished  rebaptism  and  acknowledged  the  validity  of  baptism 
as  administered  in  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. ^^  Only  one 
minister,  a  certain  Valenta,  of  Holeschau,  in  Moravia,  resisted 
this  enactment  and  alienated  four  parishes.  No  sooner,  how- 
ever, was  he  dead,  than  they  all  rejoined  the  Unity.^^ 

Meantime  important  developments  in  connection  with  the 
Reformation  had  taken  place  in  Germany.  The  Protest  of 
Spires  had  come  to  pass  (1529),  the  Conference  of  Marburg 
had  been  held  (1529),  and  the  Confession  of  Augsburg  pre- 
sented (1530).  This  last  event  suggested  a  similar  step  to 
the  Brethren.  There  were  grave  reasons  for  it.  In  1535 
Ferdinand  began  to  manifest,  in  some  of  the  royal  cities,  an 
alarming  hostility.  Members  of  the  Unity  were  ordered  to 
appear  for  trial  at  Prague ;  John  the  Hermit,  a  priest  of 
extraordinary  piety  and  influence,  was  cast  into  prison ;  and 

'2  Dekrete  d.  u.,  p.  147,  cited  by  Czerwenka,  II.  p.  207. 

1^  Valenta  choked  to  death,  in  1534  or  1535,  at  the  dinner  table  of  Baron 
von  Holeschau,  whom  he  had  induced  to  leave  the  Church.  Todtenbuch, 
p.  13. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  247 

two  young  Barons  von  Janowic,  on  whose  domains  he  labored 
and  who  had  refused  to  give  him  up,  shared  the  same  fate.'* 

Although  this  persecution  was,  as  yet,  but  a  little  flame,  it 
might,  at  any  time,  burst  into  a  formidable  and  pitiless  con- 
flagration. Hence  the  Bishops  and  Executive  Council  resolved 
upon  a  deputation  to  the  King,  which  should  present  to  him, 
in  the  name  of  the  ministers  and  nobles  of  the  Church,  a  new 
Confession  of  Faith.  Such  a  Confession  was  drawn  up,  in 
Latin,  by  Horn  and  Augusta.  It  embraced,  first,  an  intro- 
duction setting  forth  the  origin  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum,  the 
development  of  its  faith  as  shown  in  its  various  confessions, 
the  abrogation  of  rebaptism,  and  the  relation  of  the  Brethren 
to  the  Anabaptists ;  second,  a  manly  preface  by  the  nobles ; 
and  third,  twenty  doctrinal  articles.  This  document  having 
been  signed  by  twelve  barons  and  thirty-three  knights,  William 
Krinecky,  as  the  representative  of  the  former,  and  Henry 
Domausky,  on  the  part  of  the  latter,  were  appointed  to  under- 
take its  presentation.'^  Accompanied  by  Bishop  Augusta, 
Baron  Krajek  and  two  other  nobles,  these  envoys  proceeded 
to  Vienna  in  the  autumn  of  1535.  On  the  eleventh  of  No- 
vember Ferdinand  admitted  Krajek  to  a  preliminary  audience, 
at  which  no  one  else,  except  the  Vice  Chancellor  of  Bohemia, 
was  present.  After  thanking  the  King  for  granting  him  an 
interview,  the  Baron  introduced  the  case  of  John  the  Hermit 
and  the  Janowics;  begged  that  these  prisoners  might  be 
liberated;  avowed  himself  a  member  of  the  Unity;  and  inti- 
mated that  it  would  relinquish  its  faith  only  if  this  faith 
were  shown,  from  the  Holy  Scriptures,  to  be  false.  At  first 
the  King  replied  in  a  calm  tone.  Presently  however  he  rose, 
advanced  a  few  steps  to  a  table,  and  turning  upon  Krajek 
exclaimed  in  a  loud  voice :  "  We  would  like  to  know  how  you 

"  They  were  the  sons  of  that  Peter  Suda  who  had  arrested  and  maltreated 
Bishop  Luke  but  afterward  became  a  friend  of  the  Brethren,  in  whose  schools 
these  young  men  were  educated.  Suda  was  still  living,  but  had  made  over 
his  domains  to  his  sons. 

'*  Gindely  says,  I.  p.  234,  that  all  the  nobles  belonging  to  the  Unity  signed 
the  Confession,  but  he  must  mean  those  in  Bohemia  only,  for  the  list  of 
signatures  which  he  gives  lacks  well-known  Moravian  names. 


248  THE    HISTORY    OF 

came  to  accept  this  (Picard)  faith.  The  devil  must  have 
persuaded  you."  "  Not  the  devil,  gracious  liege,"  answered 
the  Baron,  "but  Christ  the  Lord  through  the  Bible.  If 
Christ  was  a  Picard,  I  am  one  too."  At  this  reply  Ferdinand 
crrew  livid  with  rage.  "  What  business  have  you  to  meddle 
with  such  things?"  he  demanded  in  his  harshest  manner. 
"  You  are  neither  pope,  nor  emperor,  nor  king !  Nevertheless, 
believe  what  you  will ;  we  do  not  prevent  you.  For  all  we 
care,  you  may  go  to  hell !"  Krajek  remained  silent.  "  Be- 
lieve what  you  please,"  the  King  continued  in  the  same 
violent  manner,  "  we  do  not  hinder  you  ;  but  we  will  hinder 
your  meetings,  at  which  you  carry  on  your  hocus-pocus. 
This  we  will  not  permit,  and  even  if  it  should  cost  us  our 
neck.  And  now  we  desire  no  further  disputation  with  you." 
Krajek  protested  his  loyalty,  and  Ferdinand,  somewhat  molli- 
fied, dismissed  him  more  graciously. 

Undismayed  by  this  outburst  of    anger,  which  did    not 
promise  them  a  favorable  reception,  Krinecky  and  Domausky 
appeared  before  the  King,  three  days  later  (November  the 
fourteenth),  and  formally  presented  the  Confession.     Baron 
Krinecky  was  the  spokesman.     He  said,  that  the  ministers 
and  nobles  of  the  Unity  delivered  this  document  in  order  that 
his  Majesty  might  decide  for  himself,  whether  it  was,  or  was 
not,  right  to  call  the  Brethren  Picards  and  whether  the  abusive 
language  used  by  the  Utraquist  priests  in  their  pulpits — that 
it  was  less  sinful  to  kill  a  Picard   than  a  dog — would  tend  to 
the  peace  and   unity  of  the  kingdom.      The  answer  of  the 
King  was  affable.     All  signs  of  his  recent  auger  had  disap- 
peared.    He  received  the  Confession  and  promised  to  examine 
it  carefully.      On   the   twenty-first  of   November   the   two 
deputies  had  a  second  audience,  at  which  he  said  that  he  had 
been  prevented  by  other  engagements  from  reading  the  docu- 
ment; but  that  he  ^vas  willing  to  grant  the  Brethren  peace,  if 
they  would  remain  his  loyal  subjects.     It  is  evident  that  the 
step  taken  by  the  Unity  left  at  least  a  passing  impression  upon 
his  mind.     He  did  not  relinquish  the  purpose  which  he  was 
nurturing  in  secret,  but  he  gave  up  all  thoughts  of  an  imme- 
diate persecution. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  249 

The  Elector  John  Frederick  of  Saxony,  who  followed  the 
great  example  of  his  father  in  supporting  the  Reformation, 
happened  to  be  on  a  visit  to  Vienna.  He  had  written  to 
Kostka,  a  Bohemian  noble  belonging  to  the  Unity,  and  asked 
for  an  account  of  the  faith  of  the  people  called  Picards,  who 
were  said  to  live  on  this  Baron's  estates.  Kostka  hastened  to 
Vienna  and  supplied  him  with  a  copy  of  the  Confession 
delivered  to  Ferdinand.  It  was  translated  into  German,  fpr 
the  Elector's  use,  by  Spalatin  and  John  Agricola,  who  were 
in  his  suite.  Bishop  Augusta  assisted  them.  In  this  way 
these  two  Lutheran  divines  became  thoroughly  acquainted 
with  the  belief  of  the  Brethren.  It  elicited  their  unqualified 
admiration.  "  We  would  not  have  thought  it  possible  that 
such  an  exposition  of  doctrine  could  be  found  in  Bohemia," 
they  said.  And  when  the  Elector  had  read  the  Confession,  he 
averred  that  the  Brethren  were  true  Christians  and  upheld 
the  true  faith. 

Meanwhile  in  the  beginning  of  1535,  another  mission  to 
Luther  had  been  undertaken.^^  Its  object  Avas  to  inquire  into 
the  doctrines,  the  faith  and  particularly  the  life  prevailing  at 
Wittenberg;  as  also  to  ascertain  whether  the  Lutherans,  as 
was  commonly  said  in  Bohemia,  were  opposing  the  Brethren 
on  the  score  of  their  discipline.  The  Bishops  had  cogent 
reasons  for  desiring  to  obtain  such  information.  Evil  reports 
of  the  morals  of  Wittenberg  and  of  its  university  in  particular, 
were  spreading  in  Bohemia ;  and  several  young  members  of 
the  Unity,  on  their  return  from  that  school,  had  shown  them- 
selves to  be  unfit  for  service  among  the  Brethren,  one  of  them 
even  becoming  a  pervert  to  Romanism. 

The  deputies,  at  whose  head  stood  Martin  Michalek,  having 


'^  A  full  account  of  this  and  other  missions  to  the  Reformers  is  found  in 
a  Bohemian  Quarto  MS.,  written,  in  part,  by  Nicholas  of  Schlan,  (See  p. 
171,  Note  15,  of  this  History)  and  preserved  in  the  Herrnhut  Archives. 
Gindely  in  his  Quellen,  pp.  16-45,  has  publislied  a  German  translation  of  the 
larger  part  of  this  invaluable  record.  Upon  it  is  also  based,  to  a  great 
extent,  the  account,  as  given  above,  of  the  presentation  of  the  Confession  to 
Ferdinand.     Comp.  further  Gindely's  Geschichte  d.  B.  B.,  I.  pp.  234-238. 


250  THE    HISTORY    OF 

presented  two  letters  from  Bishop  Baworinsky,  the  one 
addressed  to  Luther,  the  other  to  Melanchthon,  spent  four 
Aveeks  at  Wittenberg  in  fraternal  intercourse  with  the  Reform- 
ers. Justification  by  faith,  baptism,  the  Lord's  Supper,  and 
other  theological  points  were  freely  discussed.  The  discipline 
of  the  Brethren  which,  in  the  time  of  Luke,  had  called  forth 
Luther's  strictures,  now  excited  his  profound  admiration  ;  and 
he  expressed  his  regret  that  he  could  not,  as  yet,  introduce  a 
similar  system.  It  had,  he  said,  thus  far  been  his  province 
to  destroy,  rather  than  to  build  up.  The  time  for  building 
up  was,  however,  at  hand.'''  The  deputies  "  recognized  Ihe 
pious  purposes  of  the  Reformers  and  perceived  that  the  state 
of  affairs  among  the  Lutherans  was  entirely  different  from 
what  had  been  reported  in  Boliemia,  and  that  there  was  far 
more  of  good  than  of  evil  among  them,  especially  in  point  of 
doctrine.  They  convinced  themselves,  too,  that  the  Reformers 
were  not  only  not  opposed  to  the  Unity,  but  also  willing  to 
stand  by  it,  as  brethren  in  the  Lord,  treading  the  same  way 
of  salvation  which,  for  years,  had  been  trodden  in  Bohemia 
and  Moravia."  '^  The  parting  with  Luther  was  cordial.  "  Tell 
the  Brethren,"  he  said,  "  that  they  shall  hold  fast  that  which 
God  has  given  them  and  not  relinquish  their  constitution  and 
discipline."  *'  On  account  of  our  discipline,"  replied  one  of 
the  deputies,  "  many  oppose  and  revile  us  as  a  new  monkish 
sect."  Luther  rejoined  :  "  Let  the  Brethren  take  no  heed  of 
such  revilements.  The  world  will  behave  foolishly.  We 
here  are  not  exempt  from  its  abuse.  If  you,  in  Bohemia, 
were  to  live  as  we  do,  that  would  be  said  of  you-  Avhich  is  said 
of  us — that  we  are  a  wild  set,  eating  and  drinking  without 
fearing  the  Lord.  If  we  were  to  live  as  you  do,  that  would 
be  reported  of  us  which  is  reported  of  you.     The  world  is 

^'  "  Ich  musste  aus  vielen  Griinden  zerstoren,  ich  konnte  nicht  umhin  (wo 
der  Papst  machtig  war  und  man  viel  Werth  auf  solches  legte)  die  Monchs- 
kappe  eine  solche  zu  schimpfen;  doch  mochte  icli  nun  wohl  gern  eine 
Ordnung  einfiiliren.  Denn  ich  will  die  Kirche  nicht  zerstoren,  sondern 
aufbauen."     Gindely's  Quellen,  p.  17. 

^®  Nicholas  of  Schlan's  Record,  Quellen,  p.  18. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  251 

satisfied  with  nothing.  It  mnst  always  seek  occasion  to  find 
fault.  Tell  the  Brethren  to  pay  no  heed  to  the  world,  but  to 
maintain  their  constitution  and  discipline." 

On  their  return  to  Bohemia  the  deputies  delivered  answers 
from  Luther  and  Melanchthon  to  Bishop  Baworinsky's  letters, 
and  reported  the  friendly  feeling  which  prevailed  at  Witten- 
berg. 

The  satisfaction  which  this  intelligence  caused  was  enhanced 
by  the  news  brought  from  Vienna.  No  better  time  could  be 
found — so  thought  the  Bishops  and  the  whole  Council — for 
giving  to  the  world,  again  under  the  auspices  of  Luther,  the 
Confession  presented  to  Ferdinand  and  thus  making  known 
the  decided  step  which  the  Unity  had  taken. 

With  this  end  in  view  Bishop  Augusta  himself,  accompanied 
by  Erasmus  Sommerfeld  von  Tunic  and  George  Israel,  pro- 
ceeded to  Wittenberg  (June,  1536).  The  overture  to  Luther 
met  with  a  friendly  response.  He  said  that  he  had  received, 
through  Spalatin  and  Agricola,  a  favorable  report  of  the 
Confession,  and  proposed  that  it  should  now  be  submitted  to  a 
conference  of  Wittenberg  divines  for  further  examination. 
This  suggestion  was  eminently  reasonable,  as  Luther  had  been 
asked  to  write  a  preface  and  consequently  wished  to  be  assured 
that  the  work  contained  nothing  to  which  he  could  not  sub- 
scribe. The  conference  took  place  at  his  house.  There  were 
present,  besides  himself,  Justus  Jonas,  John  Bugenhagen, 
Philip  Melanchthon,  Caspar  Cruciger  and  a  bishop — so  says 
the  record — whose  name  the  deputies  did  not  know.  The 
Confession  was  discussed  and  met  with  unanimous  approval, 
excepting  the  articles  on  the  celibacy  of  the  clergy  and  the 
time  of  grace.  As  regarded  the  former  point  Augusta  ex- 
plained that  it  referred  to  a  voluntary  celibacy ;  the  latter  he 
promised  to  refer  to  his  fellow  bishops.  The  deputation  spent 
several  weeks  at  Wittenberg.  On  taking  leave,  when  the 
impracticability  of  a  union  between  the  Brethren  and  the 
Lutherans  was  alluded  to,  Luther  said :  "  It  must  be  so;  do  you 
be  the  Bohemian,  we  will  be  the  German  Reformers ;  do  you 
labor  for  Christ  according  to  your  circumstances,  we  will  labor 


252  THE    HISTORY    OF 

according  to  ours."  ^^  A  letter  to  the  Bishops  which  he  gave 
Augusta,  suggested  that  they  should  either  change  the  article 
on  the  time  of  grace,  or  word  it  with  greater  perspicuity,  so 
that  he  could  write  his  preface  accordingly.  They  adopted 
this  suggestion,  defining  the  time  of  grace  as  one  which  con- 
tinues as  long  as  life,  but  adding  that  signs  of  true  repentance 
very  rarely  appear  on  a  bed  of  death.  Luther  had  declared 
hmiself  satisfied  with  the  article  on  celibacy ;  nevertheless 
they  gave  a  clearer  definition  of  the  views  and  practice  of  the 
Church  with  regard  to  this  subject  likewise.^'^  Thereupon 
Augusta,  again  accompanied  by  Sommerfeld  and  Israel,  re- 
turned to  Wittenberg  not  only  with  this  corrected  Confession 
but  also  with  the  Latin  version — which  had  meanwhile  been 
completed — of  the  Apology  presented  to  the  Margrave  of 
Brandenburg.  Both  these  works  Luther  promised  to  publish. 
Three-quarters  of  a  year  passed  by,  however,  and  they  did 
not  appear.  Toward  the  end  of  1537  the  Bishops  dispatched 
a  messenger  with  a  letter  to  Luther  inquiring  the  reason  of  the 
delay.  He  could  not — so  he  wrote  in  reply — find  a  printer 
willing  to  take  the  risk  connected  with  such  a  publication; 
the  times  were  so  hard  that  publishers  feared  to  incur  heavy 
losses;  so  many  worthless  books  appeared  that  good  books 
were  supplanted ;  his  onerous  duties  and  frequent  ill  health 
must  serve  as  an  excuse  for  his  not  having  written  sooner. 
At  the  same  time  he  sent  back  both  the  Confessions.  The 
Bishops  and  the  whole  Council  were  bitterly  disappointed. 
It  is  true  that  they  might  have  issued  the  works  from  one  of 
their  own  printing  offices ;  but  in  this  way  they  would  not 
have  reached  the  purpose  which  they  had  in  view.  They 
meant,  by  the  publication  of  these  two  Confessions  under  the 
auspices  of  the  great  Reformer,  to  give  to  the  Unitas  Fratrum 
that  position  among  the  Protestant  churches  of  Europe  to 


'*  Lasitius  incorrectly,  as  Nicholas  of  Schlan's  record  proves,  reports  this 
saying  in  connection  with  Augusta's  last  visit  to  Luther.  Comenius,  Plitt, 
Croeger  and  even  Gindely  follow  Lasitius. 

2»  Art.  19,  ^^  4  and  5,  and  Art.  20,  §^  4  and  5  were  changed.  N.  of  Schlan's 
Record. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  253 

which  it  was  entitled,  both  in  view  of  its  history  and  of  its 
faith.  This  project  had  been  devised  in  the  fear  and  to  the 
glory  of  the  Lord.  To  Him,  therefore,  they  committed  it, 
in  earnest  and  frequent  prayer,  asking  Him  to  let  it  succeed, 
if  in  harmony  with  His  will,  but  to  frustrate  it,  if  not  ac- 
cording to  His  mind.  And  now  Augusta  and  his  two 
companions  visited  Wittenberg  a  third  time,  and  informed 
Luther  that  the  Council  was  willing  to  assume  a  part  of  the 
cost  of  publication.  As  soon  as  he  heard  this,  he  cheerfully 
offered  to  do  his  utmost  to  secure  a  publisher.  The  next  day, 
at  his  house,  a  contract  was  concluded  with  George  Rhaw. 
Luther's  wife  was  present  and  took  an  active  interest  in 
securing  favorable  terms  for  the  Brethren. 

The  Confession  and  the  Apology  appeared  in  one  volume 
(1538).^^  To  the  former  Luther  wrote  a  preface  in  which  he 
spoke,  in  very  appreciatory  terms,  of  the  faith  and  life  of  the 
Brethren,  commending  them  to  his  own  followers  and  to  all 
who  served  God  in  spirit  and  in  truth.  For  the  Apology 
Agricola  prepared  a  brief  introduction.^^  These  publications, 
as  the  Bishops  had  anticipated,  greatly  increased  the  interest 
with  which  the  Unity  was  regarded  among  Protestants. 

^' The  Title  of  the  Confession  is  the  following:  "Confessio  Fidel  ac 
Keligionis,  Baronvm  ac  Nobilivm  Regni  Bohoemiae  Serenissimo  ac  Inuic- 
tissimo  Romanorum,  Bohemiae  etc  Regi,  Viennae  Austriae,  sub  anno  Domini 
1535  oblata.  VVitebergae  in  Officina  Georgii  Rhaw."  Quarto,  34  fols. 
A  picture  of  Hus  and,  as  a  motto,  St.  Paul's  words  in  Acts  24 :  14,  adorn 
the  title-page.  Malin  Lib.,  No.  198.  This  Confession  is  contained  in 
Niemeyer  Conf.,  jjp.  771-818;  in  Lydius,  Tom.  II.  Part  2,  1-94;  and  in 
Kfficher's  Glaubensbekentnisse,  pp.  98-160,  but  in  the  last  named  work, 
without  the  introduction.  A  German  version  of  Luther's  Preface  to  this 
Confession  is  given  in  Comenii  Kirchen-Historie,  Schwabach,  1739,  pp. 
456-461.  The  title  of  the  Apology  is  the  following :  "Apologia  Verae 
Doctrinae  eorvm  qui  vvlgo  Appellantvr  VValdenses  vel  Picardi.  Retinue- 
rant  enim  Joannis  Hussitae  doctrinam,  cum  scripturis  Sanctis  consen- 
cientem.  Oblata  D.  Georgio  Marchioni  Brandenburgensi.  Impressum 
Viteberge  per  Georgium  Rhaw."  118  fols.  Title  and  last  page  adorned 
with  pictures  of  Hus.  Mottoes,  Psalm  69 :  8,  and  Jno.  15 :  25.  Malin  Lib., 
No.  198.     This  Apology  is  contained  in  Lydius,  Tom.  I.  Part  2,  pp.  92-367. 

""■  Oeconomia  locorvm  praecipvorvm  qui  in  hoc  libro  continentvr.  Lydius 
says,  in  a  marginal  note,  p.  93,  that  this  introduction  was  written  by  John 
Eisleben,  that  is,  Agricola. 


254  THE    HISTORY    OF 

The  Confession  is  based  upon  and  closely  follows  the  doc- 
trinal part  of  the  Apology.  In  its  Latin  form  the  latter  can, 
however,  scarcely  be  called  a  translation  from  the  German 
version  of  1533;  it  is,  in  fact,  a  new  work  comprising  five 
parts.  The  first  treats  of  the  origin  of  the  Unity ;  the  second, 
of  its  doctrines;  the  third,  of  its  membership  and  of  its  rules 
and  discipline ;  the  fourth,  of  its  ministry,  of  the  word  and 
the  sacraments;  and  the  fifth,  of  its  constitution,  worship  and 
ceremonies. 

Both  the  Apology  and  the  Confession  show  a  marked 
advance  in  the  knowledge  of  doctrinal  truth.  Rebaptism  is 
no  longer  taught ;  the  seven  sacraments  have  disappeared  • 
and  justification  by  faith  is  more  clearly  defined  and  more 
earnestly  insisted  on.^^  As  regards  the  Lord's  Supper  there 
are  references  to  former  Confessions  and  to  other  documents, 
to  show  that  the  Brethren  still  teach,  as  they  have  ever  taught, 
that  the  words  with  which  Christ  instituted  this  sacrament 
must  be  accepted  in  simple  faith  and  all  explanations  of  them 
avoided. 

Baworinsky  having  died  in  1535  and  Veit  in  1536,  the 
synod  of  1537,  which  met  at  Prossnitz  in  Moravia,  elected 
Martin  Michalek  and  Mach  Sionsky  to  the  episcopacy.  They 
were  consecrated  by  Horn,  Augusta,  Wenzel  and  Daniel.^* 

2^  In  the  Conf.  of  1535  we  find  the  following :  "  Men  are  freely  justified 
by  faith  in  Christ,  and  receive  salvation  and  the  remission  of  their  sins, 
without  any  human  works  or  merit."  "  By  faith  alone  men  are  justified  in 
the  sight  of  God,  without  any  exertions,  merits  or  works  of  their  own." 
The  Conf.  of  1532  is  the  first  wliicli  omits  the  seven  sacraments. 

2*  Jaffet's  Swonl  of  doliath,  p.  18.     E's  Z.,  p.  252. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH,  255 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

The   Unitas    Fratrum   and   the   tStrasburr/    Reformers.      LaM 
Mission  to  Luther.     A.  D.  1539-1546. 


The  Brethren  and  the  Habrowanites. — Visit  of  two  Waldenses. — Cerwenka 
and  the  Strasburg  Divines. — Letter  from  Bucer. — Letter  from  Calvin- 
— The  last  Visit  to  Luther  and  the  Discipline. — Death  of  Krajek. — 
Letter  from  Luther. — End  of  the  Amosites. — The  Decline  of  Utra- 
quism. — Its  continued  but  fruitless  opposition  to  the  Brethren. 

While  their  fellowship  with  the  Reformers  of  Germany- 
strengthened  the  hearts  of  the  Brethren,  they  reaped  nothing 
but  ill-will  and  abuse  from  their  intercourse  with  the 
Habrowanites.  Bishop  Luke  had  rejected  the  overtures  of 
this  sect;  now  that  he  was  dead,  they  were  persistently 
renewed  until  the  Council  agreed  to  a  conference  with 
Dubcansky.  It  was  held  in  1531,  and  four  years  later  a 
second  meeting  took  place.  But  both  occasions  again  showed 
that  the  Unity  had  nothing  in  common  with  fanaticism. 
Dubcansky 's  subsequent  imprisonment  cooled  his  ardor. 
After  he  had  been  set  free  he  ceased  to  teach  his  vagaries, 
and  his  followers  united  with  the  Anabaptists.^ 

The  Waldenses  of  France,  whom  Luke  had  visited,  had 
not  forgotten  the  Unity.  In  1540  two  of  their  number, 
Daniel  and  John,  both  learned  men,  came  to  Bohemia  and 
spent  half  a  year  among  the  Brethren.  It  proved  to  be  a 
pleasant  fellowship,  to  which  the  Lord's  Supper  set  its  seal. 


'  L.  F.,  IV.  p.   199,  etc.,  contains   a  full   report   of    those   conferences. 
R's  Z.  pp.  252-268. 


256  THE    HISTORY    OF 

The  visitors  rejoiced  to  find  that  the  report,  which  had 
reached  France,  of  a  spiritual  decline  in  the  Unity,  was 
unfounded ;  and  bewailed  the  disputes  that  had  broken  out 
among  their  own  people.^ 

Soon  after  these  Waldenses  had  bidden  farewell  to  the 
Brethren,  Matthias  Cerwenka,  a  teacher  at  Leitomischl  and 
an  acolyte  who  enjoyed  Bishop  Augusta's  particular  favor, 
was  sent  to  Strasburg.  Two  other  members  of  the  Church 
were  his  traveling  companions.^  He  was  instructed  to  make 
himself  acquainted  with  the  doctrines,  the  life  and  the  customs 
of  the  Reformers  of  that  city,  and  to  report  to  the  Council. 

Having  reached  Strasburg  in  June  he,  first  of  all,  visited 
Martin  Bucer  and  gave  him  a  copy  of  the  Confession  and 
Apology  published  at  Wittenberg,  as  also  a  letter  from 
Augusta.  In  this  letter  Augusta  asked  Bucer  for  an  opinion 
with  regard  to  the  doctrinal  system  of  the  Brethren  and 
complimented  him  on  his  writings,  especially  his  Com- 
mentaries, which,  he  said,  were  so  full  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
that  the  bishops  intended  to  translate  them  into  Bohemian, 

Bucer  received  Cerwenka  with  the  utmost  cordiality  and 
entertained  him  for  six  weeks  at  his  own  house.  In  the 
course  of  his  stay  he  became  acquainted  with  a  number  of 
distinguished  men,  and  particularly  mentions  a  dinner-party 
given  by  "  a  Doctor,"  at  which  he  met  Capito,  Caspar  Hedio, 
Joachim  Camerarius,  who,  at  a  later  time,  wrote  a  history 
of  the  Brethren,  John  Sturm,  John  Calvin,  who  had   been 


2  Lasitius,  V.  p.  76,  quoted  by  Plitt;  Comenii  Hist.,  §  78;  Camerarius, 
pp.  128,  129. 

3  Cerwenka,  who  often  signed  his  name  in  its  Greek  form,  Erythraeus, 
subsequently  rose  to  be  a  distinguislied  bishop.  Born  at  Celakowic, 
February  the  twenty-first,  1521,  he  joined  the  Brethren  at  Jungbunzhiu  in 
1533,  became  a  teacher  at  Leitomischl  in  1540,  a  deacon  in  1544  and  a 
priest  in  1549.  Todtenbuch,  pp.  42  and  43.  Cerwenka  himself  wrote  a 
very  interesting  account  of  his  visit  to  Strasburg.  It  forms  a  part  of  the 
Quarto  Boh.  MS.  found  in  the  Herrnhut  Archives  and  treating  of  the 
correspondence  of  the  Brethren  with  the  Reformers.  (See  Chapt.  XXVI., 
Note  16,  of  this  History.)  Gindely's  Quellen,  p.  35,  etc.  On  this  source, 
as  also  on  Comenii  Hist,  and  Reichel's  Geschichte,  our  narrative  is  based. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  257 

expelled  from  Geneva  in  1538,  Claiulius,  Professor  of  Greek 
at  the  Academy,  three  Doctors  of  law  and  several  other 
celebrities.  His  subsequent  intercourse  with  these  men  was 
pleasant  and  encouraging.  They  gave  unmistakable  tokens 
of  their  good  will  and  of  the  fraternal  love  with  which 
they  regarded  the  Unity.  "Not  a  little  astonished  were 
they,"  writes  Cerwenka,  "  at  our  past  history  and  present 
state." 

With  Bucer  he  had  a  formal  conversation,  in  the  presence 
of  other  divines,  on  the  Apology  of  the  Brethren.  Concern- 
ing the  discipline,  as  portrayed  in  this  publication,  Bucer 
expressed  himself  in  terms  of  unqualified  praise.  "  Your 
churches,"  he  said,  "  have  received  a  great  gift  from  God — 
the  bond  of  love  and  unity,  of  good  order  and  fellowship. 
Where  these  things  are  wanting,  Christ  is  driven  out  and 
can  neither  be  taught  nor  preached.  Many  have  cast  off  the 
yoke  of  Antichrist,  but  refuse  to  take  upon  themselves  the 
yoke  of  Christ.  May  God  our  Lord  guide  us,  for  we  are 
still  far  from  the  truth !"  Again  he  remarked :  "  Where 
order  and  discipline  prevail  in  the  Church,  there  the  divine 
throne  has  been  set  up."  The  constitution,  worship  and 
usages  of  the  Brethren  elicited  his  commendation  in  no  less 
a  degree.  He  declared  that  the  Unity  had  reached  the 
apostolic  ideal  more  nearly  than  any  other  Church,  adding  with 
tears,  as  he  turned  to  his  associates  :  "  Truly  this  is  more  of  a 
heavenly  than  of  an  earthly  system  !"  And  when  Cerwenka 
begged  him  to  write  words  of  encouragement  to  the  Brethren, 
he  replied :  "  What  shall  I  write  to  men  who  carry  on  the 
work  of  the  Lord  in  such  a  way ;  or  how  shall  I  instruct 
those  whom  God  has  himself  instructed  ?" 

Cerwenka  had  frequent  conversations  about  the  Unity  with 
Calvin  also.  From  him  he  learned  the  antecedents  of  the 
two  Waldenses,  who  had  recently  visited  Bohemia.  They 
were  well-known  to  Calvin.  He  said  that  he  had  himself 
been  associated  with  the  Waldenses,  but  had  withdrawn  from 
them  on  account  of  their  disputes  and  incorrect  views  in 
regard  to  justification  by  faith. 
17 


258  THE    HISTORY    OP 

When,  at  last,  the  time  arrived  for  parting  from  his  friends 
at  Strasburg,  Cerwenka  strongly  felt  what  the  Apostle  ex- 
perienced when  his  friends  came  from  Rome  to  meet  him : 
"  He  thanked  God  and  took  courage." 

Bucer,  Capito  and  Calvin  each  wrote  to  Augusta,  Bucer's 
communication  was  as  follows  : 

"  Your  letter  and  the  books  which  you  sent  have  occasioned 
me  much  joy.  Both  show  that  God  has  given  us  one  mind. 
This  difference  only  exists  between  us  and  you,  that  we  must  sow 
on  the  thorny  acre  of  the  papacy,  which  ground  has,  as  yet,  not 
brought  forth  a  Scriptural  discipline.  Hence  there  spring  up 
so  many  anabaptistical  and  other  weeds.  God  preserve  to  you 
that  which  He  has  given  you,  and  encourage  us  through  your 
example !  You  alone,  in  all  the  world,  combine  a  wholesome 
discipline  with  a  pure  faith.  I  have  read  your  Confession  and 
rejoiced  greatly  over  that  light  of  truth  and  good  order  which 
shines  among  you.  When  w^e  compare  our  Church  with  yours, 
we  must  be  ashamed.  What  I  have  heard  from  your  brother 
Matthias,  that  the  principal  ministers  among  you  are  unmarried, 
in  order  that  they  may  the  more  faithfully  serve  the  Lord  and 
attend  to  the  duties  of  their  office,  appears  to  me  to  be  proper. 
But  I  beseech  you,  let  no  one  esteem  celibacy  so  highly  as  to 
assume  it  contrary  to  his  own  inclinations,  and  let  it  not  be 
forced  upon  any  one.  Great  injury  came  to  the  Church  in  the 
times  of  the  apostles  and  martyrs,  because  celibacy  was  over- 
estimated, a  thing  which  Cyprian  and  others  bewail.  I  thank 
God  that  such  things  are  not  reported  of  you.  Therefore  we  will 
enter  into  fellowship  with  you.  Let  it  be  a  fellowship  not  only 
of  faith  and  purpose,  but  also  of  mutual  comfort  and  admonition. 
In  this  way  it  will  be  renewed  and  strengthened  from  time  to 
time." 

Calvin  wrote : 

"  I  congratulate  your  Churches  with  all  my  heart  that  the 
Lord,  in  addition  to  pure  doctrine,  has  given  them  so  many  other 
excellent  gifts.  It  is  a  thing  not  lightly  to  be  esteemed,  that  they 
have  shepherds  who  know  how  to  guide  and  direct  them,  and  that 
they  maintain  such  good  morals,  order  and  discipline.  These 
constitute  the  best  and  only  means  to  uphold  the  bond  of 
obedience.  We  have,  long  since,  recognized  the  value  of  such  a 
system,  but  cannot,  in  any  way,  attain  to  it.  Indeed  I  would 
despair,  if  I  did  not  know  that  the  building  up  of  the  Church  is 
the  Lord's  work,  which  He  will  carry  out  through  His  own 
power,  even  if  all  human  means,  on  our  part,  should  fail." 

Calvin,    like    Bucer,    admonished    Augusta    not   to   over- 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  259 

estimate  celibacy.  In  his  judgmeut,  this  was  done  in  the 
Confession.* 

These  letters  were  ansAvered  in  the  following  year  (1541), 
while  Bucer  and  Calvin  were  attending  the  Conference  of 
Regensburg.^ 

The  favorable  result  of  the  mission  to  Strasburg  induced 
Bishop  Augusta  to  pay  another  visit  to  Wittenberg  (1542).^ 
Luther  received  him  and  his  two  companions,  George  Israel 
and  Joachim  Prostiborsky,  with  his  wonted  kindness.  The 
subject  which  they  presented  to  his  notice  was  again  the  dis- 
cipline. Augusta  urged  this  very  strongly,  telling  Luther 
that  the  Utraquists  of  Bohemia  were  willing  to  accept  his 
doctrines,  but  not  willing  to  give  up  their  ungodly  lives; 
that  this  state  of  affairs  was  injuring  the  Unity ;  that  he  had 
himself  extolled  its  system,  and  that  the  Strasburg  divines 
had  now  done  the  same.  Did  he  approve  of  that  misuse  of 
the  Gospel  which  grew  out  of  a  lack  of  discipline  ?  In  rejjly, 
Luther  again  recognized  its  importance,  but  said  that  he  could 
not  have  broken  the  power  of  the  papacy  except  by  breaking 
its  yoke  of  superstition  and  restraint.  The  question  of  intro- 
ducing a  discipline  would  receive  his  earnest  attention,  but  not 
immediately,  as  the  public  mind  was  disturbed  by  the 
expectation  which  the  Pope  had  raised,  that  a  General 
Council  would  soon  be  convened.  Augusta  rejoined,  that  if 
the  Reformation  devoted  all  its  attention  to  a  development  of 
theology  and  neglected  practical  religion,  evil  would  certainly 
ensue. 

*  A  year  later  Calvin  returned  to  Geneva  and  there  carried  out  what  he 
so  greatly  admired  among  the  Brethren.  The  above  two  letters  are  con- 
tained in  full  in  the  Boh.  MS.,  but  have  not  been  reproduced  by  Gindely 
in  his  Quellen,  except  in  the  way  of  a  brief  summary.  Nor  are  they 
complete  as  given  in  the  text.  We  have  translated  them  from  Reichel's 
Geschichte,  pp.  47  and  48,  and  Comenii  Hist.,  ^§79  and  80.  Comenius  says 
that  Calvin's  letter  is  found  in  his  i^ublished  correspondence,  probably  the 
collection  edited  by  Beza,  in  1576. 

^  Gindely's  Quellen,  pp.  43-45. 

®  The  only  account  extant  of  this  visit  is  found  in  Lasitius,  V.  p.  99,  etc., 
whom  Comenius  follows.  Hist.  ^  81.     See  also  Gindely's  Quellen,  pp.  31,  32. 


260  THE    HISTORY    OF 

Aud  thus  they  parted — the  great  Reformer  of  Wittenberg 
and  the  earnest  representatives  of  the  Uuitas  Fratrura — not 
in  anger,  but  in  love.  It  was  the  last  mission  of  tlie  Brethren 
to  Luther,  and  their  last  words  were  prophetic.  Evil  did 
ensue.  Hardly  had  he  closed  his  eyes,  when  the  most  acri- 
monious disputes  broke  out  among  his  followers  and  a  dead 
orthodoxy  began  to  chill  the  life  of  the  Church.  With 
unfaltering  integrity,  convinced  that  they  had  been  appointed 
of  God  to  be  the  bearers  and  promoters  of  a  discipline 
befitting  His  Church,  had  the  Brethren  striven  to  avert  so 
lamentable  an  end.  "Would  to  God,"  says  Comenius,  "that 
they  had  been  false  prophets  when  foretelling,  from  the  very 
beginning  of  the  Reformation,  the  results  which  have  now 
come  to  pass  I'"" 

In  the  spring  of  the  same  year  in  which  this  last  mission  to 
Luther  was  undertaken,  the  Unity  lost  its  noblest  member 
and  most  influential  patron.  Like  a  prince  in  Israel  there 
died,  at  Jungbunzlau,  in  the  seventy-first  year  of  his  age 
Baron  Conrad  von  Krajek  (May  the  tenth,  1542).  He  was  a 
hero  of  faith,  fearless  in  his  confession  of  Christ,  great  in 
God.     On  his  deathbed  he  delivered  a  glorious  testimony.^ 


'  The  testimony  of  a  distinguished  Lutheran  writer,  Salig,  in  his 
celebrated  History  of  the  Augsburg  Confession,  may  here  find  a  place. 
''Neither  a  scriptural  discipline,"  he  says,  "than  which  nothing  can  be 
more  important,  nor  the  real  object  of  the  whole  Reformation,  was  attained. 
Both  died  with  Luther's  death.  For  the  Smalcald  War  began  and  the 
theologians  cared  little  for  a  godly  discipline  and  life,  but  fell  into  the 
most  violent  quarrels.  In  the  universities  were  taught  words,  distinctions 
and  formulas,  and  such  things  were  made  to  constitute  the  kernel  of  pure 
Lutheranism.  To  lead  young  people  to  true  godliness  was  not  thought  of 
....  Men  that  were  great  at  universities,  in  stickling  for  words,  remained 
the  smallest  children  in  the  knowledge  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  and  the 

practice  of  the  heavenly  rules  of  life In  order  that  the  discipline  of 

the  Bohemian  Brethren — which,  as  could  not  be  denied,  Lutlier  had  praised 
— might  not  be  accepted,  and  other  Christians  thus  by  them  be  put  to  shame, 
suspicion  was  cast  upon  their  doctrine  and  some  of  them  were  accused  of 
fanaticism."  Salig's  Hist.  d.  Augsburg.  Conf,  II  Theil,  6  Buch,  pp 
550,  551. 

*  Todtenbuch,  pp.  14-17.  Krajek's  funeral  was  attended  by  a  large  part 
of  the  Bohemian  nobility.     John  Cerny  preached  the  sermon. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  261 

Several  mouths  later  Luther  sent  the  followhig  fraternal 
letter  to  Bishop  Augusta. 

•"  To  the  Venerable  Brother  in  Christ,  John  Augusta,  Minister  of  the 
Divine  Word  among  the  Brethren  at  Leitomischl,  my  very  dear 
Friend.     Grace  and  Peace  ! 

One  of  your  brethren,  Lawrence  of  Leitomischl,  has  asked  me 
to  write  to  you,  and  told  me  of  your  sentiments  toward  me,  that 
you  and  your  brethren  have  a  true  and  sincere  regard  for  me  and 
that  you  remember  me  in  your  prayers.  For  this  I  thank  you 
all  and  beseech  you  to  pray  for  me  in  future  also.  For  I  am 
persuaded  that  the  time  of  my  poor  life  on  earth  will  not  continue 
much  longer.  That  God  may  take  my  soul  hence  in  peace  and 
that  I  may  have  a  happy  end — this  is  my  wish.     Amen. 

Fui'ther  I  admonish  you  in  the  Lord,  that  even  as  you  began, 
so  you  may  continue  with  us  to  the  end,  in  the  fellowship  of  the 
Spirit  and  of  doctrine.  Help  us  to  fight,  with  the  word  and  with 
prayer,  against  the  gates  of  hell,  which  continually  oppose  the 
Church  of  God  and  its  Head,  Christ  the  Lord.  And  although  it 
may,  at  times,  seem  as  if  the  power  of  Satan  were  unequally 
great,  nevertheless  Christ's  strength  will  be  made  perfect  in  our 
weakness,  His  wisdom  will  be  magnified  in  our  ignorance,  and 
His  goodness  will  be  glorified  in  our  iniquity  and  sins,  according 
to  His  own  wonderful  ways  which  are  past  finding  out.  May 
this  Lord  strengthen,  protect,  keep  and  stablish  us  and  you,  so 
that  we  may  together  grow  into  the  same  image,  to  the  glory  of 
His  mercy,  which  is  perpetually  to  be  praised!     Amen. 

Given  Thursday  after  St.  Francis  (October  the  fifth),  1542. 

Reverently  greet  all  the  brethren  in  the  Lord. 

Martin  Luther."^ 

This  was  the  last  communication  which  Luther  sent  to  the 
Brethren ;  but  to  the  end  of  his  days  his  flivorable  opinion  of 
them  remained  unchanged.  It  may  be  summed  up  in  the 
words  which  he  used  in  one  of  his  lectures :  "  Since  the  time 
of  the  apostles  no  Church  has  as  nearly  resembled  the  apostolic 
churches  as  the  Bohemian  Brethren."  ^^ 

About  the  year  1542  the  Amosites,  after  having  once  more, 
through  John  Kalenec,  poured  out  their  bitterest  venom  upon 


^  This  letter  is  found  in  Boh.,  in  the  MS.  of  Nicholas  of  Schlan.  It  was 
written  in  Latin,  in  wiiich  form  Gindely,  Quellen,  pp.  28,  29,  gives  it, 
taking  it  from  De  Wette's  ed.  of  Luther's  Letters. 

'"  Comenius  (juotes  these  words,  Hist.  I  82,  on  the  authority  of  Lasitius. 
Comp.  his  Lasitii  Ecc.  Discip.  p.  157. 


262  THE    HISTORY    OF 

the  Unity  and  Augusta  in  particular,  disappeared  from  history 
and  were  lost  among  the  Anabaptists  and  other  fanatical 
sects.^' 

While  the  Unitas  Fratrum  continued  to  develop  a  healthful 
activity  and  to  spread  a  beneficial  influence,  Utraquism  was 
undergoing  a  process  of  disintegration.  The  Compactata  were 
[)ractically  forgotten,  except  by  a  small  body  of  conservatives. 
Lutheran  views  prevailed.  And  yet  Lutheranism  was  not 
established.  The  National  Church  of  Bohemia  was  neither 
Protestant  nor  Catholic,  neither  evangelical  nor  papistic, 
neither  identified  with  the  Reformation  nor  obedient  to  Rome- 
It  had  no  stable  character  and  no  fixed  position.  Its 
spiritual  state  was  bad;  the  morals  of  its  priests  were 
abominable. 

Nor  had  this  Church  ceased  from  its  hostility  to  the 
Brethren.  John  Mistopol,  the  new  Administrator  of  the 
Consistory,  hated  them  with  a  bitter  hatred.  Of  the  same 
mind  was  Wenzel  Mitmanek,  the  incumbent  of  the  Thein 
parish,  and  a  renegade  from  the  Unity.  Not  only  did  its 
prosperity  constitute  an  offence  in  the  eyes  of  these  men  and 
of  their  associates,  but  they  also  smarted  under  the  stinging 
lash  with  which  Augusta  and  Michalek,  in  their  writings, 
corrected  the  glaring  inconsistencies  and  the  scandalous  evils 
of  Utraquism.  On  every  possible  occasion  charges  were 
brought  against  the  Brethren.  In  particular  was  a  public 
ordination  of  priests  at  Jungbunzlau  (1540),  to  which 
solemnity  many  people  streamed  together,  decried  as  a 
political  gathering.  Utraquist  nobles  manifested  their  ani- 
mosity at  the  Diet.  The  King  was  twice  induced  to  order 
the  arrest  of  Bishop  Augusta.  And  yet  all  these  machina- 
tions proved  unsuccessful.  Through  the  efforts  of  the  nobles 
of  the  Unity,  Augusta  was  not  arrested,  and  the  state  of 
feeling  at  the  Diet  was  pacified.  Ferdinand  himself  when  he 
designed  beginning  his  long  projected  persecution,  met  with 

"  L.  F.,  IV.  p.  215,  etc.  K's  Z.  p.  268,  etc.,  where  is  found  an  account  of 
their  final  attack  upon  the  Brethren. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  263 

the  most  strenuous  resistance  on  the  part  of  some  of  his  own 
councilors  (1543).  With  a  hypocrisy  that  did  honor  to  his 
training,  he  publicly  said,  on  leaving  Prague,  that  he  had 
never  meant  to  suppress  the  Unity,  or  any  other  religious 
body,  but  merely  to  lop  oif  a  few  excrescences.  The  very 
next  year,  the  Bohemian  capital  saw,  for  the  first  time,  a 
ciiurch  of  the  Brethren  established  within  its  walls  (1544). 
Of  this  cliurch  John  Czerny  was  constituted  the  pastor.  Thus 
the  days  of  the  Unity  were  bright  for  a  time  longer.  Then 
came  the  darkness  and  terror  of  a  great  storm. 


264  THE   HISTORY   OF 


CHAPTER  XXYIII. 

The  Smalcald  War  and  a  General  Persecution  of  the  Unitas 
Fratrum.     A.  D.  1546-1548. 


The  Smalcald  War. — A  League  organized  in  Bohemia. — Death  of  Bishops 
Horn  and  Michalek. — Ferdinand  punishes  the  Members  of  the  League. 
— The  Brethren  accused  of  being  its  Instigators. — Edict  of  St.  James 
renewed. — Persecutions  begin. — The  cruel  Zeal  of  the  Utraquists. — 
Czerny's  Views  of  their  Course. — Sufferings  of  the  Brethren  on  con- 
fiscated Estates. — Sixteen  Heads  of  Families  in  a  foul  Vault. — Arrest, 
Imprisonment  and  Torture  of  Bishop  Augusta. — Other  imprisoned 
Ministers. — Developments  in  Germany. 

A  FEW  months  after  Martin  Luther  had  closed  his  eyes  in 
death  (February  the  eighteenth,  1546),  the  first  conflict  of 
arms  evoked  by  the  Reformation,  broke  out.  In  this  war, 
which  is  known  as  the  Smalcald  War,  Bohemia  became 
entangled.  Although  a  large  part  of  its  people  sympathized 
with  the  German  Protestants,  Ferdinand  determined  to  aid 
his  brother  Charles  the  Fifth,  and  the  Diet  granted,  for  a 
limited  period,  troops  against  the  Turks  and  "against  any 
other  enemy  that  might  attack  the  kingdom"  (July,  1546). 
The  time  of  enlistment  expired  in  November.  But  the  King 
immediately  asked  for  a  new  levy.  This  demand  roused 
general  opposition.  A  League  was  formed  having  in  view 
religious  liberty,  the  rights  of  the  aristocracy  and  a  decrease 
of  the  royal  power  (February,  1547).  At  its  head  stood  a 
Committee  of  Safety,  whose  efforts  to  raise  an  army  were, 
however,  not  crowned  with  success.     Scarcely  two  thousand 


^- 


V  II 


JOHN    HORN. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  265 

men  took  the  field ;  and  before  this  insignificant  contingent 
could  join  the  Elector  of  Saxony,  the  battle  of  Miihlberg  left 
him  a  prisoner  in  the  hands  of  the  Emperor  and  crushed  the 
hopes  of  the  Bohemian  confederates  (April  the  twenty-fourth, 
1547). 

Bishop  Horn  was  spared  the  news  of  this  disaster.  He 
died,  at  Jungbunzlau,  on  the  Friday  preceding  the  second 
Sunday  in  Lent.  His  brethren  mourned  for  him  with  deep 
sorrow.  He  was  a  man  of  rare  ability  and  sound  judgment, 
and  belonged  to  the  excellent  of  the  eartli.^  His  colleague, 
Bishop  Martin  Michalek,  preceded  him  to  the  rest  which 
remains  to  the  people  of  God.  He  died  on  the  twenty-fourth 
of  January,  of  the  same  year,  at  Prossnitz  in  Moravia,  aged 
sixty-three  years.^ 

Ferdinand  having  returned  to  Bohemia,  convened  the  Diet? 
on  the  third  of  June,  at  Leitmeritz.  He  bore  himself  with 
such  unexj)ected  graciousness,  that  a  majority  of  the  nobles  and 
cities  connected  with  the  League  submitted  unconditionally, 
trusting  in  his  promise  of  forbearance.  But  they  were  soon 
undeceived.  Measures  of  the  greatest  severity  were  adopted. 
Four  nobles — one  of  them,  Wenzel  von  Petipesky,  a  member 
of  the  Brethren's  Church — w^ere  executed.  The  rest  were 
condemned  to  remain,  for  life,  in  certain  towns  and  castles, 
and  their  estates,  in  part,  w^ere  confiscated.  Some  of  the 
most  prominent  patrons  of  the  Unity — Krajek,  Kostka, 
Krinecky^  and  others — suffered  in  this  way;  and  Leitomischl, 


^  Todtenhuch,  p.  19,  which  says  that  a  more  complete  history  of  him  and 
of  other  pious  men,  than  can  be  given  on  earth,  will  be  written  in  the  life 
eternal.  He  was  buried  on  the  second  Sunday  in  Lent,  John  Czerny 
preaching  the  funeral  sermon.  As  far  as  we  know,  Horn  is  the  first  Bishop 
whose  portrait  has  come  down  to  our  day.  The  original  is  a  life  size  oil 
painting,  by  Wallerat,  formerly  the  property  of  the  late  Bishop  Anders,  of 
Berthelsdorf,  Saxony,  now,  we  presume,  in  the  Herrnhut  Archives. 

^  Todtenbuch,  pp.  18  and  19,  which  work  calls  him  a  great  man,  sagacious 
and  eloquent.     He  was  ordained  to  the  priesthood  in  1531. 

'  Baron  Krinecky,  who  had  presented  the  Confession  to  Ferdinand,  in 
1535,  not  only  lost  all  his  possessions,  but  was  also  condemned  to  death.  He 
fled  to  East  Prussia  where  he  lived  in  great  poverty. 


266  THE    HISTORY    OF 

Turnau,  Richenburg,  Brandeis  on  the  Elbe/  all  chief  seats  of 
the  Brethren,  fell  into  the  relentless  hands  of  the  King. 
Upon  Prague  and  other  cities  were  imposed  heavy  fines. 

It  was  amidst  such  circumstances  that  the  Utraquists  dis- 
played the  worst  traits  of  their  double-dealing  character,  and 
that  Mistopol,  in  particular,  adopted  a  dastardly  course.  No 
party  had  been  more  active  in  furthering  the  League  than  he 
and  his  immediate  followers ;  and  yet,  with  one  accord,  they 
imitated  his  cowardly  example  and  screened  themselves 
behind  the  Brethren.  These — so  rang  the  cry  throughout 
Bohemia  and  Moravia — were  the  chief  instigators  of  the 
League !  Augusta  was  the  arch-conspirator !  He  had  had 
secret  consultations  with  the  Elector  of  Saxony;  he  had 
visited  the  Duke  of  Liegnitz  with  treasonable  intent ;  he  had 
planned  the  dethronement  of  Ferdinand !  These  accusations 
were  false.  While  Augusta  did  not  oppose  the  League,  he 
took  no  active  part  in  it,  and  foretold  its  disastrous  issue  f 
and  while  a  number  of  the  nobles  of  the  Unity  manifested 
great  zeal  in  furthering  the  movement,  they  were  not  more 
guilty  than  their  Utraquist  confederates. 

But  however  unfounded  such  charges  were — in  view  of 
Ferdinand's  purpose  they  could  not  have  been  more  oppor- 
tune. He  caught  them  up  with  eager  joy.  The  occasion  for 
Avhich  he  had  so  long  and  patiently  waited,  was  come.  Death 
to  the  Unitas  Fratrum  ! 

On  Sunday,  the  eighteenth  of  September,  as  he  stepped 
from  the  door  of  the  cathedral  where  he  had  attended  mass, 
representatives  of  the  Roman  Catholics  and  Utraquists  pre- 
sented themselves,  and  with  a  vehement  show  of  sincerity, 
besought  him  to  defend  his  faithful  subjects  against  the 
machinations  of   the  Picards.     He  promised    to    fulfill    the 

*  At  Brandeis  Krajek  had  built  a  large  church  for  the  Brethren.  It  was 
designed  by  an  architect  from  Milan,  is  still  standing,  and  known  as  the 
Dechantei-  Kirche . 

5  Gindely,  I.  p.  307.  Either  in  1546  or  1547  Augusta  did  visit  the  Duke 
of  Liegnitz ;  for  what  purpose'  is  not  known — certainly  not  with  treasonable 
intentions. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  267 

petition  of  these  suppliants  who,  without  doubt,  had  engaged 
in  this  demonstration  by  his  own  orders,  Nor  did  he  fail  to 
keep  his  word.  On  the  eighth  of  October,  by  royal  mandate, 
he  renewed  the  Edict  of  St.  James. 

Thus  was  inaugurated,  throughout  Bohemia,  the  fourth 
general  persecution  of  the  Brethren.  In  Moravia  they  could 
not  well  be  molested,  because  its  nobles  and  cities  had  stood 
aloof  from  the  League.  Ferdinand,  however,  solaced  him- 
self with  the  hope  that  if  the  Brethren  were  rooted  out  of 
the  former  country  they  would  languish  and  die  in  the  latter. 
But  he  imagined  a  vain  thing.  The  Unitas  Fratrum  was  not 
suppressed.  It  grew  in  numbers  and  influence.  Indeed,  in 
one  sense,  persecution  stretched  out  a  suicidal  hand ;  for  it 
opened  a  way  for  the  extension  of  the  Brethren  to  Prussia 
and  Poland.  Nevertheless  it  was,  at  the  same  time,  a  cruel 
hand  and  besomed  the  Bohemian  part  of  the  Church  with 
pitiless  fury. 

The  afflictions  of  the  Brethren  began  with  the  closing  of 
their  chapels  and  the  interdiction  of  their  religious  worship  in 
every  form.  Such  a  course  was  pursued  even  on  the  domains 
of  their  own  members.  Baron  Kostka,  imbittered  by  the 
confiscation  of  Leitomischl,  carried  out  the  royal  edict  with 
great  severity.^  The  installation  of  Catholic  or  Utraquist 
priests  followed,  on  all  the  estates  seized  by  the  King.  These 
priests  immediately  began  to  pervert  the  Brethren.  Not  a 
few  succumbed  to  the  fear  of  torture  and  death.  The  parish 
at  Brandeis  on  the  Elbe,  it  is  said,  went  over,  almost  in  a 
body,  to  the  Utraquists.^  And  now  began  the  arrest  of  the 
priests.  A  number  were  seized.  The  bishops  and  members 
of  the  Council,  confronted  on  every  side  by  the  rack  and 


®  Augusta  wrote  him  a  severe  letter,  denouncing  his  course.  L.  F.,  VII. 
p.  1 20,  cited  by  Gindely. 

'  Tliis  seems  to  have  been  owinw  to  the  well  meant  but  mistaken  counsel 
of  John  Czerny,  who  advised  the  members  of  the  parish,  if  there  was  no 
way  of  escape,  to  attend  worship  in  the  Utraquist  church.  Augusta,  on 
the  contrary,  earnestly  exhorted  them  to  avoid  this  church.  L.  F.,  VII. 
p.  64,  cited  by  Gindely. 


268  THE    HISTORY"    OF 

stake,  were  forced  to  conceal  themselves ;  and  when  one  place 
of  refuge  became  insecure,  sought  another.  Nevertheless 
they  did  what  they  could  to  strengthen  their  brethren, 
addressing  pastoral  letters  to  the  Unity,  writing  to  the  single 
parishes,  and  secretly  visiting  the  oppressed.  Augusta,  who 
had  succeeded  Horn  as  President  of  the  Council,  was  particu- 
larly active.  His  energetic  character  expanded  in  proportion 
to  the  perils  by  which  he  was  surrounded.  In  the  name  of 
the  entire  Church  he  sent  a  letter  to  the  King,  who  had  gone 
to  attend  the  imperial  Diet  at  Augsburg,  beseeching  him  to 
spare  the  Unity,  which  was  innocent  and  had  not  conspired 
against  him.*  In  the  beginning  of  1548  a  reply  was  received 
from  the  Chancellor's  office,  sternly  pointing  the  Brethren  to 
the  royal  mandate  as  setting  forth  Ferdinand's  unalterable 
determination.  John  George,  the  messenger  who  had  been 
employed  in  this  correspondence,  was  arrested  on  his  return 
from  Augsburg,  imprisoned  at  Prague,  narrowly  escaped  the 
rack,  and  was  at  last  set  at  liberty  on  condition  of  his  emigrat- 
ino-.  Moreover  a  second  royal  edict  against  the  Brethren 
appeared,  commanding  the  first  to  be  strictly  enforced  and 
ordering  the  arrest  and  imprisonment,  at  Prague,  of  every 
minister  of  the  Unity.  Ferdinand,  prior  to  his  departure, 
had  given  the  same  instructions  to  his  son,  the  Archduke 
Ferdinand,  whom  he  had  constituted  Regent  of  Bohemia. 

In  carrying  out  the  cruel  purposes  of  the  King,  Mistopol 
proved  himself  to  be  a  zealous  abettor.  He  directed 
his  deans  to  care  for  the  strict  observance  of  the  royal 
mandate.  He  caused  lists  of  the  members  of  the  Unity  to  be 
prepared,  so  that,  in  the  case  of  every  one  of  them,  it  might 
be  known  whether  he  had  or  had  not  recanted.  He  produced 
a  lengthy  formula  of  recantation  which  every  pervert  was 
forced  to  accept  with  a  solemn  oath.  The  priests  at  Brandeis 
on  the  Elbe  and  Leitomischl  vied  with  him  in  all  the  arts  of 
persecution.  Other  Utraquist  ministers  were  not  slow  to 
follow  their  example. 

8  Letter  in  L.  F.,  VII.  This  same  Folio,  as  cited  by  Gindely,  is  the 
authority  for  the  most  of  the  facts  which  follow  in  this  chapter. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  269 

For  such  conduct  there  was  not  the  shadow  of  an  excuse. 

It  was  revolting.     Mistopol  and  a  large  part  of  the  priests 

under   him   belonged    to    that    wing    of    Utraquisni    which 

entertained  many  of  the  tenets  of  Protestantism.     Lutherans 

at  heart,   they   became  time-servers  and  renegades  who,  by 

their  craven  zeal  for  tyranny,  escaped  the  sufferings  which 

they   ought    to   have    shared    with   the  Unity.       What   an 

impression  such  a  course  made  upon  the   Brethren,  let  John 

Czerny,  who  passed  through  all  the  troubles  of  that  period, 

tell.     He  writes : 

"  The  shameless  Utraquist  priests,  especially  those  at  Brandeis 
and  Leitomischl,  were  the  worst  of  persecutors.  Although,  in 
their  own  lives,  wanton  scoundrels,  adulterers,  drunkards  and 
unparalleled  liars,  they  became  the  most  ardent  sycophants  of  the 
King  in  undertaking  the  conversion  of  the  Picards.  Neither  the 
royal  town-captains  nor  the  Roman  Catholic  priests  were  guilty 
of  such  tyranny,  such  revilements,  such  lies,  such  tormenting, 
such  menaces,  such  imprecations,  as  these  bare-faced  Utraquists, 
dead  to  shame  and  disregarding  all  divine  and  human  lavvs."'^ 

The  calm  and  moderate  tone  which  generally  pervades 
Czerny's  writings,  renders  this  severe  arraignment  over- 
whelming. 

The  domains  confiscated  by  the  King  suffered  more  than 
any  others.  He  appointed  a  commission  to  carry  out  his  edict, 
choosing  four  barons  whose  hearts  were  steeled  against  mercy. 
They  proceeded  in  a  barbarous  manner.  Unjust  and  un- 
truthful accusations  were  eagerly  entertained.  Informers 
received  high  praise.  Private  revenge  for  real  or  fancied 
wrongs  could,  with  a  word,  gain  the  most  cruel  satisfaction. 

The  first  to  suffer  was  the  village  judge  of  Semanin, 
charged  with  having  used  images  of  Christ  and  the  Virgin 
as  fuel  for  a  fire  at  which  he  broiled  fish.  He  was  cast  into  a 
foul  cellar  at  Leitomischl,  where  he  languished  for  half  a  year 
until  he  became,  physically  and  mentally,  a  wreck.  In  this 
state  he  promised  to  recant,  but  died  as  soon  as  he  was  taken 
out  of  the  cellar.  From  the  same  town  a  certain  Gabriel, 
accused  of  being  a  messenger  of  the  Bishops,  was  hurried  to 

«  Gindely  I.  pp.  312  and  313. 


270  THE    HISTORY    OF 

Prague  and  cruelly  imprisoned  for  months.  Many  others 
were  cast  into  loathsome  dungeons,  or  stretched  upon  the  rack 
in  order  to  extort  confessions  of  treason.  A  large  number 
perished.  Not  a  few,  with  shattered  constitutions,  eked  out 
a  miserable  existence.  The  slightest  approach  to  the  forms  of 
worship  common  among  the  Brethren,  was  punished  in  a 
frio-htful  manner. 

An  instance  occurred  at  Leitomischl,  where  Schoneich, 
whom  nature  intended  for  a  creature  of  tyranny,  had  been 
appointed  town-captain.  At  the  funeral  of  a  member  of  the 
Unity,  while  his  remains  were  borne  to  the  grave,  the  young 
people  began,  as  of  old,  to  sing  hymns.  For  this  trivial 
offence  sixteen  heads  of  families  were  arrested,  conveyed  to 
Prague  and  confined  in  the  White  Tower.  Every  attempt  to 
induce  them  to  deny  their  fiiith  having  failed,  they  Avere 
thrust  into  a  vault  which  formed  the  receptacle  for  the  closet- 
drains  of  the  tower.  The  stench  was  fearful  and  the  air  thick 
with  disgusting  exhalations.  In  this  state,  which  beggars 
description,  they  languished  for  several  months.  At  last  six 
of  them,  broken  down  by  sickness,  promised  to  recant.  The 
rest  endured  with  unshaken  heroism  until  a  certain  Doctor 
Erhard,  a  favorite  of  the  King,  took  pity  on  them  and 
secured  their  release.  They  joined  their  families  which  had 
meanwhile  emigrated  to  Prussia. 

There  was  no  one  whom  Ferdinand  more  eagerly  longed  to 
get  into  his  power  than  Bishop  Augusta.^"  Although  the 
Council  had  published  a  document  in  his  defence,  the 
animosity  against  him,  both  among  Catholics  and  Utraquists, 


^°  Sources  for  the  account  of  the  arrest,  imprisonment  and  sufferings  of 
Augusta  are :  History  of  his  Life,  by  J.  Blahoslaw,  in  Bohemian,  which 
work  remained  in  manuscript  until  1837,  when  Sumawsky  published  it  in 
an  incomplete  form ;  the  Seventh  Lissa  Folio  (both  these  sources  as  cited 
by  Gindely);  Bucholtz's  Geschichte  der  Regierung  Ferdinand  I.,  Wien, 
1831,  etc.;  Hormayr's  Taschenbuch  fiir  die  Vaterlandische  Geschichte,  for 
the  year  1820;  Bechstein's  Deutsches  Mus.  fiir  Gesch.,  1862;  Pelzel's 
Abbildungen  Bohm.  Gelehrteu,  2tr  Tlieil,  Prag,  1775,  with  Augusta's 
portrait. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH.  271 

did  not  abate,  and  the  King  looked  upon  him  as  a  personal 
enemy.  That  a  liberal  reward  would  be  paid  for  his  arrest, 
was  well  known. 

Schoneich's  mercenary  and  cruel  nature  was  excited  to  the 
utmost.  He  prowled  about  like  a  tiger  watching  for  its  prey. 
But  in  spite  of  all  his  efforts  Augusta  could  not  be  found. 
He  was  concealed  in  the  vicinity  of  Leitomischl  and  frequently 
changed  his  hiding-place.  Jacob  Bilek,  a  deacon,  carried  his 
letters  to  the  churches  and  made  his  apj)ointments  with  their 
elders  for  secret  meetings  at  night. 

When  Schoneich  saw  himself  foiled,  he  concocted  a  plot 
which  deserves  to  be  called  aatanic.  Going  to  the  house  of 
one  whom  he  knew  to  be  an  elder  of  the  church  at  Leito- 
mischl, he  told  him  that  he  was  troubled  in  his  conscience 
and  needed  the  advice  of  a  faithful  minister,  and  asked 
whether  Augusta  could  not  be  persuaded  to  grant  him  an 
interview.  Through  Bilek  this  request  was  made  known  to 
the  Bishop,  who  replied,  that  if  Sch5neich  would  pledge 
himself  not  to  arrest  him,  he  would  consent  to  a  meeting. 
Such  a  pledge  was  given,  and  Augusta  designated  a  clearing 
in  the  midst  of  a  forest,  about  two  and  a  half  miles  from 
Leitomischl,  as  the  place  of  the  interview." 

Near  this  clearing,  early  in  the  morning  of  the  appointed 
day — April  the  twenty-fifth,  1548 — the  perfidious  captain 
posted  three  of  his  hirelings.  They  were  ordered  to  arrest 
Augusta  as  soon  as  he  would  appear.  Concealing  themselves 
behind  trees  they  waited  for  his  coming.  Presently  a  man 
emerged  from  the  forest  and  looked  around.  Schoneich's 
creatures  rushed    from    their    lurking-place  and   seized    him 

"  Gindely  I.  p.  319,  followed  by  Cerwenka,  represents  Schoneich  as 
saying,  "that  he  had  something  very  important  to  communicate  to 
Augusta."  This  representation  not  only  destroys  the  point  of  the  narrative 
but  is  also  rendered  improbable  by  Gindely  himself,  who  says  that  Augusta 
had  no  confidence  in  the  sincerity  of  Schoneich's  message.  The  only 
consideration  which  could  overcome  such  distrust  on  the  Bishop's  part, 
was  the  thought  that  ho  would  perhaps  be  able  to  minister  to  a  troubled 
soul.  In  union  with  Keichel  and  Croeger,  we  follow  Plitt  (Sect.  48),  whose 
authority  is  Lasitius. 


272  THE    HISTORY    OF 

with  eager  hands.  But  he  proved  to  be  Jacob  Bilek  and  not 
Augusta.  With  all  haste,  and  dragging  Bilek  along,  they 
hid  themselves  again.  After  a  while  another  man,  dressed 
like  a  peasant  and  carrying  an  axe,  came  out  of  the  forest. 
This  was  Augusta.  So  completely,  however,  had  he  succeeded 
in  disguising  himself  that  the  hirelings  were  baffled.  Twice 
they  arrested  and  twice  they  set  him  free.  But  as  he  was 
about  going  his  way,  their  suspicions  were  again  aroused. 
Seizing  him  a  third  time  they  began  to  search  his  person,  and 
found  a  handkerchief  such  as — so  they  asserted — peasants 
never  used.  Thereupon  Augusta  made  himself  known.  "  Sir, 
is  this  your  faith  ?" — he  indignantly  said  to  Schoneich  when 
this  miscreant  appeared. 

The  prisoners  were  first  conveyed  to  Leitomischl,  and  then 
taken,  in  a  covered  wagon,  to  Prague,  where  they  arrived  on 
the  twenty-eighth  of  April.  A  member  of  the  Church, 
William  by  name,  secretly  followed  them  on  horseback  all 
the  way  to  the  capital,  in  order  to  ascertain  the  place  of  their 
imprisonment.  Bilek  was  confined  in  a  dungeon  of  the  royal 
castle  and  Augusta  in  the  White  Tower.^^  As  to  Schoneich, 
he  was  munificently  rewarded. 


'^  The  oldest  royal  castle  at  Prague,  known  as  the  St.  Wenzel  Castle, 
dated  back  to  the  time  of  Ottokar  the  Great  in  the  twelfth  century.  It 
was  enlarged  and  strengthened  by  Wenzel  the  First.  This  castle  has  long 
since  passed  away.  In  1333,  near  by  its  site,  Charles  the  Fourth  erected 
tlie  Hradschin,  to  which  Uladislaus  added  a  second  and  magnificent  palace- 
In  1541  a  terrible  fire  destroyed  a  large  part  of  the  Hradschin.  It  was 
rebuilt  by  Ferdinand  the  First.  Originally  the  entire  pile  of  buildings 
had  twenty-two  massive  towers,  which  have,  howev^er,  all  crumbled  to  dust 
except  three,  the  Black  Tower,  the  White  Tower  and  the  Daliborka.  The 
first  is  four-cornered,  the  other  two  are  round.  They  stand  on  the  North 
side  of  the  Hradschin  and  overlook  the  Hirschgraben.  In  the  Middle  Ages 
they  contained  all  the  appliances  of  its  inhuman  mode  of  administering 
justice,  including  subterranean  vaults  into  whicli,  through  an  opening  large 
enough  to  admit  a  himian  body,  criminals  were  let  down  by  means  of  ropes 
and  a  wheel,  to  a  depth  of  fifteen  fathoms,  to  die  of  hunger.  These  vaults 
are  still  to  be  seen,  and  even  at  tlie  present  day  contain  masses  of  human 
bones.  Schottky's  Prag.  II.  pp.  86,  etc.,  and  134 ;  Illustrirte  Chronik  von 
Bohmen,  Prag.,  1854,  II.  p.  230,  etc. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  273 

The  news  of  the  arrest  of  the  Unity's  chief  bishop  caused 
a  sensation  throughout  Bohemia.  His  friends  mourned  and 
called  upon  God ;  his  enemies,  it  has  been  well  said,  rejoiced 
with  the  joy  of  the  Philistines  when  Samson  fell  into  their 
power.  That  the  Brethren  would  submit,  now  that  they  were 
deprived  of  the  man  whose  commanding  influence  had  sus- 
tained their  courage,  was  the  common  belief.  But  such 
expectations  were  triumphantly  disappointed.  The  Church 
of  the  Brethren  was  built  upon  Jesus  Chrisj:,  not  upon 
Augusta. 

On  the  day  of  the  arrival  of  the  two  prisoners  at  Prague, 
the  royal  chamber  of  justice  subjected  Bilek  to  an  examina- 
tion :  of  Augusta  no  notice  was  taken  for  an  entire  week.  It 
was  on  the  tenth  of  May  that  his  sufferings  began.  He  was 
put  in  chains,  in  a  way  thac  rendered  walking  almost  impos- 
sible, and  thrust  into  one  of  the  lowest  cellars  of  the  tower. 
The  next  day  (May  the  eleventh),  the  Governor  of  the  Castle, 
accompanied  by  two  nobles,  appeared,  ordered  his  irons  to  be 
taken  off,  and  addressed  a  series  of  questions  to  him  with 
regard  to  the  Unity  and  especially  his  supposed  treasonable 
transactions  at  Wittenberg  and  Liegnitz.  His  answers  were 
pronounced  unsatisfactory  and  he  was  delivered  to  the  execu- 
tioner for  torture.  Stretched  upon  a  ladder,  his  hips  were 
smeared  with  boiling  pitch,  which  was  set  on  fire  and  torn 
off  with  iron  tongs.  From  this  horrible  torment  he  was 
relieved  only  in  order  to  be  forced  into  excruciating  stocks ; 
and  when  taken  out  of  these,  he  was  hung  up  on  a  large  hook 
thrust  through  his  flesh ;  and  when  this  agony  was  over,  he 
was  laid  on  the  floor  and  his  abdomen  loaded  with  heavy 
stones.  Not  until  he  was  half-dead  did  the  Governor  order 
the  executioner  to  cease  from  his  fiendish  work.  And  yet, 
even  now,  the  afflicted  Bishop's  sufferings  were  not  at  an  end. 
The  next  morning  (May  the  twelfth),  after  only  a  few  hours' 
respite,  he  was  mercilessly  tortured  a  second  time. 

In    the    midst   of    all    these    physical    torments    Augusta 
remained  strong  of  heart.     He  refused  to  deny  his  faith  ;  he 
refused  to  confess  treasonable  proceedings  of  which  he  was 
18 


274  THE    HISTORY    OF 

innocent ;  he  refused  to  say  anything  that  would  bring  new 
danger  to  the  Church.  When  his  agonies  were  at  their 
height,  he  was  asked  what  his  brethren  were  doing.  "  They 
are  seeking  refuge,  with  one  accord,  in  impassioned  prayer  to 
God  !" — was  his  illustrious  answer.^^ 

Meantime,  for  three  days,  Bilek  had  been  lying  in  chains 
still  more  cruelly  fastened  than  in  Augusta's  case.  On  the 
thirteenth  of  May — the  holy  day  of  the  Lord — they  were 
taken  off  and  he  was  made  to  pass  through  the  same  frightful 
ordeal  as  his  Bishop.  These  tortures  were  resumed  the  next 
morning,  until  he  swooned  and  life  was  nearly  extinct.  In 
the  evening,  while  lying  in  utter  weakness  and  misery,  the 
Governor  came  and  informed  him  that,  as  soon  as  his  strength 
revived,  he  would  be  tortured  again,  and  tortured  ten  times? 
unless  he  confessed  everything. 

It  was  a  confession  of  Augusta's  supposed  treason  that  was 
to  be  extorted  from  Bilek.  With  this  end  in  view  a  long 
series  of  written  questions,  covering  several  sheets  of  paper, 
had  been  put  to  him  while  he  was  stretched  upon  the  ladder. 
Ferdinand  either  obstinately  believed,  or  pertinaciously  pre- 
tended to  believe,  that  Augusta  had  been  the  soul  of  a 
conspiracy  against  his  throne — to  which  the  Elector  of 
Saxony  was  to  be  elevated — and  in  this  way  tried  to  justify 
his  inhuman  course.  It  is  reported  that,  at  a  later  time,  he 
even  sent  him  a  message  saying,  that  it  was  not  on  account  of 
his  faith  that  he  was  made  to  suffer.^^  But  the  policy, 
which  the  King  had  been  steadily  pursuing,  his  violent 
bigotry,  and  the  fact  that  Augusta  and  Bilek  were  offered 
their  freedom  on  condition  of  forsaking  the  Unity,^^  all 
prove  this  assurance  to  have  been  grossly  untrue.  In 
any  case,  Ferdinand  covered  himself  with  shame.  For  when 
the  cruel  proceedings  in  the  White  Tower  were  reported  to 
him  by  his  son  and  the  Chancellor,  and  the  latter  remarked 

13  Blahoslaw's  Narrative,  L.  F.,  VIII.  p.  43,  E's  Z.  p.  359. 
1*  Bucholtz,   VI.   p.   438.      Ferdinand   himself  had   given   orders  that 
Augusta  should  be  tortured. 

1^  Plitt,  Sec.  48,  on  the  authority  of  Lasitius. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  275 

that  the  use  of  the  torture  could  scarcely  be  kept  a  secret,  he 
replied — in  a  letter  written  from  Augsburg,  on  the  twenty- 
seventh  of  May — that  he  was  well  satisfied  with  what  had 
been  done,  that  he  would  bear  the  responsibility,  and  that 
Augusta  should  be  tortured  again  in  order  to  ascertain  the 
object  of  his  journeys  to  Wittenberg.  In  this  letter  he  in- 
closed a  slip  of  paper  on  which  he  recommended  one  of  the 
following  three  modes  of  torment  as  more  efficacious  than 
those  which  had  been  employed  : 

First,  for  five  or  six  days  and  nights  in  succession,  let  Augusta 
be  forcibly  prevented  from  sleeping. 

Second,  strap  him  to  a  board,  or  a  shutter,  with  no  support  for 
his  head  ;  rub  vinegar  into  his  nostrils  ;  fasten,  with  half  a  nut- 
shell, a  large  beetle  on  his  navel ;  keep  him  in  this  state  for  a  day 
or  for  two  days  and  two  nights. 

Third,  season  his  food  as  highly  as  possible,  but  give  him 
nothing  whatever  to  quench  his  thirst. 

Let  Bilek  be  treated  in  the  same  way."^ 

Love  to  the  brethren,  because  it  is  the  greatest  of  the 
Christian  graces,  deems  no  sacrifice  too  grievous  and  shrinks 
from  no  danger.  In  spite  of  the  imminent  perils  by  which 
William  was  surrounded,  he  remained  at  Prague  and  gained 
access  to  Augusta.  The  forlorn  Bishop  rejoiced  as  though  an 
angel  had  visited  him.  But  as  William  passed  through  the 
Tower  on  his  way  back,  he  was  suddenly  confronted  by 
Schoneich,  who  recognized  him  and  had  him  cast  into  a 
dungeon.  Two  days  later  Wenzel  Wejwoda,  one  of 
Augusta's  servants,  arrived.  His  sister  was  the  prison  cook. 
By  her  aid  he,  too,  made  his  way  to  the  Bishop  and  ministered 
to  his  wants,  supplying  him,  in  particular,  with  writing 
materials  so  that  he  could  communicate  with  the  Council. 
But  before  long,  Wenzel  also  was  detected  and  imprisoned. 
For  three  months  he  lay  in  a  dungeon,  until  the  unceasing 
intercessions  of  his  mother  secured  him  a  pardon.  William, 
after  an  incarceration  of  ten  weeks,  was  set  free  at  the  claim 
of  his  lord,  Baron  Pernstein. 


i«  Hormayr's  Taschenbucli  for  1833,  cited  by  Gindely,  I.  pp.  325  and  326, 

and  Cerwenka,  pp.  281  and  282. 


276  THE    HISTORY   OF 

None  of  the  modes  of  torture  recommended  by  Ferdinand 
were  put  into  execution ;  for,  when  his  letter  arrived,  Augusta 
and  Bilek  were  no  longer  at  Prague. 

About  twenty-five  miles  to  the  west  of  this  city  lies 
Piirglitz,  one  of  the  oldest  and  grandest  castles  known  to 
Bohemian  chroniclers.  Crowning  a  huge  conical  rock,  from 
Avhose  base  radiate  three  valleys,  it  lifts  its  hoary  towers 
proudly  to  the  sky.  Hills,  covered  with  dense  forests,  are 
round  about  it  on  every  side.  They  stand  like  giants 
guarding  the  stronghold  of  a  king.^^  Through  one  of  the 
valleys,  and  the  wildest  and  most  romantic  of  them  all,  rush 
the  dark  waters  of  the  Beraun,  along  whose  course  has  been 
built  a  railroad  to  Rakonitz.  Here  and  there  ancient  iron- 
works belch  forth  their  flames  and  smoke;  while  sunny 
meadows  and  fields  of  golden  grain  form  a  brilliant  hem  to 
the  dark  green  mantle  of  the  forests. 

Toward  this  castle  Augusta  and  Bilek,  guarded  by  twenty 
men  at  arras,  set  out  in  the  night  of  the  twenty-fifth  to  the 
twenty-sixth  of  May.  AVeak,  covered  with  painful  wounds — 
for  which  nothing  whatever  had  been  done — the  two  prisoners 
lay,  each  in  a  separate  wagon,  unable  to  comfort  one  another, 
alone  with  their  thoughts  and  their  God.  At  last  Piirglitz 
was  reached.  Slowly  the  wagons,  with  the  horsemen  close 
about  them,  moved  up  the  steep  and  winding  road  that  led  to 
the  outer  gate.  Here  they  crossed  the  draw-bridge  to  the 
main  entrance,  ornamented  with  the  royal  coat  of  arms,  and 
came  into  a  large  triangular  court-yard.  Passing  along  its 
northern  side  and  turning  into  a  very  ancient  and  narrow 
gate-way,  with  a  curiously  constructed  guard-house  on  the 
left,  they  reached  a  second  and  smaller  yard,  known  as  the 
king's  courtyard.  At  one  end  rose  a  round  keep,  overtopping 
all  the  other  towers  and  connected  by  a  gallery  with  the  royal 
dwellings  ;^^  at  the  other  end  was  seen  a  balcony  from  which 

"  Tradition  says,  that  in  the  Hussite  War,  when  Zizka  came  with  his 
army  in  order  to  make  himself  master  of  Piirglitz,  he  could  not  find  the 
castle,  so  completely  was  it  surrounded  by  hills  and  so  dense  were  tlieir  forests. 

'^  These  dwellings  no  longer  exist. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  277 

the  sentence  of  prisoners  was  read  to  them  before  they  were 
incarcerated. 

In  this  courtyard  the  wagons  hahed.  On  all  sides  were 
dungeons.  Two  massive  doors,  on  the  left,  were  opened ; 
through  one  of  these  Augusta  was  led  into  a  vaulted  cellar, 
through  the  other,  Bilek  passed  into  a  second  cellar  similarly 
constructed.  It  was  a  long  farewell  which  they  were  forced 
to  bid  to  the  world  without.  For  sixteen  years  the  Bishop, 
and  for  thirteen  years  his  Deacon,  lay  immured  within  these 
gloomy  walls. ^^ 

While,  in  some  respects,  their  situation  was  less  painful  than 
at  Prague,  there  were  other  experiences  which  proved  to  be 
hard  and  distressing.  They  were  left  in  almost  total  darkness. 
Exceedingly  narrow  though  the  cellar  windows  were,  they  had 
been  blocked  up  with  double  shutters.  The  only  light  the 
prisoners  had,  came  through  an  opening  four  inches  square. 
While  taking  their  meals,  which  were  served  twice  a  day,  they 
were  allowed  a  taper ;  but  it  was  removed  as  soon  as  they  had 
finished  eating.  Nor  were  they  permitted  to  communicate 
with  each  other.  Neither  of  them  set  foot  outside  of  his  cellar. 
Nor  were  visitors  admitted.      They  saw  no  one,  except  the 

^^  Augusta  passed  through  a  square  oaken  door,  Bilek  through  an  arched 
one.  Both  these  doors  are  still  to  be  seen.  The  first  led  into  a  cellar 
adjoining  that  in  which  the  Bishop  was  confined ;  the  second  straight  into 
Bilek's  prison.  Augusta's  cellar  had  no  outer  door.  The  interior  of  the 
cellars,  which  were  not  subterranean,  but  on  a  level  with  the  ground,  has 
been  entirely  changed.  They  are  used  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  castle,  who 
occupy  the  buildings  surrounding  the  large  courtyard.  One  of  these  build- 
ings is  a  brewery ;  another,  a  tax-office ;  a  third,  the  seat  of  the  imperial 
district-court;  in  the  rest  live  stewards  and  servants.  The  Castle  of 
Piirglitz,  to  which  belong  wide  domains,  whose  forests  abound  in  deer  and 
other  game,  is  now  the  property  of  the  Prince  of  Fiirstenberg.  In  the 
Middle  Ages  it  was  a  royal  domain  and  a  favorite  hunting  place  of  the 
Bohemian  Kings.  In  the  dungeons  of  the  Castle  many  distinguished  pris- 
oners were  at  various  times  confined,  among  them  Duke  Henry,  the  brother 
of  Frederick  the  Third,  both  of  whom  were  captured  in  the  battle  of 
Ampfing,  in  1322.  At  the  north  end  of  the  first  courtyard  stands  a  large 
tower,  called  Huderka,  into  whose  subterranean  vaults  criminals  were  let 
down  and  allowed  to  starve  to  death.  Nitsche's  Burg  Piirglitz,  Wien,  1876. 
In  1879  we  visited  the  Castle  and,  guided  by  a  warder,  explored  it  thoroughly. 


278  THE   HISTORY   OF 

keeper  when  he  brought  their  food,  and  the  guards  when  they 
cleaned  the  prisons.  Day  and  night  were  alike — silence  and 
solitude  and  gloom.^  The  wounds  which  had  been  inflicted 
through  the  torture,  were  not  looked  after  until  they  grew  so 
offensive  that  the  services  of  a  surgeon  became  absolutely 
necessary. 

Of  the  other  ministers  who  fell  into  Ferdinand's  power,  the 
experiences  of  three  are  on  record. 

George  Israel  was  the  priest  of  the  parish  at  Turnau.^^ 
Cited  to  Prague  on  pain  of  a  fine  of  one  thousand  ducats,  his 
people  begged  him  to  disregard  the  summons  and  offered  to 
pay  the  money.  "  No  !"  was  his  answer,  "  I  have  been  pur- 
chased, once  for  all,  with  the  blood  of  Christ  and  will  not 
consent  to  be  ransomed  with  the  gold  and  silver  of  my  people. 
Keep  what  you  have,  for  you  will  need  it  on  your  flight ; 
and  pray  for  me,  that  I  may  be  stedfast  in  suffering  for  Jesus." 
With  unwavering  fortitude  he  bade  farewell  to  his  brethren, 
presented  himself  at  Prague,  confessed  his  faith,  and  was 
imprisoned  in  the  White  Tower,  in  the  same  dungeon  which 
Augusta  had  occupied  (May  the  thirtieth).  The  treatment 
which  he  received  was,  however,  not  rigorous ;  and  so  loosely 
was  he  guarded  that  escape  became  possible.  But  he  was  too 
conscientious  to  embrace,  on  the  strength  of  his  own  judgment, 
the  opportunities  which  offered.  He  sent  a  letter  to  Bishop 
Mach  Sionsky,  asking  his  advice.  The  Bishop  assured  him 
that  it  would  be  right  to  flee  from  his  prison,  if  he  could.  Ac- 
cordingly (July  the  twenty-eighth),  disguised  as  a  scrivener, 
a  quill  behind  his  ear,  paper  and  ink-horn  in  his  hand,  he 

^^  Twenty  men,  probably  those  who  had  brought  Augusta  and  Bilek  to 
Piirglitz,  were  detailed  to  guard  them.  Germans  had  been  purposely  chosen, 
of  whom  only  three  could  speak  Bohemian.  Over  these  men  was  set  a 
captain  who  reported  to  John  Zdarsky  von  Zdar,  the  Governor  of  the  Castle. 

^'  G.  Israel,  whose  name  has  several  times  been  mentioned  in  connection 
with  the  missions  to  Luther,  was  born  in  Bohmishbrod,  in  1508.  He  was  the 
son  of  a  smith,  but  well  educated.  His  father  reluctantly  consented  to  his 
entering  the  ministry  of  the  Brethren's  Church.  He  was  ordained  priest 
in  1540,  and  subsequently  became  one  of  the  most  influential  leaders  of  the 
Unity  and  its  father  in  Poland. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  279 

passed,  in  broad  day,  out  of  the  tower  and  through  the  midst 
of  the  guards,  leaving  behind  a  letter  to  the  Governor  of  the 
Castle  and  a  copy  of  one  of  the  Confessions  of  the  Brethren. 
He  proceeded  to  Prussia. 

Another  minister  confined  at  Prague  was  Paul  Bossak,  a 
Deacon.  He,  too,  was  loosely  guarded.  Often  and  earnestly 
he  prayed  that  God  might  deliver  him.  Dreaming,  one  night, 
that  in  a  certain  cellar — it  was  the  one  in  which  Augusta  had 
been  tortured — there  was  an  opening  in  the  wall,  he  made 
his  way  to  the  place  and  found  his  dream  fulfilled.  Through 
this  opening  he  reached  the  ground  and  escaped  to  Prussia. 

John  Rokita,  one  of  Augusta's  acolytes,  was  set  free  at  the 
intercession  of  certain  young  men.  Catholics,  who  had  formerly 
been  his  fellow-students.  They  spoke  so  highly  of  his  extra- 
ordinary gifts  as  a  linguist  that  he  received  the  offer  of  a 
secretaryship  in  the  Chancellor's  office.  But  he  refused  this 
position  and  followed  his  brethren  into  exile.^^ 

A  large  part  of  the  ministers  who  escaped  imprisonment, 
fled  to  Moravia ;  some  ventured  to  remain  in  Bohemia,  where 
they  hid  themselves,  but  at  night,  in  secret  places,  preached 
and  administered  the  sacraments. 

While  such  events  were  transpiring  in  Bohemia,  the 
Augsburg  Interim  and,  at  a  later  time,  the  Leipzig  Interim, 
which  were  to  unite  the  Protestants  and  the  Catholics  until 
the  Council  of  Trent  could  be  reopened,^^  brought  about  the 
utmost  dissatisfaction  in  Germany,  and  led,  in  some  of  its 
states,  to  persecutions  on  the  part  of  the  Emperor.  At  the 
same  time  these  Interims  widened  the  breach  between  the 
Philippists,  or  liberal  Lutherans,  and  those  who  upheld  the 
Lutheran  system  in  all  its  details  and  with  an  iron  bigotry. 
Nothing  more  disgraceful  occurred,  on  the  Protestant  side  of 
the  Reformation,  than  the  disputes  between  these  two  factions. 

"Authorities  for  tlie  above  incidents:  Regenvolscius,  pp.  197-199; 
Lasitius,  VI.  17,  cited  by  Plitt. 

'^^  The  Council  of  Trent  was  opened  on  the  thirteenth  of  December,  1545, 
and  protracted  for  eijjfhteen  years,  until  1563 ;  during  which  period  it  was 
in  session  only  twenty-five  times. 


280  THE    HISTORY    OF 


CHAPTEE  XXIX. 

The  Unitas  Fratrum  established  in  Prussia  and  Poland. 
A.  D.  1548-1553. 


The  Brethren  on  the  confiscated  Estates  banished. — Their  memorable  Jour- 
ney to  Poland. — Religious  State  of  that  Country. — The  Exiles  at  Posen. 
— Expelled  by  royal  Mandate. — Sionsky  and  Israel  sent  by  the  Synod 
of  Zerawicto  lead  the  Exiles  to  East  Prussia. — Account  of  this  Country. 
— Negotiations  with  Duke  Albert. — Stay  at  Thorn. — The  first  Polish 
Brethren's  Church. — Arrival  in  East  Prussia. — Hard  Terms. — The 
Prussian  Parishes. — A  Church  at  Posen. — George  Israel  Missionary  in 
Poland. — His  escape  at  Thorn. — Prosperity  and  Persecutions. — Israel 
and  Count  Ostrorog. — Ostrorog's  Domain  the  Polish  Centre  of  the 
Brethren. 

The  measures  of  the  King  against  the  Unity  were  not  yet 
exhausted.  By  his  command  the  Regent,  on  the  fifth  and 
twelfth  of  May,  1548,  issued  two  decrees  banishing  the 
Brethren  of  Leitomischl,  Bidsow,  Chluraetz,  Turnau  and 
Brandeis  on  the  Elbe.  But  six  weeks  were  granted  them  in 
which  to  prepare  for  their  emigration  ;  the  earnest  plea  of  the 
parish  at  Leitomischl  for  a  longer  respite,  met  with  a  stern 
refusal.^ 

If  these  Brethren  had  denied  their  faith  and  united  with 
the  Utraquist  or  Catholic  Church,  they  w^ould  have  been  saved 
from  exile.  That  they  would  take  such  a  step,  Ferdinand 
confidently  expected.  But  he  knew  not  the  power  of  that 
spirit  which  suffers  the  loss  of  all  things  for  Christ's  sake.     In 

*  Authorities  for  the  i:ccount  of  the  emigration  to  Prussia  are  L.  F.  VII., 
cited  by  Gindely,  and  numerous  original  documents  given  in  his  Quellen, 
Partll.  pp.  72-124. 


THE    MORAVIAN   CHURCH.  281 

spite  of  the  enormous  sacrifices  they  were  obliged  to  make  in 
selling  their  property  or  leaving  it  unsold  and  confiscated, 
they  were  ready  to  depart  when  the  appointed  time  came. 

They  traveled  in  three  bodies.  The  first,  which  numbered 
about  five  hundred  souls  and  was  provided  with  sixty  wagons, 
proceeded  by  way  of  Frankenstein,  Glatz  and  Breslau,  to  Posen, 
arriving  on  the  twenty -fifth  of  June.  This  body  comprised 
the  Brethren  from  Leitomischl,  Bidsow,  Chlumetz  and  Solnic, 
and  was  led  by  four  priests,  Matthias  Aquila,  Urban  Hermon, 
John  Korytan  and  Matthias  Paterkulus.^  At  a  later  time 
they  were  joined  by  the  second  body,  which  consisted  of  the 
Brethren  from  Turnau  and  a  part  of  those  from  Brandeis, 
numbering  three  hundred  souls  and  fifty  wagons.  Under  the 
leadership  of  Barons  Biberstein  and  Krajek,  this  body  crossed 
the  Riesengebirge  and  passed  through  Lower  Silesia.  The 
third  body,  composed  of  the  remaining  Brethren  from  Brandeis, 
followed  the  same  route. 

It  was  a  memorable  journey  which  these  exiles  undertook. 
The  only  adequate  description  of  it  is  the  saying  of  one  of 
their  own  number :  "  We  were  borne  on  eagles'  wings."^ 
Driven  out  of  their  country  as  obstinate  heretics,  stigmatized 
by  the  edicts  of  their  King,  their  name  a  by- word  and  reproach 
among  their  neighbors,  they  nevertheless  met  with  kindness 
and  hospitality  and  honor  wherever  they  came.  Their  de- 
parture was  not  the  hurried  flight  of  cowering  fugitives ;  it 


^  The  domains  from  which  the  Brethren  were  driven,  belonged,  with  the 
exception  of  Solnic,  to  the  number  of  those  which  Ferdinand  had  confis- 
cated. Solnic  was  the  property  of  Baron  Pernstein  and  therefore  not 
affected  by  the  decree  of  banishment.  This  nobleman,  however,  of  his 
own  accord,  ordered  those  of  its  inhabitants  who  belonged  to  the  Unity  to 
leave  his  estate.  Hence  they  joined  the  exiles.  The  four  priests  named 
above  are  not  mentioned  in  the  Todtenbuch. 

*  Croeger,  I.  p.  255,  who  says  there  is  extant  an  original  account  of  the 
journey,  written  by  one  of  the  exiles  but,  as  usual,  does  not  adduce  the  title 
of  the  document.  It  is  undoubtedly  contained  in  L.  F.  VII.  p.  186,  etc., 
which  authority  Gindeh';  I.  p.  331,  adduces.  This  account  descrilies  the 
journey  of  the  first  body  of  exiles ;  but  the  other  bodies  met  with  the  same 
kind  treatment. 


282  THE    HISTORY    OF 

was  the  solemn  inarch  of  an  army  of  the  Lord.  Many  of 
their  own  faith,  from  parishes  not  affected  by  the  decree  of 
banishment,  as  well  as  many  Catholics  and  Utraquists,  came 
to  protect  them  while  passing  through  forests  and  defiles  where 
robber-bands  were  wont  to  lurk.  The  captain  of  Potteustein, 
which  domain  belonged  to  Baron  Perustein,  a  bitter  foe  of  the 
Unity,  sent  an  additional  guard  of  horsemen  and  foot  soldiers. 
Several  hundred  men  accompanied  them  across  the  Silesian 
Mountains,  as  far  as  Frankenstein.  Tolls  and  duty  were 
remitted ;  provisions,  in  great  abundance,  were  gratuitously 
supplied ;  the  very  roads  were  improved  that  their  wagons 
might  pass  in  safety.  In  Silesia  other  protectors  offered 
themselves.  At  Glatz  the  burgomaster  and  the  council  enter- 
tained the  exiles ;  the  city-captain,  with  sixteen  knights,  gave 
them  an  honorable  escort  through  the  town  and  beyond  its 
walls ;  one  hundred  and  fifty  armed  men  formed  their  guard 
to  Breslau.  The  last  part  of  their  journey — from  Breslau  to 
Posen — was  distinguished  by  similar  tokens  of  kindness  and 
respect. 

In  Poland  the  Unitas  Fratrum  found  a  second  home. 

To  this  country  the  seed  of  Christianity  had  been  brought, 
in  the  ninth  century,  from  Moravia,  by  Greek-Slavonian 
missionaries.  The  harvest  came  in  the  next  century,  when 
Christianity  was  universally  accepted.  Its  development 
involved  a  repetition  of  the  experiences  made  by  Bohemia 
and  Moravia.  Amidst  that  antagonism  between  the  Slavonian 
and  the  German  races  which  continually  reappears  in  history, 
the  Greek  liturgy  and  a  national  Church  struggled  against  the 
Latin  ritual  and  the  Romish  Hierarchy.  In  this  case,  too, 
Rome  gained  the  victory.  But  a  deep-seated  prejudice 
against  her  pretensions  and  clergy  continued  to  exist  in  the 
minds  of  the  peo]:)le  and  especially  of  the  nobility.*  The  life 
of  the  Church  did  not  flow  with  a  smooth  current.     From 


*  The  law  establislied  by  the  first  Christian  Duke,  that  the  tenth  sheaf  of 
every  kind  of  grain  must  be  given  for  tlie  support  of  the  bishops  and  their 
clergy,  was  the  original  cause  of  this  prejudice.     Lukaszewicz,  p.  1. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  283 

time  to  time  it  was  violently  agitated.  The  Flagellants  caused 
a  wild  commotion ;  the  Fratricelli  and  Beghards,  with  their 
united  strength,  denounced  the  Pope  as  Antichrist  and  the 
Romish  Church  as  the  Church  of  Satan ;  Milicz,  having  a 
higher  aim  in  view,  spread  the  Gospel  with  holy  zeal.  No 
one,  however,  prior  to  the  sixteenth  century,  moved  Poland 
more  profoundly  than  John  Hus.  He  had  a  multitude  of 
adherents  in  that  country.  His  coadjutoi',  Jerome  of  Prague, 
organized  and  taught  in  the  University  of  Cracow  (1410). 
Queen  Hedwig  favored  the  new  doctrines  and  caused  the 
Bible  to  be  translated  into  the  vernacular.  The  execution  of 
Hus  created  almost  as  great  a  storm  as  in  his  own  country. 
Hussite  preachers  came  swarming  into  Poland  and  labored, 
openly  or  in  secret,  with  indefatigable  perseverance.  The 
Romish  bishops  and  their  clergy,  aided  by  the  iron  arm  of 
the  Inquisition,  were  no  less  active  in  suppressing  such 
movements;  nevertheless,  when  the  Reformation  began,  a 
large  part  of  Poland  was  ripe  for  its  sweeping  innovations. 
Lutheranism  set  the  Poles  free  from  the  bonds  of  the  Romish 
Church,  but  did  not  gain  them,  in  large  numbers,  as  its 
adherents.  It  was  a  German  system  and  encountered  the 
national  prejudices  of  the  people.  Calvinism  met  with  more 
favor  and  won  many  more  followers.  Both  confessions 
established  churches  at  an  early  day. 

Three  months  prior  to  the  coming  of  the  Brethren,  Sigis- 
mund  the  Second  Augustus,  the  last  scion  of  the  house  of 
Jagello,  had  ascended  the  throne.  At  heart  he  was  not  disin- 
clined to  Protestantism.  His  kingdom  consisted  of  four 
provinces :  Great  Poland,  Little  Poland,  Lithuania  and  Polish 
Prussia.^     The  royal  seat  was  at  Cracow,  in  Little  Poland. 

Posen  received  the  Brethren  with  open  arms.  They  were 
exiles,  persecuted  and  afflicted,  without  a  country  or  a  home. 
They  were  the  true  followers  of  Hus,  whose  work  had  never 
been  forgotten  by  the  Poles.     They  belonged  to  a  nation  with 


*  Polish  Prussia,  or  West  Prussia,  was  ceded  to  Poland  by  the  Teutonic 
Knights  in  1466. 


28  l  THE    HISTORY    OF 

which  Poland  had  always  been  united  in  a  close  bond  of 
friendship."  Such  considerations  incited  the  people  of  Posen 
to  words  of  welcome  and  works  of  love. 

Posen  was  the  capital  of  Great  Poland  and  the  seat  of  Count 
Andrew  Gorka,  its  Governor.  He  was  an  open  advocate  of 
the  Reformation,  and  allowed  the  Brethren  to  take  up  their 
abode  in  the  suburbs  of  the  city  and  on  several  of  his  own 
estates.  Other  noblemen  followed  his  example.  Public 
worship  was  instituted  according  to  the  forms  of  the  Unity. 
The  priests  preached  the  Gospel  with  boldness  and  fervency 
of  heart.  Many  Poles  accepted  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Christ 
Jesus. 

Such  a  blooming  of  the  heretical  plant  which  had  been 
rooted  out  of  Bohemia  was  odious  in  the  sight  of  Benedict 
Jzbinski,  the  Bishop  of  Posen.  He  appealed  to  Sigismund 
Augustus  and  secured  a  royal  decree,  ordering  the  Brethren 
to  leave  Great  Poland  (August  the  fourth,  1548). 

While  they  were  preparing  to  resume  their  journey,  Bishop 
Mach  Sionsky  and  George  Israel  arrived  (August  the  six- 
teenth) and  put  themselves  at  their  head.  The  Synod,  which 
had  recently  met  at  Zerawic,  in  Moravia,  had  sent  these  two 
men  to  lead  them  to  East  Prussia.'' 

This  country  was  forcibly  converted  to  Christianity  by  the 
Teutonic  Knights  (1283).  They  established  an  ecclesiastical 
state  which  flourished  until  1525,  when  it  was  changed  into  a 
civil  dukedom,  with  their  Grand  Master,  Albert,  as  its  duke, 
under  the  suzerainty  of  the  King  of  Poland.  Albert  intro- 
duced the  Reformation  and  strove  to  further  its  interests.  But 
the  Lutheran  clergy  exercised  an  undue  influence  over  him, 
and  the  University  of  Konigsberg,  which  he  founded  for  the 
promotion  of  evangelical  truth  (1544),  became  a  notorious 
centre  of  theological  controversies. 

®  Turnovius  (of  whom  more  hereafter,)  says  in  his  Defence  of  the  Con- 
sensus Sendomiriensis :  "  From  of  old  the  Poles  looked  upon  the  Bohemians 
as  their  brethren."  Lukaszewicz,  p.  8,  note  4,  whose  work  is  a  principal 
authority  for  the  history  of  the  Brethren  in  Poland. 

'  Dektete  d.  B.  U.,  p.  165,  etc.,  cited  by  Czerwenka. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH,  285 

In  the  dominions  of  this  prince  the  banished  Brethren 
hoped  to  find  a  retreat.  Their  fellow-exile,  Baron  Krinecky, 
advocated  their  cause  f  but  Mitmanek,  who  had  been  driven 
from  Bohemia  in  1543,  spread  such  malignant  calumnies 
with  regard  to  their  faith,  that  Albert  grew  suspicious  and 
the  negotiations  were  broken  off. 

At  a  later  time,  however,  in  reply  to  a  written  petition,  he 
promised  to  receive  them.^ 

On  the  twenty-fourth  of  August  they  left  Posen  and 
proceeded  to  Thorn.^'^  Here  they  spent  several  months, 
preaching  Christ  and  winning  souls,  until,  at  the  instigation 
of  the  Catholic  clergy,  the  royal  decree  which  had  ordered 
them  to  leave  Great  Poland,  was  made  to  include  Polish 
Prussia  also. 

Again  were  these  Brethren  forced  to  depart.  But  their 
testimony  did  not  pass  away.  A  church  was  organized  at 
Thorn  and  supplied  with  a  resident  priest."  This  was  the 
first  Brethren's  church  in  Poland.  In  speaking  of  it  Lasitius 
says :  "  I  owe  King  Ferdinand  many  thanks,  that,  without 
intending  to  do  so,  he  sent  such  evangelical  men  to  my  native 
country  .^^ 

Christmas  was  close  at  hand  when  the  immigrants  reached 
Konigsberg,  the  capital  of  East  Prussia.  They  came  into  a 
Lutheran  camp  which  flaunted  the  standard  of  bigotry. 
Although  the  Duke,  in  his  reply  to  their  j)etition,  had  in- 
formed them  that  they  would  be  expected  to  submit  to  his 
clergy,  they  did  not  anticipate  conditions  as  severe  as  those 
which  were  actually  imposed.  In  the  first  place,  a  confer- 
ence was  appointed,  at  which  nine  of  their  priests  were  sub- 

*  Baron  Krinecky  was  living  in  East  Prussia  in  such  distress  that  tlie 
Duke,  at  one  time,  sent  him  one  hundred  florins.  He  died  in  that  country, 
and  his  widow,  with  her  children,  returned  to  Bohemia.  See  documents  in 
Quellen,  pp.  90,  106,  121,  etc. 

^  Quellen,  pp.  85-89,  gives  the  petition  and  the  Duke's  answer,  dated 
July  the  sixth,  1548. 

'°  Thorn  was  the  principal  city  of  Polish  Prussia. 

^^  Lukaszewicz,  p.  24. 

12  Lasitius,  VI.  p.  25,  cited  by  Plitt. 


286  THE    HISTORY    OF 

jected,  by  a  commission  of  Lutheran  divines,  to  a  searching 
examination  with  regard  to  the  doctrine  and  ritual  of  the 
Brethren  (December  twenty-seventh  and  twenty-eighth)  ;^^  in 
the  next  place,  when  this  commission  had  reported  favorably, 
Paul  Speratus,  the  Superintendent  of  the  East  Prussian 
Church,  who  bore  the  title  of  Bishop  of  Pomesania,  presented 
twenty  articles  setting  forth  the  terms  on  which  they  would 
be  received.  These  terms  were  hard,  illiberal  and  uncharita- 
ble. They  practically  put  an  end  to  the  independent  existence 
of  the  Brethren.  They  rendered  their  situation,  in  so  far  as 
the  free  exercise  of  their  own  faith  was  concerned,  not  much 
better  than  it  had  been  in  Bohemia.  At  a  time  when  the 
Reformation  was  still  struggling  to  reach  firm  ground  and 
when  its  adherents,  of  every  name,  ought  to  have  assisted  and 
upheld  each  other,  Protestants  gave  their  fellow  Protestants  a 
reception  in  which  not  a  single  trait  of  catholicity  or  large- 
heartedness  appeared.  But  what  could  the  banished  Brethren 
do  except  submit?^*  At  Whitsuntide,  1549,  in  the  presence 
of  a  number  of  Lutheran  ministers,  Speratus  formally  ac- 
knowledged them,  by  the  authority  of  the  Duke,  as  a  part  of 
the  evangelical  Church  of  East  Prussia. 

They  took  up  their  abode  at  Marienwerder  and  Garnsee, 
which  parishes  were  in  charge  of  George  Israel,  at  Soldau, 
where  Aquila  was  stationed,  at  Neidenburg,  Bolstein,  Baldow 
and  Gilgenburg,  in  which  town  Bishop  Sionsky  had  his  seat. 
The  whole  number  of  Brethren  who  gradually  settled  in  East 
Prussia  was  about  fifteen  hundred.^^ 


'^  A  report  of  this  conference,  which  took  place  at  Konigsberg,  is  given 
in  Quellen,  pp.  92-97. 

'*  The  twenty  articles  are  given  in  full  in  Quellen,  pp.  97-106,  and  taken 
from  Lasitius.  As  a  specimen  we  present  the  following:  The  Brethren 
must  accept  the  Augsburg  Confession ;  their  bishops  are  not  to  ordain  their 
priests,  these  must  be  ordained  by  the  Lutheran  bishop ;  the  priests  of  the 
Brethren  stand  under  the  Lutheran  parish  ministers;  the  Brethren  are 
forbidden,  with  a  few  unimportant  exceptions,  to  retain  any  usages  or  cere- 
monies of  their  own ;  they  must  support  their  own  priests ;  they  must  help 
to  support  the  Lutheran  ministers,  etc. 

'^  Quellen,  p.  72.  Comenii  Hist.,  |  86,  gives  the  number  at  nine  hundreil. 
In  course  of  time  Bishop  Sionsky  won  the  favor  of  the  Duke  and  was 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.       '  287 

In  the  course  of  the  first  year  of  their  abode  in  that 
country,  Bishop  Sionsky  was  taken  ill  and  went  to  Posen  to 
consult  its  physicians,  who  occupied  the  foremost  rank  of  their 
profession.  He  was  entertained  by  Andrew  Lipczynski.  At 
the  house  of  this  nobleman  he  began  religious  meetings. 
They  were  held  in  secret  and  generally  at  midnight.  God 
blessed  the  Word  as  it  was  expounded  and  taught  by  the 
Bishop.  Lipczynski,  his  wife,  and  a  number  of  other  hearers, 
were  converted  to  the  true  faith,  and  admitted  into  the  Unity 
of  the  Brethren.  Thus  was  established  their  first  church  in 
Great  Poland.  In  the  following  year  the  work  was  continued 
by  Israel,  Aquila  and  Cerwenka,  who  stopped  at  Posen  on 
their  way  from  Prussia  to  Moravia.  The  number  of  converts 
increased;  and  in  1551  they  applied  to  Bishop  Sionsky  for  a 
minister. 

No  one  was  better  qualified  for  this  position  than  George 
Israel.  He  spoke  the  Polish  language.  He  possessed  that 
energy  of  character  without  which  evangelistic  labors  in  a 
new  field  cannot  be  a  success.  His  faith  never  faltered  and 
his  courage  could  not  be  shaken.  Accordingly  he  was 
appointed  missionary  to  Poland,  retaining,  however,  his 
parishes  in  Prussia. 

It  was  spring  when  he  set  out  for  his  new  field  of  labor. 
He  traveled  on  horseback.  The  roads  were  bad  and  the 
streams  swollen.  Reaching  Thorn  on  the  fourth  Sunday  in 
Lent,  he  rested  for  the  day.  Thorn  is  situated  on  the 
Vistula,  which  was  covered  with  ice,  and,  in  anticipation  of  a 
flood,  the  floating  bridge  had  been  removed.  On  Monday 
morning  Israel  walked  to  the  river  in  order  to  see  whether 
the  ice  was  strong  enough  to  allow  him  to  cross  on  horseback. 
He  found  and  followed  a  track  leading  to  an  island  and 
beyond   to   the    farther    bank.       Convinced    that    he    might 

highly  esteemed  by  Speratus.  Anton  Bodenstein,  the  Lutheran  Minister 
at  Kwizina,  became  an  enthusiastic  admirer  of  the  Brethren,  especially  on 
account  of  their  discipline,  and  wrote  a  letter  to  John  Brenz,  the  Suabian 
Reformer,  in  which  he  gave  full  flow  to  his  feelings.  Comenii  Hist.  §  85, 
taken  from.Lasitius. 


288  THE    HISTORY    OF 

venture  the  passage,  he  turned  back.  As  he  was  going  from 
the  island  toward  the  city,  suddenly,  with  a  loud  crash  the 
ice  gave  way,  breaking  into  a  mass  of  fragments,  on  one  of 
which  he  was  swept  down  the  river.  Death  seemed  inevit- 
able. But  in  that  awful  moment  his  trust  in  God  put  on  its 
strength.  Invoking  His  holy  name  and  raising  the  one 
hundred  and  forty-eighth  Psalm,  he  sprang  from  one  ice- 
block  to  another,  singing  as  he  pursued  his  perilous  way — 
"  Praise  the  Lord  from  the  earth,  ye  dragons,  and  all  deeps : 
fire  and  hail ;  snow  and  vapor ;  stormy  wind  fulfilling  His 
word" — until  he  reached  the  shore  in  safety.  There  a  great 
multitude  had  gathered  to  see  the  marvellous  spectacle. 
They  received  Israel  with  a  shout — "  To  us !  Hither  to  us !" 
— and  escorted  him  to  Thorn.  For  years  afterward  his 
escape  was  spoken  of  as  one  of  the  most  wonderful  events  in 
the  history  of  the  city.^^ 

When  the  waters  had  subsided,  he  continued  his  journey 
and  reached  Posen  in  safety.  The  work  which  he  began  bore 
immediate  fruits.  In  the  course  of  the  Passion  Week,  Luke 
Jankowski  and  his  wife,  who  was  a  sister  of  the  powerful 
Counts  Ostrorog,  the  Countess  Catharine  Ostrorog — another 
sister  of  these  magnates — and  several  others,  were  admitted 
to  the  fellowship  of  the  Church.  Israel  accompanied  by 
John  Korytan,  paid  a  second  visit  which  was  crowned  with 
similar  success. 

But  now  a  time  of  trial  began.  The  Protestant  Governor 
of  Great  Poland,  Count  Gorka,  died  and  his  Catholic  suc- 
cessor, Janus  Koscielecki,  in  conjunction  with  Bishop 
Jzbinski  persecuted  the  Brethren;  so  that  they  were  con- 
strained to  hold  their  religious  meetings  in  secret  and  with 
the  utmost  caution.  Israel  was  in  constant  danger.  It  is 
said  that  Jzbinski,  stumbling  at  no  means  to  rid  his  diocese 
of  the  presence  of  so  fearless  a  preacher,  put  forty  assassins 
on  his  track.  By  continually  assuming  new  disguises,  and 
appearing  sometimes  in  the  garb  of  an  officer  and  again  in 

^^  Eegenvolscius,  pp.  101,  102. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  289 

the  dress  of  a  coachman  or  a  cook,  he  escaped  their  hands  and 
carried  on  his  missionary  work/'^  The  death  of  the  Bishop 
brought  no  relief.  His  successor,  Andrew  Czarnkowski, 
continued  to  pursue  the  Brethren,  several  of  whom  were 
arrested.  Israel  was  summoned  before  the  Governor,  who, 
however,  merely  advised  him  to  leave  the  city,  which  advice 
he  did  not  follow ;  but  Paul,  one  of  Israel's  converts,  was 
taken  to  the  Bishop's  country-seat  and  condemned  as  a  heretic. 

Occurrences  like  these  excited  the  magnates.  Their 
inherited  jealousy  of  the  power  of  the  clergy  was  roused. 
They  delivered  the  prisoners  who  were  confined  at  Posen. 
A  body  of  nearly  one  hundred  nobles  rode  to  Czarnkowski's 
country-seat  and  carried  ofP  Paul  in  triumph.  In  consequence 
of  this  bold  course  the  persecution  waned  and  the  Brethren 
began  to  lift  up  their  heads. 

Meanwhile  George  Israel  had  been  released  from  his 
Prussian  parishes  and  devoted  himself,  with  the  assistance  of 
other  priests,  to  his  work  in  Poland.  He  lived  at  Posen,  in 
a  house  rented  for  him  by  Jankowski,  where  he  preached 
every  day,  until  an  outbreak  of  the  plague  drove  him  from 
the  city.  Relying  upon  the  good  offices  of  Catharine  Ostrorog, 
he  established  himself  in  the  outskirts,  on  one  of  her  brother 
Jacob's  estates. 

The  ancestral  seat  of  this  magnate  was  Ostrorog,  where 
lived  Felix  Cruciger,^®  his  chaplain,  and  Francis  Stancarus, 
an   Italian    Professor. ^^      These   two  men    were  jealous  of 

"  Regenvolscius,  p.  218. 

^^  Cruciger  had  been  a  Eoman  Catholic  priest  in  a  village  near  Cracow. 
Having  embraced  the  evangelical  faith  he  first  joined  the  Lutherans  but 
subsequently  the  Eeformed,  whose  Superintendent  he  became  in  Little 
Poland. 

'^  Stancarus  came  to  Poland  from  Mantua,  where  he  had  imbibed  the 
principles  of  the  Eeformation,  and  filled  the  position  of  Professor  of 
Hebrew  at  Cracow.  He  subsequently  taught  at  Konigsberg  and  Frank- 
furt-on-the-Main,  but  returned  to  Poland  at  a  later  time.  He  is  famous  on 
accoimt  of  his  controversies  with  Osiander.  His  own  views  became 
heterodox.  He  excluded  from  the  atonement  the  Lord's  divine  nature. 
His  system  was  eventually  absorbed  by  Socinianism. 
19 


290  THE    HISTORY    OF 

Israel's  influence  and  feared  that  the  Count,  who  had  with- 
drawn from  the  Catholic  Church  but  not  yet  united  with  a 
Protestant  body,  might  be  induced  to  join  the  Brethren. 
Hence  they  suggested  to  him,  that  inasmuch  as  Israel  had 
been  exposed  to  the  plague,  he  should  not  be  permitted  to 
visit  Ostrorog.  The  Count  gave  his  steward  an  order  to 
this  effect.  But  in  spite  of  it,  Israel  appeared  at  the  castle 
and  was  courteously  received.  He  invited  Ostrorog  and 
Cruciger  to  witness,  at  Posen,  the  celebration  of  the  Lord's 
Supper,  according  to  the  ritual  of  the  Unity.  The  Count 
was  impressed  but  still  wavered.  Soon  after,  his  wife 
requested  the  priests  of  the  Brethren  to  hold  a  religious 
meeting  in  the  castle  at  Ostrorog.  While  this  service  was  in 
progress  several  Catholic  nobles  called  on  the  Count ;  and 
when  they  heard  of  it,  ridiculed  it  as  a  conventicle.  One  of 
them  said,  that  if  his  wife  were  to  introduce  heretics  into  his 
castle,  he  would  beat  her  into  subjection.  Such  remarks 
excited  Ostrorog  and  he  persuaded  himself  that  his  authority 
had  been  grossly  insulted.  Seizing  a  whip  and  exclaiming, 
"  I  will  drag  my  wife  out  of  this  conventicle  and  bring  her 
here !" — he  hurried  off  and  burst  into  the  meeting.  But 
when  he  beheld  the  devout  and  solemn  assembly,  and  saw 
that  Cerwenka,  who  was  preaching,  manifested  no  alarm  but 
■calmly  continued  his  discourse,  giving  it  a  turn  that  reproved 
the  Count's  unseemly  anger,  he  was  overcome  by  a  sudden 
fear,  stood  humbled  and  remained  speechless.  In  that 
moment  Israel  rose  and  pointing  to  a  vacant  seat,  said,  "  Sir, 
sit  down  there !"  The  Count  obeyed  and  by  the  time 
Cerwenka  had  finished  his  sermon,  believed  in  Christ,  rejoiced 
in  God,  and  was  fully  persuaded  in  his  own  mind  to  join 
the  Unity .^^  Cruciger  and  Stancarus  left  Ostrorog;  Israel 
took  up  his  abode  in  its  parsonage;  its  parish  church,  the 
churches  on  all  the  other  domains  of  the  Count,  and  large 
buildings  at  Posen,  were  given  to  the  Brethren.  Ostrorog 
became  their  Polish  centre  and  its  noble  proprietor  their  most 

*°  Kegenvolscius,  pp.  107,  108. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH.  291 

faithful  patron.  In  a  short  time  additional  parishes  were 
established  at  Kozminek,  under  Albert  Serpentinus,  who  was 
followed  by  John  Rokita,  at  Marszevia,  under  Peter  Scalnicus, 
at  Lobsenia,  under  George  Philippensis,  and  at  Barcin,  under 
John  Rybinius.21  Moreover  the  example  of  so  powerful  and 
well-known  a  magnate  as  Ostrorog,  induced  a  number  of 
other  noble  families  to  join  the  Unity.  It  greatly  prospered 
in  Poland ;  its  churches  walked  in  the  fear  of  the  Lord,  and 
in  the  comfort  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

*^  Lochner,  p.  95. 


292  THE    HISTORY    OF 


CHAPTEE  XXX. 

The  Brethren  and  the  Reformed  in  Poland.     A.  D.  1554-1557. 


The  Unitas  Fratrum  a  Centre  of  Union  for  the  Polish  Protestants. — 
Negotiations  with  the  Reformed. — An  unsuccessful  Persecution. — 
Union  Synod  of  Kozminek. — Articles  of  Agreement  between  the 
Brethren  and  the  Reformed. — Lismanin  and  the  Swiss  Reformers. — 
The  Union  of  the  Reformed  with  the  Brethren  does  not  prosper. — John 
von  Laski. — Vergerius. — Further  negotiations  with  the  Reformed. 

The  Protestants  of  Poland  were  attracted  by  the  Unitas 
Fratrum.  Its  Confession  of  Faith  found  favor  among  their 
clergy  and  nobility ;  its  discipline  excited  general  admiration  ; 
it  had  a  well-ordered  constitution,  a  simple  but  sufficient 
ritual,  and  presented,  in  all  other  respects,  a  completed 
organization.  The  other  evangelical  churches,  and  particu- 
larly the  Reformed,  recognizing  their  lack  of  unity  and  want 
of  a  proper  system,  began  to  look  around  for  a  rallying-point.^ 
In  the  beginning  of  1555  the  idea  was  broached  that  the 
Brethren's  Church  might,  perhaps,  afford  such  a  centre. 

This  idea  gained  ground  in  Little  Poland,  in  consequence 
of  a  visit  which  George  Israel  and  Count  Ostrorog  paid  to 
Cracow.  They  met  with  Jerome  Philipowski,  an  influential 
magnate  and  adherent  of  the  Reformed  faith.  He  was  so 
charmed  with  their  account  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum,  that  he 
induced  Cruciger  to  invite  its  Executive  Council  to  send 
delegates  to  a  Reformed  Synod,  which  was  soon  to  meet  at 


^  Authorities  for  this  chapter  are  Lukaszewicz,  and  especially  L.  F..  X. 
which  contains  George  Israel's  narrative  of  the  negotiations  of  the  Re- 
formed with  the  Brethren.  R's  Z.,  pp.  282-303.  Gindely,  I.  p.  392,  etc. 
Lukaszewicz' s  narrative  is  incomplete  and  sometimes  incorrect. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH.  293 

Chrecice.  This  Synod,  Cruciger  added,  would  consider  the 
question  of  a  union  of  the  Reformed  with  the  Brethren. 

The  Council  would  not  have  been  true  to  its  antecedents  if 
it  had  not  cordially  accepted  such  an  overture.  From  of  old 
the  Church  of  the  Brethren  had  sought  to  promote  unity 
among  God's  children.  Accordingly  Israel  and  John  Rokita 
were  appointed  delegates  to  the  proposed  Synod.  It  took 
place  on  the  fourteenth  of  March,  1555.^  Israel  gave  a  short 
account  of  the  origin,  progress  and  sufferings  of  the  Brethren, 
and  explained  the  fundamental  principles  of  their  system. 
It  was  agreed  to  hold  another  meeting  at  Goluchow,  on  the 
twenty-fifth  of  March.  On  this  occasion  Israel  met  ten 
representatives  of  the  Calvinistic  faith,  who  discussed,  article 
by  article,  the  Confession  of  the  Brethren.  A  fraternal  spirit 
prevailed ;  but  it  became  evident  that  the  Reformed  were 
not  yet  of  one  mind  with  regard  to  the  proposed  union.  A 
report  of  the  proceedings  was  sent  to  the  Council,  together 
with  an  invitation  to  appoint  delegates  to  a  Union  Synod  at 
Kozminek. 

Meantime  the  Bishop  of  Posen  induced  the  King  to  issue 
an  order  to  the  Governor  of  Great  Poland,  closing  the 
churches  and  forbidding  the  religious  assemblies  of  the 
Protestants  (1555).  This  order  was  carried  out  in  the  royal 
cities,  but  remained  a  dead  letter  on  the  domains  of  the 
nobles.  Before  long  it  was  disregarded  in  the  royal  cities 
also.  Moreover  the  Diet  of  Petrikau  (1555)  resolved  to 
convene  a  national  council  in  order  to  settle  the  religious 
affairs  of  the  country,  and  the  King  consented  to  ask  im- 
portant concessions  of  the  Pope :  such  as  the  mass  in  the 
vernacular,  the  Lord's  Supper  under   both  kinds,  and  the 


2  Lukaszewicz  says  the  Synod  met  on  the  twenty-fourth  of  May.  The 
date  we  have  given  is  taken  from  the  L.  F.  Rokita,  who  has  been  several 
times  mentioned,  was  ordained  to  the  priesthood  in  1555,  at  Prossnitz,  and 
subsequently  elected  to  the  Council.  He  is  famous  on  account  of  his 
interview  with  the  Eussian  Czar,  of  which  more  hereafter.  His  abilities 
as  a  linguist  have  been  mentioned.  He  died  on  the  tw.enty-fifth  of 
January,  1591.     Todtenbuch,  p.  85. 


294  THE    HISTORY   OF 

marriage  of  priests.  Thus  the  persecution  by  which  the 
Bishop  meant  to  suppress  Protestantism  proved  abortive,  and 
the  synod  at  Kozminek  could  be  held  in  peace. 

It  was  the  first  Union  Synod  of  the  Polish  Protestants,  and 
convened  on  the  Day  of  St.  Bartholomew,  the  twenty-fourth 
of  August,  1555.  There  were  in  attendance,  on  the  part  of 
the  Reformed,  Felix  Cruciger  and  Andrew  Prazraowski,  the 
two  Superintendents — the  latter  of  Kujavia^ — together  with 
seven  other  clerical  and  lay  deputies :  on  the  part  of  the 
Bohemian  Brethren,  Jacob  Ostrorog,  John  Krotowski,  John 
Tomicki,  Adalbert  Marschewski  and  Peter  Grudzinski — 
Polish  nobles  and  lay  deputies  ;  John  Czerny,  from  Moravia, 
George  Israel,  of  Ostrorog,  Matthias  Rybinius,  of  Kaminiec, 
Adalbert  Serpen  tin  us,  of  Kozminek,  all  from  Poland,  and 
John  George,  from  East  Prussia^ — clerical  deputies :  on  the 
part  of  the  Lutherans  of  East  Prussia,  John  Funk,  the  court- 
preacher  of  Duke  Albert,  Jerome  Malecki  and  William 
Krinecky,  the  exiled  Bohemian  Baron  who  was,  however,  a 
member  of  the  Brethren's  Church.  A  large  number  of  the 
magnates  of  Great  Poland  were  present  as  spectators. 

The  Synod  was  opened  at  eleven  o'clock  by  John  Czerny, 
who  delivered  the  following  brief  address : 

"  Having  gathered  here  with  great,  important  and  very 
necessary  objects  in  view,  it  is  proper  that  we  should  turn  to  the 
Lord  our  God,  seek  refuge  with  Him,  and  call  upon  His  most 
holy  name ;  so  that  He  may  enlighten  us  with  His  holy  Spirit 
and  prepare  our  hearts  to  obey  His  holy  will."^ 

^  Kujavia  was  originally  an  independent  principality  on  the  Vistula,  but 
in  course  of  time  incorporated  with  Poland.  It  contained  the  cities  of 
Jnowraclaw,  Brzesc  and  Dobrzyn. 

*  John  George,  or  Jirek,  born  at  Swidnitz  (Schweidnitz),  was  a  Bachelor 
of  Arts,  taught  in  the  Brethren's  school  at  Leitomischl,  was  their  mes- 
senger to  the  King  in  1547,  (Vide  p.  268  of  this  History),  and  emigrated 
to  Prussia,  where  he  was  ordained  to  the  priesthood.  In  1557  lie  was 
elected  to  the  Council  and  became  a  sort  of  superintendent  of  the  Prussian 
chiirches,  in  which  capacity  he  Avas  subjected  to  much  enmity  on  the  part 
of  the  flatterers  of  the  Duke.  He  died  March  the  first,  1562.  He  was  a 
pious  and  upright  man  and  a  diligent  scholar.     Todtenbuch,  pp.  34,  35. 

*  Lukaszewicz,  p.  31. 


THE  MORAVIAX  CHURCH.  295 

Thereupon  all  rose  and  sang,  with  great  enthusiasm,  the 
Polish  hymn  :  Diichu  S.  przyjdz  k'nam  (Come,  Holy  Spirit, 
visit  us).  This  hymn  was  followed  by  an  address  from 
Cruciger,  who  showed  the  necessity  of  uniting  against  the 
'*  Romish  Antichrist,"  and  admonished  the  Synod  to  exercise 
moderation  and  to  strive  for  peace.  The  Confession  of  the 
Brethren  formed  the  basis  of  the  discussions,  which  were  pro- 
tracted for  several  days.  At  first  the  most  conflicting  views 
appeared,  and  heated  disputes  took  place;  finally,  however, 
the  Synod  came  to  the  unanimous  conclusion  that  this  Con- 
fession might  be  adopted  by  all  the  Protestants  of  Poland. 
Thereupon  the  Brethren  and  the  Reformed  of  Little  Poland 
mutually  agreed  upon  the  following  six  articles : 

1.  The  Reformed  of  Little  Poland  accept  the  Confession  of  the 
Brethren ;  acknowledge  their  doctrines  as  pure ;  and  pledge 
themselves  to  remain  faithful  to  this  Confession. 

2.  The  Reformed  promise  to  introduce  into  their  churches  the 
liturgy  of  the  Brethren,  who,  on  their  part,  agree  to  give  them 
their  liturgical  forms  and  to  send  some  of  their  ministers  to 
explain  and  establish  the  same. 

3.  The  Reformed  promise  to  undertake  nothing  in  the  afiairs 
of  their  church,  without  consulting  the  Brethren. 

4.  The  Reformed  are,  however,  to  retain  their  own  superin- 
tendents, who  will  be  independent  of  the  bishops  of  the  Brethren. 

5.  Some  of  the  usages  of  their  church  will  also  be  retained  by 
the  Reformed. 

6.  But  they  will  renounce  the  tithes  which  they  have  been 
drawing  according  to  Roman  Catholic  custom.® 

A  similar  agreement,  excepting  the  introduction  of  the 
liturgy,  was  entered  into  between  the  Brethren  and  Praz- 
mowski,  as  the  representative  of  the  Calvinists  of  Kujavia. 
On  Sunday,  the  first  of  September,  a  common  celebration  of 
the  Lord's  Supper  set  a  seal  to  the  union  which  was  thus 
established.  The  next  day  the  Synod  adjourned.  No 
influence  seems  to  have  been  exercised  upon  its  transactions 
by  the  Lutheran  representatives,  and  they  stood  aloof  from 
the  union. 

At  that  time  there  lived  in  Switzerland  a  man  who  had 
helped  to  establish  Protestantism  in  Poland.     His  name  was 

®  Lukaszewicz,  pp.  32,  33. 


296  THE    HISTORY   OF 

Francis  Lismanin.  By  birth  a  Greek,  from  Corfu,  he  became 
a  Franciscan  monk  and,  in  course  of  time,  the  confessor  of 
Queen  Bona,  the  mother  of  Sigismund  Augustus.  Having 
imbibed  evangelical  views  he  established  an  association  which 
secretly  studied  the  writings  of  the  Reformers.  Upon  the 
King  he  exercised  a  great  influence  and,  twice  a  week,  gave 
him  private  instruction  in  the  doctrinal  system  of  Calvin.  In 
1553  Sigismund  sent  him  on  a  journey  through  Europe, 
ostensibly  in  order  to  buy  books  for  the  royal  library,  but  in 
reality  with  the  view  to  examine  into  the  state  of  Protest- 
antism. He  went,  first  of  all,  to  Moravia,  where  he  spent  a 
long  time  at  Prerau,  among  the  Brethren,  with  whose  system 
he  made  himself  familiar;  then  he  proceeded  to  Italy, 
Switzerland  and  France.  From  France  he  returned  to 
Switzerland  and  formed  the  acquaintance  of  Calvin,  Beza, 
Musculus  and  other  Reformers.  The  result  was,  that  he 
openly  renounced  Catholicism,  joined  the  Protestants  and 
married.  This  step  offended  King  Sigismund,  who  forbade 
him  to  return  to  Poland. 

Soon  after  the  Synod  of  Kozmiuek,  Cruciger  reported  to 
Lismanin  the  union  which  had  been  established  with  the 
Brethren,  and  begged  him  to  ask  the  Swiss  Reformers  for 
their  opinion.  This  opinion  proved  to  be,  in  the  highest 
degree,  favorable.  Calvin  said:  "Let  the  union  continually 
grow  closer."  Musculus  wrote:  "I  joyfully  praise  the 
counsel  of  God,  that  He  has  transplanted  the  Brethren  from 
Bohemia  to  Poland  in  order  to  assist  you  in  acquiring  and 
spreading  the  knowledge  of  the  Truth."  A  number  of  other 
letters  were  received  all  pervaded  by  the  same  spirit. 

And  yet  the  union  so  auspiciously  inaugurated  and  warmly 
commended,  did  not  prosper.  At  the  very  next  Synod,  held 
at  Pinczow,  in  1556,  the  Reformed  began  to  find  fault  with 
the  Confession  of  the  Brethren  and  to  manifest  a  singular 
indecision ;  although  they  still  said  that  they  desired  the 
introduction  of  the  liturgy. 

In  order  to  bring  this  about  the  Executive  Council  sent 
Israel  and  Rokita  to  Little  Poland.     At  Krticic  they  had  a 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  297 

meeting  with  Cruciger  and  other  Reformed  ministers.  Israel 
told  them,  in  plain  terms,  that  they  must  declare,  without 
further  equivocation,  whether  they  intended  to  abide  by  the 
agreement  of  Kozminek.  Their  answers  were  so  confused 
and  unsatisfactory  that  this  conference  led  to  no  results.  A 
second  meeting,  held  after  Israel's  return  from  a  short  visit 
to  Cracow,  was  equally  fruitless.  This  was  owing  to  the 
arrival  of  John  von  Laski  at  the  neighboring  Castle  of 
Rabstein. 

John  von  Laski,  born  at  Warsaw  in  1499,  the  scion  of  an 
ancient  Polish  family,  was  a  distinguished  Reformer  and  an 
illustrious  servant  of  God.  Educated  for  the  Roman  Catholic 
priesthood,  in  part  at  foreign  universities,  where  he  made  the 
acquaintance  of  Erasmus  and  of  Protestant  divines,  he 
attempted  to  reform  Poland  without  cutting  himself  loose 
from  the  established  Church.  After  eleven  years  of  fruitless 
labors,  he  relinquished  this  effort,  espoused  Protestantism, 
went  to  Belgium,  where  he  married,  and,  in  1540,  settled  in 
East  Friesland.  In  that  country  he  became  the  founder  of 
the  Reformed  Church.  Nine  years  later  he  organized,  in 
England,  a  flourishing  church  of  refugees  from  France  and 
the  Netherlands.  This  enterprise  came  to  an  end  in  1553,  in 
consequence  of  the  persecutions  of  Bloody  Mary.  With  a 
part  of  his  flock  he  now  wandered  through  Denmark,  Fries- 
land  and  Germany,  driven  from  place  to  place  by  Roman 
Catholics  and  bigoted  Lutherans,  until  1556,  when,  in 
response  to  pressing  invitations,  he  returned  to  his  native 
land. 

The  arrival  of  their  distinguished  countryman  had  pro- 
duced such  excitement  among  the  ministers  gathered  at 
Krticic,  that  they  seemed  unable  to  speak  of  anything  else. 
Israel,  who  was  preparing  to  depart,  reluctantly  yielded  to 
their  persuasions  and  accompanied  them  to  Rabstein.  Laski 
gave  him  a  cordial  reception,  but  soon  began  to  find  fault 
with  the  Confession  of  the  Brethren.  Without  enterintj 
upon  this  subject  Israel  bade  him  farewell  and  went  to 
Cracow,  where   he  spent  Christmas,  and  had  an  interview 


298  THE    HISTORY    OF 

with  Lismanin,  who  had  secretly  returned  to  Poland  (1556)7 
On  his  further  journey  he  met,  at  Jaldow,  soon  after 
Epi])hany,  1557,  with  another  distinguished  personage. 

This  was  Peter  Paul  Vergerius,  at  one  time  the  nuncio  at 
the  imperial  court  and  subsequently  Bishop  of  Capo  d'Istria, 
in  Dalmatia,  where  he  was  born  in  1498.  He  stood  high 
and  had  every  prospect  of  being  appointed  a  cardinal.  While 
studying  the  Protestant  system  with  a  view  to  its  complete 
refutation,  he  became  convinced  of  its  truth,  resigned  his 
episcopal  office,  gave  up  all  his  flattering  prospects,  and 
professed  the  evangelical  faith.  After  laboring  in  Switzer- 
land he  accepted  a  position  as  councilor  of  the  Duke  of 
Wiirtemberg  and,  in  conjunction  with  Baron  von  Ungnad, 
established  a  printing  press  for  the  publication  of  Slavonian 
bibles.  At  the  same  time  he  traveled  to  various  countries  in 
order  to  make  himself  acquainted  with  the  progress  of  Prot- 
estantism. To  Poland  he  came  in  1556,  simultaneously  with 
Aloysius  Lipomanus,  the  Bishop  of  Verona,  who  was  sent  by 
Paul  the  Fourth  to  subdue  Protestantism.  This  pontiff  had 
indignantly  refused  to  grant  the  concessions  asked  for  by 
Sigismund  Augustus.  That  the  presence  of  Vergerius  helped 
to  counteract  the  influence  of  Lipomanus,  is  more  than  likely. 
In  any  event,  the  Diet  of  Warsaw  disregarded  his  vehement 
and  dictatorial  demand  to  uproot  heresy,  and  induced 
Sigismund  to  grant  the  nobles  religious  liberty  on  their 
domains. 

This  triumph  for  Protestantism  had  been  won  when  Israel 
met  Vergerius.  Their  interview  led  to  important  results. 
Vergerius  became  one  of  the  most  enthusiastic  admirers  and 
faithful  advocates  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum.  He  declared  that 
it  bore  a  truly  apostolic  character.  He  maintained  that  its 
Confession  embraced  a  kernel  which  all  Protestants  ought  to 
accept.     He  published  this  document  anew  at  Tubingen,  in 

'  Lismanin,  who  began  to  incline  toward  Socinianisra,  did  not  remain  in 
Poland,  but  secured  a  position  from  Duke  Albert  of  East  Prussia.  About 
1563,  in  consequence  of  domestic  troubles  caused  by  the  dissolute  manners 
of  his  wife,  he  became  insane  and  committed  suicide. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  299 

the  following  year  (1558),  together  with  testimonials  of 
Luther,  Melanchton,  Bucer  and  Musculus.^ 

Laski  was  of  a  different  mind.  He  asked  the  Swiss  lie- 
formers  for  a  new  exposition  of  their  views  with  regard  to 
the  Confession  of  the  Brethren,  and  subjected  it  to  a  searching 
criticism  of  his  own.  Lismanin,  with  the  same  object  in 
view,  also  wrote  to  Switzerland  and  expressed  himself  in  an 
unfriendly  way.  Before  any  answers  were  received  to  these 
communications,  the  Reformed  and  the  Brethren  asain  met 
in  Synod,  at  Wladislaw,  June  the  seventeenth,  1557.  Both 
Cruciger  and  Laski,  influenced,  no  doubt,  by  the  Protestant 
nobles,  advocated  the  union  of  Kozminek,  and  said  that  it 
should  be  carried  out  at  a  later  Synod. 

To  this  Synod,  which  was  to  meet  at  Goluchow,  Laski,  on 
the  twenty-fifth  of  July,  invited  the  Executive  Council  to 
send  accredited  delegates.  Cruciger  and  another  Reformed 
minister  gave  a  similar  invitation.^  Cerwenka  replied  that 
it  would  be  laid  before  the  approaching  General  Synod  of  the 
Unitas  Fratrum. 

*  It  was  a  republication  of  the  Latin  Confession  printed  at  Wittenberg  in 
1538.  A  German  translation  of  the  preface  written  by  Vergerius  is  given 
in  Comenii  Kirehen  Historie,  etc.,  Schwabucli,  1739,  p.  453. 

*  The  three  letters  are  contained  in  L.  F.,  X. 


300  THE  HISTORY  OF 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

The  State  of  the  Unity  in  Bohemia  and  Moravia  during  the 
continuance  of  the  Persecution.     A.  D.  1548-1557. 


The  Unity  oppressed  in  Bohemia.— Augusta  and  Bilek.— In  Moravia  the 
Brethren  enjoy  Peace.— Synod  of  Prerau  and  Prossnitz. — Augusta's 
Correspondence  with  the  Council.— Assistant  Bishops  ordained.— Fer- 
dinand and  the  Union  of  the  Utraquists  with  the  Catholics. — His 
interview  with  the  Moravian  Diet.  —  Death  of  Bishop  Sionsky. — 
Augusta  appoints  Czerny  his  Vicar.— Persecution  wanes. — Unsuccessful 
attempt  to  bring  about  the  Liberation  of  Augusta.— The  Council  meets 
openly  in  Bohemia. — Augusta  forbids  the  election  of  new  Bishops. — 
John  Blahoslaw.— The  Parish  of  Jungbunzlau.— Death  of  Wenzel  and 
Daniel.— Augusta's  Correspondence  detected.— Czerny  and  Cerwenka 
appointed  Bishops.— Baron  Krajek  and  the  Eegent. -Renewal  of  tlie 
Persecution.— The  Brethren  appeal  to  Maximilian.— Flacius  lUyricus 
and  the  Unity.— Further  Experiences  of  Augusta. 

The  condition  of  the  Brethren  who  remained  in  Bohemia 
was  not  ameliorated.  Public  worship  ceased  altogether; 
most  of  the  chapels,  with  the  land  belonging  to  them,  were 
either  confiscated  or  in  the  hands  of  the  Utraquists  and 
Catholics ;  to  confess  the  true  faith  was  still  to  run  the  risk 
of  imprisonment,  of  bitter  sufferings,  perhaps  of  death.  A 
large  part  of  the  membership  was  forced  to  conform  outwardly 
to  the  usages  of  the  National  Church.  In  many  families  dis- 
sensions broke  out  and  interfered  with  the  religion  even  of 
the  home.  On  royal  domains  and  such  other  estates  as  were 
not  owned  by  members  of  the  Unity,  the  number  of  the 
Brethren  decreased  about  one-half.  It  was  a  time  of  sore 
tribulation  and  heavy  gloom.     And  yet  even  now  they  were 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  301 

not  left  wholly  without  the  means  of  grace.  Pastoral  letters 
circulated  among  them,  written  by  the  Executive  Council, 
and  two  priests,  Paulin  and  Wenzel  Hussita,  braving  all 
perils,  distinguished  themselves  by  the  zeal  with  which  they 
ministered  to  the  parishes  in  secret. 

Meantime  Augusta  and  Bilek  lay  in  their  dark  cellars  at 
Piirglitz.  In  the  summer  of  1549  the  weary  monotony  of 
their  imprisonment  was  fearfully  interrupted.  Excited  afresh 
by  the  suspicion  of  intrigues  between  Augusta  and  the  Elector 
of  Saxony  and  by  the  information  that  there  were  Bohemian 
barons  who  still  protected  the  Brethren,  Ferdinand  sent  two 
of  his  confidential  councilors  to  institute  a  new  hearing.  On 
Sunday,  August  the  seventh,  they  visited  the  Bishop's  dungeon 
and  questioned  him  very  closely.  As  a  sign  of  what  he  might 
expect,  they  brought  the  executioner  with  them.  Augusta's 
answers  were  the  same  as  at  Prague.  The  next  day  the 
commissioners  came  again  and  began  a  still  more  searching 
examination,  but  brought  to  light  nothing  that  would  have 
satisfied  the  suspicions  of  the  King.  On  Tuesday,  August 
the  ninth,  they  appeared  a  third  time  and  ordered  the  appli- 
cation of  torture.  The  Bishop  was  subjected  to  it,  again 
upon  a  ladder,  his  head  shorn  and  his  mouth  gagged.  It  was 
the  third  ordeal  of  the  kind.  But  again  he  passed  througli 
triumphantly.  On  the  following  day  Bilek  was  lashed 
to  the  ladder;  but  before  the  act  of  torturing  began,  the 
Governor's  wife,  by  her  compassionate  pleadings,  secured  his 
release.^ 

In  Moravia  the  peace  of  the  Unity  remained  unbroken. 
The  Executive  Council  had  taken  up  its  seat  at  Prerau ;  and 
at  the  same  place  Bishop  Mach  Sionsky  convened  the  Synod 
on  the  twenty-eighth  of  October,  1549.  This  body  took  into 
consideration  the  state  of  the  Church  both  in  Bohemia  and 
East  Prussia.  Some  of  the  conclusions  reached  were  the 
following : 


^  Bucholtz,  VI.  p.  440.     It  was  at  the  Governor's  own  suggestion  that  his 
wife  interceded  for  Bilek. 


302  THE    HISTORY    OF 

First,  if  no  priest  of  the  Unity  can  be  secured,  children  may- 
be baptized  by  Roman  Catholic  or  Utraquist  priests,  but  the 
parents  are  not,  on  that  account,  to  leave  the  Brethren  ;  second, 
the  poor,  who  have  greatly  suffered  during  the  persecution,  are 
to  be  better  cared  for ;  third,  in  order  to  satisfy  Speratus,  who 
has  written  to  the  Synod  on  the  subject,  several  young  men  are 
to  be  sent  to  German  universities ;  fourth,  the  reasons  for  the 
voluntary  celibacy  of  the  priests,  concerning  which  he  has  asked 
for  further  information,  are  to  be  communicated  to  him  ;  fifth, 
all  official  letters  and  other  historical  documents  are  to  be  care- 
fully collected  and  preserved.^ 

Sionsky's  report  of  the  constraint  under  which  the  Brethren 
in  East  Prussia  were  suffering,  was  received  in  silence.  Soon 
after  the  Synod  he  began  a  series  of  official  visits  to  the 
Moravian  and,  as  far  as  possible,  to  the  Bohemian  parishes 
also. 

While  thus  engaged  an  important  change  took  place  in 
Augusta's  situation.  The  number  of  his  guards  had  been 
reduced  from  twenty  to  six.^  In  January,  of  1550,  one  of 
these  six,  a  native  of  Leitomischl,  was  bribed  to  supply  him 
with  money,  lights,  books  and  writing  materials.  Augusta  at 
once  opened  a  correspondence  with  the  Council.  Everything 
of  importance  was  reported  to  him  and  he  gave  his  opinions 
as  freely  and  authoritatively  as  though  he  were  presiding  at 
the  meetings  of  that  body.  He  wrote  frequently  to  the 
parishes  also,  A  member  of  the  Church  took  up  his 
residence  at  Piirglitz  in  order  to  receive  and  forward  the 
letters ;  at  a  later  time  he  was  relieved  by  a  priest,  whom  the 
Council  specially  intrusted  with  this  duty.  The  good  will  of 
the  new  Governor,  who  was  set  over  the  Castle  in  spring, 
rendered  the  clandestine  use  of  lights  and  books  unnecessary. 
He  provided  Augusta  and  Bilek  with  both.  Of  the  corre- 
spondence, however,  he  knew  nothing. 

After  having  finished  his  visits  to  the   churches.  Bishop 

*  Dekrete  d.  B.  U.  p.  167,  cited  by  Czerwenka.  The  last  resolution,  which 
was  owing  to  the  destruction  of  the  archives  at  Leitomischl,  in  1546,  (vide 
p.  152  of  this  History),  led  to  the  collection  now  known  as  the  Lissa  Folios. 
This  collection  was  begun  by  Czerny  and  John  Blahoslaw,  and  continued 
by  the  later  bishops. 

*  At  a  later  time  the  number  was  reduced  to  three. 


THE    MORAVIAN'    CHURCH.  303 

Sionsky,  in  the  spring  of  1550,  convened  the  Synod  at 
Prossnitz.  The  future  government  of  the  Unity,  in  view  of 
his  possible  death  and  of  Augusta's  continued  imprisonment, 
formed  the  subject  of  anxious  deliberations.  To  elect  new 
bishops  and  have  them  consecrated  by  Sionsky  and  the  two 
assistants,  Wenzel  and  Daniel,  would  have  been  the  proper 
and  natural  course.  But  it  was  not  adopted,  no  doubt  because 
it  did  not  meet  with  Augusta's  approval.*  Sionsky,  however, 
ordained  three  new  assistant  bishops — John  Czerny,  Matthias 
Strejc  and  Paul  Paulin — gave  them  authority  to  oversee  the 
churches,  assigned  them  dioceses  and  set  them  over  the  entire 
priesthood.^  At  the  same  time  he  conferred  upon  Wenzel 
Wroutecky  and  Daniel  Hranicky,  the  two  oldest  assistant 
bishops,  power  to  consecrate  bishops.^ 

*  There  is  no  record  showing  that  Augusta  opposed  an  election  of  bishops 
at  this  time,  but  as  he  persistently  did  so  on  later  occasions,  and  as  his 
opposition  seems  to  be  the  only  possible  reason  why  such  an  election  was 
not  undertaken,  we  must  take  for  granted  that  he  had  communicated  with 
the  Synod  on  the  subject. 

^  JafFet's  Sword  of  Goliath,  I.  pp.  15, 19,  etc.,  R's  Z.,  p.  278.  John  Czerny 
was  ordained  to  the  priesthood  in  1537  and  elected  to  the  Council  in  1543- 
He  was  a  model  of  piety,  diligence  and  earnestness,  worthy  of  being  always 
remembered.  (Todtenbuch,  p.  38.)  Matthias  Strejc  or  Streyc  (Vetter)  was 
ordained  to  the  priesthood  in  1521  and  elected  to  the  Council  in  1537 — a 
man  of  sharp  understanding,  eloquent,  cautious  but  very  timid.  He  died 
May  the  thirteenth,  1555,  at  Krzizanow. — Paul  Paulin  was  ordained  to  the 
priesthood  in  151:0  and  became  a  member  of  the  Council.  He  was  a  man 
of  great  influence  which,  however,  waned  toward  the  end  of  his  life,  partly 
on  account  of  protracted  ill  health.  He  died,  at  Prerau,  on  the  twenty- 
ninth  of  June,  1564.     (Todtenbuch,  p.  37.) 

^  Dekrete  d.  B.  U.,  p.  170,  cited  by  Czerwenka.  Gindely,  I.  p.  347,  says 
that  Sionsky  gave  Strejc  and  Czerny — neither  he  nor  Czerwenka  mentions 
Paulin — authority  to  convene  the  Synod  and  watch  over  the  discipline,  but 
not  the  power  to  ordain.  And  yet  he  refers  to  precisely  the  same  authority 
which  we  have  given,  viz.:  JafFet's  Sword  of  Goliath,  where  we  read: 
Sionsky,  "  as  a  prudent  man,  constituted  and  set  apart  episcopal  vicars, 
supported  in  this  arrangement  by  the  first  two,  viz.:  Wenzel  Wroutecky 
and  Daniel  Hranicky,  and  added  to  them  Brother  Matthias  Strejc,  Brother 
Czerny  and  Brother  Paulin.  And  he  imparted  to  them  complete  episcopal 
power,  to  order  all  things  which  they  might  deem  necessary  in  the 
churches,  gave  them  dioceses  which  they  were  to  administer,  and  set  them 
over    the   entire   priesthood."      Gindely   himself,    moreover,    in    another 


304  THE    HISTORY   OF 

Meanwhile  Ferdinand,  after  having  brought  about  the 
election  of  his  oldest  son,  Maximilian,  as  his  successor  on  the 
Bohemian  throne  (February  the  fourteenth,  1549),  strenuously 
urged  the  union  of  the  Utraquists  with  the  Catholics.  Aided 
by  Mistopol  he  prepared  twelve  articles  having  this  end  in 
view,  although  they  were  wholly  Romish  in  their  tendency. 
In  December  these  articles  were  laid  before  the  Diet;  but  the 
opposition  which  they  evoked  on  the  part  of  the  Utraquist 
nobles  who,  in  spite  of  Mistopol's  efforts,  were  joined  by  one 
of  his  deans  and  thirty  of  his  priests,  was  so  violent  that  the 
King  postponed  the  union  to  a  later  period.*^  In  order  to 
take  oif  the  edge  of  his  disappointment,  he  sent  from  Augs- 
burg, to  which  city  he  repaired  immediately  after  the  Diet,  a 
new  decree  enforcing  the  continued  persecution  of  the 
Brethren.  This  decree  Baron  Pernstein  made  the  occasion 
for  oppressing  them  on  his  domains,  especially  at  Pardubitz^ 
with  still  greater  severity ;  while  Bishop  Sionsky  embraced 
the  opportunity  to  send  a  letter  full  of  fatherly  admonitions 
to  stand  fast,  to  exercise  patience  and  to  submit  to  the  will  of 
God.« 

In  April  of  the  following  year  (1550),  Ferdinand  met  the 
Moravian  Diet  at  Briinn  and  tried  to  induce  this  body  to  pass 
a  law  against  the  Brethren  living  in  the  margraviate.  But 
he  sustained  an  ignominious  defeat.  Wenzel  von  Ludanic, 
the  Governor  of  Moravia,  whose  parents  belonged  to  the 
Unity  and  who  had  been  educated  in  its  sdiools,  closed  a 
fiery  address  with  these  words: 

"  Most  gracious  King,  when  your  Majesty  swore  the  oath  by 
which  you  were  constituted  Margrave  of  Moravia,  the  number  of 
those  who  held  to  the  pure  and  unadulterated  faith  was  small. 

passage,  calls  Strejc  and  Czerny,  Vice  Seniors,  that  is,  Assistant  Bishops- 
While  therefore  it  is  evident  that  they,  together  with  Paulin,  were  ordained 
to  this  degree,  it  is  not  clear  what  authority,  if  any,  they  received  witli 
regard  to  consecrating  bishops.  For  although  Jaffet  in  another  part  of  his 
Sword  of  Goliath,  II.  p.  52,  etc.,  says  that  they  were  ordained  in  order  that) 
in  case  of  necessity,  they  could  consecrate  bishops,  he  practically  retracts 
this  position  when  speaking  of  the  consecration  in  1553. 

'  L.  F.,  VIII.  p.  2,  etc.    R's  Z.  pp.  303-312. 

8  L.  F.,  VIII.  p.  2,  etc. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  "  305 

This  was  owing  to  a  want  of  knowledge  of  the  true  worship  of 
God  and  of  the  proper  use  of  the  sacraments.  Now  that  it  has 
pleased  Him  to  dispel  the  darkness,  we  thank  Him  from  the 
depths  of  our  hearts  that  He  has  brought  us  to  a  recognition  of 
the  Gospel  in  its  purity  ;  and  beseech  and  conjure  your  Grace 
not  to  interfere  with  this  highest  good  and  not  to'  forbid  the 
exercise  of  our  religion.  ISTot  one  of  us  will  move  the  breadth  of 
a  hair  from  our  conviction.  As  regards  myself,  I  will  rather  lose 
my  head  than  give  up  my  faith.  Sooner  shall  Moravia  disappear 
in  fire  and  ashes  than  permit  coercion  in  matters  of  religion."^ 

Turning  to  the  members  of  the  Diet  Ludauic  asked  whether 
he  had  correctly  expressed  their  views.  A  general  "  Aye !" 
rang  through  the  chamber.  The  King,  in  the  hope  that  a 
personal  appeal  would  avail,  called  upon  all  such  as  were 
willing  to  obey  him,  to  step  to  one  side.  Only  five  barons 
and  two  knights  responded.  When  Ludanie  saw  this,  he 
read  aloud  the  oath  which  Ferdinand  had  sworn,  as  Mar- 
grave of  Moravia.  Full  of  indignation  Ferdinand  left  the 
Diet  and,  soon  after,  as  he  stood  at  the  window  of  his  palace, 
saw,  to  his  still  greater  chagrin,  almost  the  entire  body  pass 
in  triumphal  procession,  escorting  the  Governor  to  his  home. 

On  the  sixteenth  of  April,  1552,  Bishop  ]Mack  Sionsky 
died  at  Gilgenburg,  in  East  Prussia.  He  was  a  great  man 
wise,  courageous  and  noble-minded,  serving  God  and  the 
Brethren  with  all  his  heart.^"  His  death  plunged  their 
Church  into  the  utmost  perplexity.  There  were  five  assistant 
bishops  and  the  following  seven  other  members  of  the 
Executive  Council :  George  Israel,  Matthias  Cerwenka, 
Wenzel  Cech,  George  Ujec,  Jacob  Sidlar,  John  Husita  and 
Wenzel  Holy ;"  but  the  President  of  this  body  and  the  only 

3  Gindely,  I.  p.  353. 

'"  Sionsky  was  a  tall  man  and  his  appearance  stately.  He  was  buried  in 
the  Polish  Bohemian  church  at  Gilgenburg,  "behind  the  little  door;"  a 
mural  tablet,  with  a  Latin  epitaph,  was  set  up  by  two  of  his  friends,  George 
Cyklowsky  and  John  Lorenz.  Matthias  Czerwenka  preached  the  funeral 
sermon.     Todtenbuch,  pp.  21,  23. 

11  Cech  was  ordained  to  the  priesthood  in  1540  and  elected  to  the  Council 
in  1550,  a  pious  and  zealous  man,  possessed  of  an  extraordinary  under- 
standing. Died,  at  Meseritz,  March  the  twentieth,  1560.  (Todtenbuch,  p. 
30.)  Ujec,  ordained  to  the  priesthood  in  1534,  elected  to  the  Council,  at 
20 


306  '  THE    HISTORY    OF 

remaining  bishop  was  still  immured  within  the  walls  of 
Piirglitz.  To  whom  should  the  government  of  the  Church 
be  intrusted?  In  order  to  settle  this  question  the  Council 
met  on  the  twelfth  of  June,  in  Moravia,  but  reached  no 
satisfactory  conclusion.  Hence  the  Synod  was  convened. 
Either  by  this  body  or  previously  by  the  Council,  Augusta 
was  asked  for  his  opinion.  He  forbade  the  election  of  new 
bishops,'^  but  appointed  John  Czerny  as  his  vicar,  giving  him 
authority  to  preside  at  the  Council,  and  in  connection  with  its 
members  and  especially  the  other  assistant  bishops,  to  govern 
the  Church.^^ 

This  was  the  first  step  in  Augusta's  downward  career.  He 
ouo-ht  to  have  allowed  the  election  of  a  new  bishop  and  to 
have  consecrated  him  in  his  dungeon.  Such  a  consecration 
would,  indeed,  have  been  perilous,  but  not  impossible.  He 
was  now  guarded,  comparatively,  in  a  loose  way ;  and  one  of 
the  men-at-arms  being  in  the  pay  of  the  Executive  Council, 
would  have  done  whatever  this  body  asked  of  him.  But 
Augusta  was  determined  not  to  be  superseded  in  his  episcopal 
authority.  He  imagined  that  his  long  and  terrible  sufferings 
entitled  him  to  rule  the  Unity  even  from  a  prison,  and  he 
seems   to  have  had  a  strong  presentiment    of    his  eventual 

New  Year,  1550,  a  distinguished  pastor,  who  led,  for  many  years,  a  blame- 
less life.  Died,  at  Dacic,  in  Moravia,  February  the  twenty-seventh,  1560. 
(Todtenbuch,  p.  30.)  Sidlar,  ordained  to  the  priesthood  1531,  elected  to  the 
Council  in  1550,  murdered,  in  1551,  by  robbers  in  a  wood  near  Eibenschiitz- 
Ho  was  a  brother  of  John  Strejc  (Vetter),  humble,  pious,  diligent,  beloved 
by  the  people  and  a  favorite  of  the  nobles.  (Todtenbuch,  p.  23.)  Husita, 
ordained  to  the  priesthood  in  1543,  a  learned  man,  studied  under  Luther  at 
Wittenberg,  an  eloquent  speaker,  fond  of  fun,  somewhat  proud,  very 
boastful  and  ambitious.  Died,  October  the  twenty-seventh,  1552,  at 
Eibenschiitz.  (Todtenbuch,  p.  24.)  Holy,  ordained  to  the  priesthood, 
175.3,  elected  to  Council,  1550,  a  man  pleasing  to  God  and  the  Unity, 
faithful,  diligent,  upright  and  blameless.  Died,  August  the  twenty-ninth, 
1570,  at  Brandeis  on  the  Adler.     (Todtenbuch,  p.  44.) 

12  Czerwenka,  I.  p.  298.  Gindely's  account  of  the  meeting  of  the  Council 
and  Synod,  L.  F.,  VIII.  being  his  authority,  is  confused.  The  Dekrete  d. 
B.  U.  give  no  information  with  regard  to  these  meetings. 

'=*  Jafi'et's  Sword  of  Goliath,  I.  p.  19,  etc.     E's  Z.  p.  279. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  307 

liberation.  So  great  was  the  reverence  with  Avhich  he  was 
regarded,  that  the  Synod  submitted  to  his  decision. 

In  accordance  with  its  enactment  a  visit  to  the  Prussian 
and  Polish  churches  was  undertaken  by  John  Husita  and 
Cyklowsky.'^  In  the  former  they  re-established  the  usages 
and  customs  of  the  Brethren,  which,  in  many  instances,  had 
given  way  to  Lutheran  novelties,  and  recalled  the  young  men 
who  had  been  sent  to  the  University  of  Konigsberg. 

About  this  time  (1551)  the  persecution  waned  ^^  and  many 
unfaithful  members  of  the  Unity,  who  had  turned  their  backs 
upon  it  in  the  hour  of  danger,  asked  to  be  readmitted  to  its 
fellowship.  Augusta  was  consulted  with  regard  to  the 
matter.  His  decision  was,  that  all  such  as  sincerely  repented 
were  to  be  anew  received,  with  the  exception  of  those  who,  in 
order  not  to  lose  their  property,  had  refused  to  emigrate. 
This  decision  was  accepted  and  carried  out  by  the  Council. 

In  addition  to  his  correspondence  with  this  body  he  wrote, 
while  in  prison,  a  number  of  theological  treatises,  which  are, 
however,  not  extant,  and  composed  many  hymns.  Of  these 
hymns  Bilek  made  an  illuminated  copy.^^ 

The  Council  now  determined  to  bring  about,  if  possible, 
the  liberation  of  Augusta.  Various  circumstances  seemed  to 
render  such  an  effort  hopeful.  The  persecution,  as  has  been 
said,  had  practically  ceased ;  a  decided  reaction  in  favor  of  the 
Unity  was  beginning  to  show  itself  among  the  Bohemian 
nobles ;  ^''  Ferdinand  realized,  more  and  more,  that  the 
Brethren  could  not  be  suppressed ;  and  in  Germany  the  cause 
of  Protestantism  gained  new  strength  through  the  intrigues 

'*  Cyklowsky  was  a  young,  zealous,  fiery  deacon,  ordained  to  the  priest- 
liood  in  1553,  and  destined  for  the  Executive  Council  to  which,  it  was 
generally  understood,  lie  would  be  elected  by  the  Synod  of  1557,  but  while 
on  the  way  to  its  meeting  lie  died,  at  Krzizanowa,  Friday  before  St- 
Bartholomew  (August  the  twenty-fourth).     Todtenbuch,  p.  28. 

^^  Czerny's  Narrative,  L.  F.  VIII.,  p.  40,  etc.     R's  Z.,  p.  314,  etc. 

'®  Bilek's  original  MS.  is  preserved  in  the  Imperial  Library  of  Vienna. 
Gindely,  I.  p.  517,  Note  88. 

"  L.  F.  VIII.,  p.  58,  etc.,  R's  Z.,  contains  some  remarkable  instances  of 
this  reaction. 


308  THE    HISTORY    OF 

of  Maurice  of  Saxony  against  the  Emperor.  So  successful 
was  the  Council  in  agitating  its  project,  that  a  large  number 
of  the  members  of  the  Diet  was  won.  At  its  meeting  at 
Prague,  in  January,  1552,  they  agreed  to  petition  the  King 
for  an  amnesty  on  behalf  of  all  who  had  taken  part  in  the 
League  of  1547,  and  especially  for  the  liberation  of  Augusta 
and  Bilek.  John  Dubravius,  Bishop  of  Olmiitz,  the  cele- 
brated historian  of  Bohemia,  consented  to  be  the  spokesman 
and  addressed  Ferdinand  in  these  words : 

"All  the  states  here  assembled  have  appealed  not  only  to  me 
but  likewise  to  the  other  high  dignitaries  of  the  kingdom,  to  the 
end  that  we  should  speak  to  your  Grace  with  regard  to  the 
liberation  of  your  prisoners.  They  have  been  languishing  long 
enough  and  have  sufficiently  atoned  for  their  faults.  In  unison 
with  all  the  states  we  therefore  beg  that  they  may  be  set  at 
liberty.'"' 

Although  surprised,  the  King  retained  his  self-possession, 
and  merely  said  that  he  would  take  time  until  the  next  day  to 
consider  this  request.  But  it  was  not  until  the  close  of  the 
Diet  and  only  after  the  Bishop  had  reminded  him  of  his 
promise,  that  he  vouchsafed  an  answer.  It  was  evasive. 
He  must  have  leisure  to  consider  the  question  still  more 
carefully ;  on  some  future  occasion  he  would  make  known 
his  decision.  Thus  saying  he  turned  to  leave  the  chamber 
while,  loud  enough  for  him  to  hear.  Baron  Zatecky 
exclaimed  :  "  Good  God,  do  Thou  judge !  Those  in  Piirglitz 
were  tortured;  the  rest  were  deprived  of  their  estates;  and 
still  one  knows  not  whether  one  shall  or  shall  not  pardon 
them !" '' 

The  disappointment  of  the  Brethren  was  very  great.  They 
had  confidently  expected  the  liberation  of  Augusta.  In  other 
respects,  however,  they  were  encouraged  and  grew  bolder. 
The  Emperor's  disgraceful  flight  from  Innsbruck  before 
Maurice  of  Saxony,  the  breaking  up  in  confusion  of  the 
Council  of  Trent,  and  the  negotiations  for  peace  which 
followed,  could  not  but  react  favorably  upon  the  Unity  in 

18  L.  F.  VIII.,  p.  58,  etc.     R's  Z.,  p.  317. 

19  Czerny's  narrative  in  L.  F.  VIII.,  cited  by  Gindely. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  309 

Bohemia.-"  John  Czerny  openly  took  up  his  residence  at 
Jungbunzlau  and  convened  the  Council  in  that  town  (June 
the  twelfth,  1552).  At  this  meeting  the  appointment  of  a 
new  bishop  formed  the  principal  subject  of  deliberation,  and 
a  letter  to  Augusta  was  agreed  on,  entreating  him  to  permit  an 
election.  But  again  he  declined.  The  Council — so  he  wrote 
— should  patiently  await  his  liberation.  And  again  the 
Council  submitted. 

This  body  now  devoted  itself  to  the  resuscitation  of  the 
Church  in  Bohemia.  In  such  work  John  Blahoslaw, 
although  a  young  man,  took  an  active  part. 

He  belonged  to  a  noble  family  and  was  born  at  Prerau,  in 
1523,  on  the  first  Friday  of  Lent.  Having  received  a 
thorough  education  in  the  schools  of  the  Brethren,  at  Gold- 
berg under  the  celebrated  Trotzendorf,^^  and  at  the  Univer- 
sities of  Wittenberg,  Konigsberg  and  Basel,  he  was  ordained 
a  deacon  in  1553,  and  advanced  to  the  priesthood  in  the  same 
year.  Distinguished  for  his  faithfulness,  diligence  and  learn- 
ing, he  became  one  of  the  most  noted  leaders  and  eminent 
writers  of  the  Unity.  "  In  the  Bohemian  literature  of  the 
sixteenth  century,"  says  Gindely,  "  there  is  not  a  single  work 
to  be  found  which,  for  elegance  of  style,  flow  of  thought  and 
purity  of  diction,  can  be  compared  with  the  writings  of 
Blahoslaw."  ^^ 

The  Church  at  Jungbunzlau,  where  he  labored  under  the 
direction  of  John  Czerny,  continued  to  look  up.     The  chapel 


^°  These  negotiations  eventuated  in  the  Treaty  of  Passau,  July  the 
thirty-first,  1552,  which  gave  the  Protestants  of  Germany  comjslete  religious 
liberty. 

^'  Trotzendorf,  so  called  from  his  birthplace,  his  real  name  being 
Valentine  Friedland,  was  one  of  the  most  celebrated  teachers  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  distinguished  as  a  linguist  and  theologian.  His  jjupils 
represented  all  parts  of  Europe.  In  1556,  while  explaining  the  twenty- 
third  Psalm,  he  suddenly  said :  "  Dear  hearers,  this  instant  I  am  summoned 
to  another  school,"  fell  over  and  was  dead. 

^^  Gindely,  I.  p.  366 ;  Todtenbuch,  pp.  48,  49.  Gindely  has  given  a 
history  of  Blahoslaw's  life,  with  a  complete  list  of  his  literary  works,  in  the 
Bohemian  Musealzeitschrift  for  1856. 


310  THE    HISTORY    OF 

was  reopened  and  worship  publicly  held  ;  Baron  Krajek,  who 
was  as  devoted  a  member  of  the  Unity  as  his  ilkistrious  father 
had  been,  taking  the  position  that  the  edicts  of  the  King  were 
directed  against  the  Picards  and  not  against  the  Brethren. 

In  autumn,  on  the  Sunday  prior  to  the  Day  of  St.  Simon 
and  St.  Jude  (October  the  twenty-eighth),  Wenzel  Wroutecky 
died  at  Prostegow.  He  reached  a  great  age  and  spent  his  life 
in  holy  works.  Not  long  after,  on  the  thirteenth  of  January 
of  the  following  year  (1553),  his  colleague,  Daniel  Hranicky, 
followed  him  into  eternity.  He  too  was  an  aged  sire,  distin- 
guished for  his  piety  and  the  righteousness  of  his  life.  He 
was  one  of  the  exiles  who  sought  refuge  in  Moldavia,  and 
was  well  acquainted  with  Matthias  Corvinus.  Both  these 
Assistant  Bishops  remembered  the  founders  of  the  Unity,  and 
constituted  the  last  link  which  united  them  with  a  new  and 
more  progressive  generation.^^ 

A  few  weeks  subsequent  to  the  death  of  Hranicky  there 
occurred,  at  Piirglitz,  an  event  which  led  to  far  reaching 
consequences.  Through  the  negligence  of  a  servant  who  was 
not  in  the  secret,  the  correspondence  which  Augusta  was 
carrying  on,  became  known  to  the  Governor  (February  the 
tenth,  1553).  The  Bishop's  dungeon  was  searched,  and  many 
letters,  together  with  other  papers,  were  found  and  seized. 
After  the  lapse  of  two  months,  during  which  the  uncertainty 
of  the  fate  awaiting  him  became  daily  more  painful,  he  and 
Bilek  were  conveyed  to  Prague  and,  chained  together  by  the 
feet,  confined  in  the  same  cell  of  the  White  Tower.  They 
fully  expected  to  be  put  to  death.  But  when  it  appeared  that 
Augusta's  letters  contained  exhortations  to  the  Brethren  to 
endure,  with  unwavering  patience,  whatever  might  come 
upon  them  ;  that  the  letters  of  the  Council  related  exclusively 
to  the  affairs  of  the  Unity ;  and  that  nothing  of  a  treasonable 
or  disloyal  character  could  be  discovered ;  the  two  prisoners 
were  sent  back  to  Piirglitz.  There  they  were  put  into  closer 
confinement ;  otherwise  their  condition  remained  unchanged. 

2»  Todtenbuch,  pp.  24,  25. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH.  311 

The  news  of  what  had  occurred,  led  the  Brethren  to  fear  a 
fresh  outbreak  of  the  persecution;  and  fei'vent  was  their 
gratitude  to  God  on  finding  their  anticipations  to  be  ground- 
less. After  the  removal  of  Augusta  to  Prague,  however,  it 
was  commonly  rumored  that  he  had  been  executed.  The 
Executive  Council  being  determined,  at  all  hazards,  to  eman- 
cipate itself  from  his  rule,  made  use  of  this  rumor,  although 
it  could  not  be  substantiated,  in  order  to  bring  to  an  issue  the 
question  of  the  appointment  of  new  bishops.  A  day  of  fasting 
and  prayer  having  been  observed,  the  Synod  convened,  on  the 
fifth  of  June,  1553,  at  Prerau.  The  necessities  of  the  case 
were  discussed  and,  with  great  unanimity,  it  was  resolved  to 
elect  new  bishops.  The  choice  of  the  Synod  fell  upon  John 
Czerny  and  Matthias  Cerwenka.  But  how  should  they  be 
consecrated,  Wenzel  and  Daniel,  whom  Bishop  Sionsky  had 
empowered  to  conduct  an  episcopal  ordination,  having  died  ? 
In  this  emergency  the  Synod  authorized  the  Assistant  Bishops 
Strejc  and  Paulin  to  perform  the  act  of  consecration,^*  and 
after  it  had  been  consummated,  all  the  members  of  the  Council 
laid  their  hands  on  Czerny  and  Cerwenka  and  blessed  them.^ 
That  this  was  neither  a  regular  nor  a  legitimate  consecration, 
is  clear.  But  the  Synod  deemed  the  case  to  be  one  for  which 
there  was  no  law  except  that  of  necessity.  Nor  did  the  true 
succession  remain  broken ;  it  was  renewed  by  Augusta  after 
his  liberation. 

Krajek  grew  more  and  more  earnest  in  re-establishing  the 
Unity  on  his  domains.  At  Jungbunzlau  he  had  a  new  and 
larger  chapel  built.  It  was  dedicated  on  Good  Friday,  March 
the  twenty-third,  1554,  in  spite  of  a  royal  edict  which  the 
Baron  received  on  the  previous  day,  ordering  the  absolute 
suppression  of  the  Brethren  and  the  general  confiscation  of 
their  church  property.^"  In  consequence  of  this  mandate 
Krajek  sent  a  memorial  to  the  Regent,  in  which  he  protested 

2*  Jaffet's  Sword  of  Goliath,  I.  p.  19,  etc.     R's.  Z.,  p.  280. 

^^  Dekrete  d.  B.  U.,  p.  173,  etc.,  cited  by  Czerwenka. 

^^  This  edict  was  dated  March  the  ninth,  155.4.  All  nobles  who  upheld 
the  Brethren  were  threatened  with  severe  punishments.  L.  F.,  VIII.  p. 
73,  etc.,  cited  by  Gindely. 


812  THE    HISTORY    OF 

against  being  called  a  heretic,  and  asked  his  intervention 
with  the  King  on  behalf  of  the  Unity.  Its  other  nobles 
transmitted  similar  communications.  Ferdinand,  to  whom 
they  were  forwarded,  was  so  confounded  by  their  number  and 
tone;,  that  he  forgot  his  edict.  Toward  the  end  of  the  year, 
however,  he  issued  the  strictest  orders  that  it  should  be 
observed,  except — strange  to  say  ! — at  Jungbunzlau.  The 
persecution  broke  out  afresh  and  threatened  to  become  as 
severe  as  it  had  ever  been."'' 

In  order  to  devise  ways  and  means  to  meet  this  emergency, 
the  Synod  was  called  together  on  the  twenty-fifth  of  January, 
1555.  At  the  suggestion  of  Krajek,  an  appeal  to  the  Arch- 
duke Maximilian,  the  future  King  of  Bohemia,  was  resolved  on. 

Maximilian  was  born  at  Vienna  on  the  thirty-first  of  July, 
1527.  Among  his  tutors  were  secret  Protestants,  through 
whose  influence  his  views  on  the  religious  questions  of  the 
day  became  more  liberal  than  his  father's.  He  corresponded 
with  Melanehthon  and  Paul  Eber,  applied  to  the  Duke  of 
Wiirtemberg  for  the  writings  of  the  Reformers,  appointed 
John  Pfauser,  a  Lutheran,  his  court-preacher,  and  another 
Lutheran  the  tutor  of  his  children. 

It  was  in  view  of  a  tendency  so  decidedly  partial  to  Prot- 
estantism that  the  Brethren  hoped  for  his  good  will  and  for 
toleration  through  his  aid.  John  Blahoslaw  was  sent  to 
Vienna  as  their  commissioner.  He  arrived  on  the  fifteenth 
of  March,  1555,  and  succeeded  in  interesting  Pfauser  in  the 
object  of  his  mission,  who  promised  to  prepare  the  way  for 
further  negotiations.^ 

During  Blahoslaw's  absence,  Baron  Krajek  died,  March  the 
eighteenth,  1555,  at  Jungbunzlau.^     His  death  was  a  severe 

*'  About  two  hundred  Utraquist  priests,  who  inclined  to  Lutheranism, 
were  driven  from  Boliemia  at  this  time.  Tliey  fled  to  Meissen  and  the 
Palatinate,  where  they  received  consoling  letters  from  Melanehthon. 

28  Blahoslaw  wrote  a  full  account  of  all  his  visits  to  Vienna,  which  narra- 
tive has  been  preserved  in  L.  F.,  VIII.  and  reproduced  in  Quellen,  pp. 
126-184. 

'^^  Ernst  Krajek  was  the  son  of  Conrad  Krajek.  He  was  buried  in  tlie 
new  cemetery  at  Junglmnzlau,  John  Czerny  delivering  the  funeral  discourse. 
At  a  later  time  a  chapel  was  built  over  his  grave.     Todtenbuch,  p.  26. 


THE    MORAVIAN   CHURCH.  313 

blow  to  the  Unity.  The  youth  and  inexperience  of  his  four 
sons,  who  inherited  his  domains,  succumbed  to  the  craft  of  its 
enemies,  so  that  the  new  chapel,  built  by  their  father,  was 
closed. 

On  the  eleventh  of  November,  of  the  same  year,  the  Synod 
met  again,  at  Prossnitz,  and  resolved  to  publish  a  new 
hymnal — the  preparation  of  which  was  intrusted  to  Czerny, 
Blahoslaw  and  Adam  Sturm^'^ — and  to  take  in  hand  another 
mission  to  Maximilian.  Blahoslaw  was  again  appointed 
commissioner  and  intrusted  with  the  following  documents : 
A  petition  to  Maximilian ;  a  paper  giving  the  reasons  why 
the  Brethren  had  separated  from  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church ;  ^^  the  Confession  of  1 532 ;  copies  of  the  petitions 
sent,  in  1547,  to  Ferdinand  and  Charles  the  Fifth.  But 
Blahoslaw  did  not  see  the  Archduke  in  person ;  he  gave  the 
documents  to  Pfauser,  who  promised  to  deliver  them.  Nor 
did  these  visits  fulfill  the  hopes  of  the  Brethren.^^  All  that 
they  gained  was  an  indefinite  promise,  made  by  Maximilian 
through  his  court-preacher,  that  he  would  do  for  them  what 
he  could. 

In  the  course  of  the  year  1556  John  Czerny  carried  on  a 
correspondence  with  the  Duke  of  East  Prussia,  who  desired 
to  secure  a  priest  of  the  Unity  as  his  court-preacher,  which 
request  was  declined;^  and  with  Flacius  Illyricus,  the  cele- 
brated author  of  the  Catalogus  Testium  Veritatis  and  editor 
of  the  Magdeburg  Centuries.     It  was  with   regard   to  this 

^°  Sturm  was  a  citizen  of  Leitomischl  at  the  time  when  the  Brethren 
emigrated  to  Prussia  and  accompanied  them.  There  he  lost  his  Avife,  and 
afterward  went  to  Moravia,  where  he  entered  the  priesthood.  At  the  time 
of  his  death,  October  the  fifth,  1565,  he  had  charge  of  the  parish  at  Leipnik. 
He  was  an  able  hymnologist.  t 

»'  Quellen,  pp.  150-159. 

^^  A  third  mission,  at  the  instigation  of  Vergerius,  was  undertaken  in 
1557.  It  had  for  its  special  object  the  liberation  of  Bishop  Augusta.  The 
Duke  of  Wiirtemberg  sent,  to  this  end,  a  very  earnest  appeal  to  Maxi- 
milian, at  the  request  of  a  number  of  Polish  nobles.  Quellen,  p.  179  ; 
Croeger,  I.  p.  298.  John  Kokita  was  appointed  on  this  mission,  but  as  he 
fell  ill,  Blahoslaw  took  his  place. 

^^  Correspondence  given  in  Quellen,  pp.  112-121. 


314  THE    HISTORY   OF 

work  that  he  wrote  to  the  Council.  He  wished  to  enlist  the 
aid  of  the  Brethren  in  his  historical  studies.  The  Brethren 
— he  asserted — were  not  the  spiritual  seed  of  Hus,  but 
descended  from  the  Waldenses.  They  should  commission 
some  one  to  visit  Italy  in  order  to  investigate  their  early 
history.  In  his  answer  to  this  communication  Czerny  cor- 
rected its  mistakes  and  sent  Blahoslaw  to  Maffdeburf";  so  that 
he  might  give  Flacius  a  complete  account  of  the  origin  of  the 
Unity .^*  But  Flacius  obstinately  maintained  his  position, 
and  nothing  could  induce  him  to  acknowledge  that  he  had 
fallen  into  a  gross  error.  "  He  is,"  wrote  Blahoslaw  in  his 
journal,  "  a  zealous  and  learned  man ;  he  means  to  be 
upright;  but  his  highmindedness,  obstinacy,  and  determina- 
tion never  to  yield,  stand  in  his  way.  He  might  compete 
with  Osiander  in  pride,  quarrelsomeness  and  inaccessibility  to 
argument.  While  disputing  with  me,  he  became  so  angry 
that  his  hands  trembled."  ^^  The  result  of  Blahoslaw's 
mission  to  Magdeburg  was,  on  the  one  hand,  the  first  History 
of  the  Unitas  Fratrum,^^  and,  on  the  other,  the  inveterate 
prejudice  against  the  Brethren  which  Flacius  thereafter 
manifested  on  all  occasions. 

After  Augusta  and  Bilek  had  been  brought  back  to 
Piirglitz,  the  former  fell  ill  and  remained  in  this  state  for 
three  months,  without  a  physician,  without  medicine,  without 
a  nurse.  Bilek's  entreaties  to  be  allowed  to  minister  to  him 
were  refused.  That  under  such  circumstances  the  Bishop 
eventually  recovered,  was  almost  a  miracle.  In  the  course 
of  time  the  rigor  of  their  imprisonment  was  relaxed;  and 
with  the  permission  of  the  Governor  one  of  their  original 
guards  was  hired  to  wait  on  them.  In  this  way  Augusta's 
correspondence  with    the  Council  was   resumed.      But   this 

**  The  letter  of  Flacius  is  found  in  Quellen,  p.  273,  that  of  Czerny  in 
Quellen,  p.  275. 

35  L.  F.,  VIII.  pp.  148-154,  cited  by  Gindely. 

3®  This  is  the  brief  Latin  History  by  Blahoslaw  whicli  we  have  repeatedly 
quoted  and  which  is  found  in  L.  F.,  VIII.  It  was  written  in  1556  and  has 
been  published  by  GoU  in  his  Quellen  und  Untersuchungen  zur  Geschichte 
der  Bohm.-Briider. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  315 

body  did  not  follow  aii  opeu  and  upright  course.  The 
appointment  of  new  bishops  was  carefully  concealed  from 
him,  and  a  series  of  sermons  on  the  Apostles'  Creed, 
which  he  had  written  in  prison  as  a  manual  for  daily 
worship,  was  published  only  in  part  and  in  a  greatly  altered 
form.  The  Council  did  not  tell  him  that  this  work  failed  to 
meet  with  its  approbation ;  and  when  he  heard  of  the 
mutilated  edition  and  reproved  Czerny  for  taking  such  an 
unwarranted  liberty,  a  truthful  explanation  of  the  case  was 
still  withheld.  Czerny  merely  begged  his  pardon  and  asked 
him  to  allow  the  abbreviated  manual  to  be  used. 


316  THE   HISTORY   OF 


CHAPTEE   XXXII. 

The  Synod  of  Slezan  and  the  History  of  the  Church  in  Bohemia 
and  Moravia,  to  Augusta's  liberatioii.     A.  D.  1557-1564. 


The  Jesuits  in  Bohemia. — Centennial  Synod  at  Slezan. — Bishops  elected. 
— Three  ecclesiastical  Provinces  constituted.  —  Fourth  Mission  to 
Vienna.  —  Ferdinand  proclaimed  Emperor  of  Germany. — Meeting 
of  the  Executive  Council  at  Jungbunzlau. — Bodenstein  applies  to  be 
admitted  to  the  Ministry  of  the  Brethren.  —  Augusta's  and  Bilek's 
Condition  ameliorated.  —  Feud  of  the  Bishop  with  the  Council. — 
Philippine  Welser  at  Piirglitz. — The  memorable  Easter  Festival. — 
Measures  to  bring  about  the  Liberation  of  the  two  Prisoners. — Re- 
moved to  the  Jesuit  College  at  Prague. — They  deny  their  Faith. — 
Augusta  remanded  to  Purglitz. — Bilek  free. — Excluded  by  the  Council. 
— Vergerius  desires  to  join  the  Unity. — Augusta  liberated. — Death  of 
the  Emperor  Ferdinand. 

The  concessions  which  his  brother,  the  Emperor,  was 
obliged  to  grant  the  Protestants  in  Germany,  roused  Ferdinand 
to  withstand  them  the  more  resolutely  in  Bohemia.  In  the 
former  country,  through  the  Religious  Peace  of  Augsburg, 
they  were  put  upon  the  same  footing  as  the  Roman  Catholics 
(September,  1555);  in  the  latter  country,  a  few  months  prior 
to  the  conclusion  of  this  peace,  appeared,  at  the  King's  own 
invitation,  the  Jesuits,  in  the  establishment  of  whose  order  he 
recognized  "  the  finger  of  God."  They  came  to  begin  a  new 
crusade  against  evangelical  liberty ;  and  although  they  en- 
countered great  opposition  and  were  exceedingly  unpopular 
even  among  the  Catholics,  so  that  they  could,  at  first,  accom- 
plish but  little,  their  patience  proved  to  be  inexhaustible  and 
in  due  time  had  its  reward.     For  when  the  Anti-reformation 


THE    MORAVIAN   CHURCH.  317 

was  inaugurated,  they  swept  Protestantism  out  of  sight  and 
laid  afresh  upon  Bohemia  and  Moravia  the  yoke  of  Home  in 
all  its  heaviness.^ 

Antipathy  to  the  Brethren  in  particular  continued  to  fill 
Ferdinand's  heart.  Scarcely  a  year  passed  by  in  which  he  did 
not  issue  a  new  edict  against  them.  But  these  edicts  failed 
to  revive  a  general  persecution  ;  while  in  Moravia  the  Unity 
prospered. 

Amidst  such  circumstances  there  convened  at  Slezan,  on  the 
twenty-fourth  of  August,  1557,  the  centennial  Synod  of  the 
Unitas  Fratrum.^  A  century  had  been  numbered  since  its 
founding  at  Kunwald.  The  little  seed  had  grown  to  be  a 
great  tree.  This  tree  had  been  bruised,  its  trunk  scarred,  and 
some  of  its  boughs  broken ;  but  it  had  always  revived  and 
flourished  with  new  vigor.  The  larger  part  of  Bohemia  and 
Moravia,  and  many  portions  of  Poland  and  East  Prussia, 
rejoiced  in  its  refreshing  shade.  Fervent  gratitude  to  God 
pervaded  the  Synod,  and  its  members  failed  not  to  realize  the 
obligations  which  rested  upon  them  to  foster  the  branch  of 
His  planting,  that  to  it  might  come,  in  ever  larger  numbers, 
sinners  seeking  rest  and  peace  for  their  souls. 

All  the  members  of  the  Executive  Council,  more  than  two 
hundred  priests,  and  many  deacons,  acolytes  and  nobles, 
attended  this  Synod  .^     First  of  all  a  resolution  was  adopted 

'  On  the  eighteenth  of  April,  1555,  twelve  Jesuits,  with  the  famous  Peter 
Canisius  at  their  head,  arrived  in  Prague  and  took  possession  of  the  Domini- 
can monastery,  near  the  bridge,  in  the  Altstadt,  which  edifice  Ferdinand 
had  given  them.  Upon  its  site,  and  upon  the  site  of  various  neighboring 
churches  and  other  buildings,  a  new  Jesuit  college  was  erected  in  1653  and 
called  the  Clementinum.  It  is  still  standing,  and  forms  a  vast  pile  with  a 
splendid  library  and  other  apjjointments. 

^  Dekrete  d.  B.  U.,  p.  183,  etc.,  cited  by  Czerwenka.  Slezan  was  in  Mora- 
via, and  several  other  synods  were  held  tliere;  but  the  name  of  this  town 
was  subsequently  changed,  so  that  we  cannot,  at  the  present  day,  determine 
where  it  was  situated. 

^  Regenvolscius,  p.  61.  The  following  nobles  were  present:  Barons 
Frederick  von  Zerotin,  Frederick  von  Nachod,  Benedict  von  Bilkow,  from 
Moravia  and  Boliemia,  and  Counts  Jacob  Ostrorog,  Raphael  Lescinski, 
John  Tomitzki,  Albert  Marszewski  an<l  John  Krotoski,  from  Poland. 


318  THE    HISTORY    OF 

to  elect  two  more  bishops  and  thus  re-establish  the  rule 
according  to  which  four  bishops  were  to  stand  at  the  head  of 
the  Unity.  George  Israel  and  John  Blahoslaw  were  chosen 
and  ordained  by  Czerny  and  Cerwenka.*  Wenzel  Cech 
having  obtained  a  large  number  of  votes,  ranked,  in  the 
Council,  next  after  the  bishops. 

In  the  second  place,  the  position  of  the  Churches  in  Poland 
and  East  Prussia  was  discussed.  They  were,  as  yet,  missionary 
Churches.  But  the  Polish  had  increased  in  number  and  in- 
fluence, so  that  they  counted  between  thirty  and  forty,  which 
were  modeled  after  the  Bohemian  and  Moravian  type  of  the 
Unity .^  Its  faith  had,  moreover,  been  accepted  by  a  majority 
of  the  magnates  of  Great  Poland ;  and  Posen,  Lissa,  Lobsens, 
Schocken,  Ostrorog,  Chocz,  Barcin,  Stawiszyn,  Lutomirz, 
together  with  other  towns,  were  full  of  its  adherents.  In 
view  of  such  an  expansion  of  the  work  a  change  in  its  char- 
acter became  desirable.  With  this  object  in  view  the  Polish 
representatives  petitioned  the  Synod  to  set  the  newly  ap- 
pointed Bishop,  George  Israel,  over  the  parishes  in  their 
country  and  in  East  Prussia.  This  petition  was  granted ; 
and  thus  the  Polish  and  Prussian  Churches  became  an  integral 
part  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum.  At  the  same  time  Blahoslaw 
was  commissioned  to  superintend  the  Moravian  parishes,  and 
Czerny  and  Cerwenka,  the  Bohemian.  In  this  way  three 
ecclesiastical  Provinces — the  Bohemian,  the  Moravian,  and 
the  Polish-Prussian — 'Cach  with  one  or  more  bishops  of  its 
own,  were  formed  within  the  Unity.  It  was  a  measure  which 
the  Synod  did  not  formally  decree,  but  which  resulted  from 


*  This  was  again  an  irregular  ordination  by  which,  strictly  speaking, 
Israel  and  Blahoslaw  were  constituted  assistant  bishojas,  in  as  much  as 
Czerny  and  Cerwenka,  in  reality  were  not  bishops,  but  assistant  bishops. 

^  Lukaszewicz,  p.  36,  says  there  were  thirty  parishes  in  Poland,  in  1557  ; 
Vergerius,  in  his  Introduction  to  his  new  edition  of  the  Confession  of  the 
Brethren,  says  that  he  found  about  forty.  The  number  increased,  at  a  later 
time,  to  seventy-nine  (Lukaszewicz's  List).  Kegenvolscius,  pp.  111-113, 
counts  up  sixty  in  Great  Poland,  more  than  seven  in  Little  Poland,  five  in 
Silesia,  and  eight  in  Prussia. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  319 

its  action,  and,  by  common  consent,  was  thereafter  recognized 
as  a  part  of  the  constitution  of  the  Church.'' 

In  the  third  place  the  mutual  relations  of  the  Polish  Protest- 
ants were  considered.  The  decisions  given  by  the  Synod,  in 
answer  to  questions  put  by  the  delegates  from  Poland  with 
regard  to  this  point,  tended  to  foster  a  union,  without  impair- 
ing the  integrity  of  the  Brethren's  Church. 

Finally  the  vacancies  in  the  Council  were  filled,  so  that  this 
body  again  numbered  twelve  members. 

In  September  Blahoslaw  undertook  a  fourth  mission  to 
Vienna.^  He  again  had  frequent  interviews  with  Pfauser, 
who  told  him  that  Maximilian,  on  reading  the  letter  of  the 
Duke  of  Wurtemberg,  had  said :  "  I  will  remember  the 
Bohemians  and  would  willingly  help  these  good  people,  if  I 
could  accomplish  anything  with  my  father.  But  even  if  this 
were  possible,  my  opponents  in  Bohemia,  upon  whose  influence 
depends  everything  which  is  to  be  done  for  that  country,  stand 
in  the  way.  Nevertheless  if  God  gives  me  the  government — 
although  I  well  know  that  these  opponents  do  not  desire  this 
— the  Bohemians  shall  find  a  happy  change.  My  hope  is  in 
God  that  a  change  will  come  to  pass."  Vague  promises  like 
this  continued  to  be  the  only  result  of  all  the  efforts  the 
Brethren  made  to  win  Maximilian's  support.  It  was  a  mis- 
taken policy  which  they  were  pursuing. 

On  the  third  of  August,  1556,  Ferdinand,  as  Roman  King, 
assumed  the  imperial  government  which,  together  with  the 
Netherlands,  Spain,  Naples  and  the  New  World,  had  been 
resigned  by  his  brother,  Charles  the  Fifth,  who  thus  gave  the 
most  notable  instance  on  record  of  a  disappointed  life,  of  a 
reign  blind  to  its  glorious  opportunities,  and  of  the  frailty  of 
human  greatness.  Nearly  two  years  elapsed,  however,  before 
Ferdinand  was  acknowledged  by  the  Electors.     They  met, 

^  The  three  Provinces  of  the  ancient  Unitas  Fratrum  correspond  to  the 
three  Provinces  of  the  Renewed  Church  —the  German  or  Continental,  the 
British,  and  the  American — which  are  synodically  acknowledged.  "  Pro- 
vinces "  is  the  official  term  by  which  these  parts  are  known. 

">  Quellen,  pp.  182-184. 


320  THE    HISTORY    OF 

after  protracted  negotiations,  at  Frankfurt-on-the-Main,  in 
1558,  and  on  the  twenty-lbnrth  of  March  proclaimed  him 
Emperor  of  Germany.  He  returned  to  Prague  in  November, 
where  he  was  received  with  grand  ceremonies  and  every 
demonstration  of  loyalty. 

In  the  same  year  the  Executive  Council  of  the  Unity  met 
at  Jungbunzlau.  Bishop  Augusta  being  unable  to  fulfill  the 
duties  of  Chief  Judge,  Czerny  and  Israel  were  invested  with 
this  office.  The  jurisdiction  of  the  former  extended  over 
Bohemia  and  Moravia;  that  of  the  latter,  over  Poland. 
Blahoslaw  was  constituted  Cerwenka's  assistant  as  archivist; 
and  various  rules  were  adopted  relating  to  the  discipline.^  At  a 
subsequent  meeting  this  body  had  to  decide  an  unexpected 
question.  Anton  Bodenstein,  the  distinguished  Lutheran 
divine  of  East  Prussia,  who  has  been  mentioned  in  another 
connection,  applied  for  admission  to  the  ministry  of  the 
Brethren's  Church  (June  the  twenty-eighth,  1558).  As  the 
enthusiasm  with  which  he  had  lauded  their  evangelical  char- 
acter and  holy  life,  when  he  first  became  acquainted  with 
them,  had  subsequently,  through  the  influence  of  Flacius, 
changed  into  violent  animosity  and  active  opposition,  the 
Council  suspected  his  sincerity  and  declined  his  overture. 
Unabashed  by  this  rebuff,  he  made  two  more  attempts  to  gain 
his  object.     But  the  Council  remained  firm.^ 

Meantime  the  Archduke  Ferdinand  had  been  frequently 
coming  to  Piirglitz  in  order  to  hunt  in  its  forests.  His  pres- 
ence at  the  Castle,  according  to  royal  usage,  brought  about  an 
amelioration  in  the  condition  of  the  two  prisoners.  By  far 
the  greatest  benefaction  which  it  conferred  upon  them,  was  the 
removal  of  the  shutters  from  their  cellar- windows,  so  that 
they  could  see  the  light  of  day. 

Through  the  death  of  the  man  by  whose  aid  Augusta  had 
carried  on  his  correspondence,  it  was,  about  this  time,  inter- 
rupted for  a  season.  In  1559,  however,  two  noble  ladies, 
members  of  the  Unity,  visited  Piirglitz,  brought  a  number  of 

®  Dekrete  d.  B.  U.,  p.  185,  etc.,  cited  by  Czerwenka. 

'  Qnellen,  pp.  240-255,  contains  the  entire  correspondence. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  321 

letters,  and  were  permitted  to  have  several  interviews,  at 
meal-times,  with  both  the  prisoners.  Before  leaving  these 
ladies  engaged  another  servant  to  farther  the  correspondence. 
It  was  on  the  occasion  of  their  visit,  and  either  through 
them  or  through  the  letters  which  they  brought,  that  Augusta, 
for  the  first  time,  heard  of  the  election  and  ordination  of  new 
bishops.  Disappointed  ambition,  wounded  pride  and  intense 
anger  inflamed  his  heart.  Without  stopping  to  weigh  the 
circumstances  of  the  case,  without  giving  it  a  moment's  re- 
flection, he  seized  his  pen  and  wrote  to  the  Council,  declaring 
the  acts  of  the  Synod  of  1553  illegal  and  fulminating  an 
anathema  against  its  leaders.  This  first  letter  he  followed  up 
with  a  number  of  others,  all  conceived  in  the  same  dictatorial 
spirit  and  bristling  with  similar  harsh  words. 

The  Council  met  at  Zerawic  in  order  to  consider  these  com- 
munications ;  and  resolved  to  maintain  its  ground.  A  reply 
was  framed  setting  forth  :  that  the  Unity  was  to  be  governed 
not  by  one  bishop,  but  by  four  bishops,  in  accordance  with 
the  testament  of  Luke  ;  that  no  bishop  could  undertake  any- 
thing without  the  consent  of  his  colleagues,  and  that  all  the 
bishops,  as  a  body,  were  bound  to  consult  the  Council ;  that 
these  were  fundamental  principles  of  the  constitution,  which 
principles  must  be  maintained,  at  all  hazards.^*^ 

By  this  reply  the  Council  practically  cut  itself  loose  from 
the  authority  of  its  President.  And  this  Augusta  well  under- 
stood. Hence  his  auger  rose  to  such  a  pitch  that  he  thought 
of  disowning  the  Brethren  and  forsaking  the  Unity.  It  was 
a  desperate  idea,  born  of  his  passion,  and  rejected  as  soon  as 
he  had  grown  calm  again.  Nevertheless  the  position  which 
he  now  assumed  formed  the  second  step  in  his  downward 
career.  It  is  true  that  he  had  been  deceived,  by  having,  for  six 
years,  been  allowed  to  believe  that  he  was  the  only  bishop. 
It  is  true  that  such  a  course  evinced,  on  the  part  of  the  Coun- 
cil, not  only  a  want  of  common  integrity  but  also  a  conscious- 
ness of  guilt,  and  in  itself  considered  was  unbrotherly  and 

JODekrete  d.  B.  U.,  p.  202,  cited  by  Czerweuka. 
21 


322  THE    HISTORY    OF 

unmanly.  It  is  true  that  he  had  a  right  to  expect  more  con- 
sideration and  reverence  at  the  hands  of  those  over  whom  he 
was  set  and  to  whom  he  had  given  an  example  of  endurance 
for  the  Gospel's  sake  almost  unparalleled  in  history.  But 
none  of  these  things  justified  his  anger,  his  ambitious  prefer- 
ence of  himself  above  the  interests  of  the  Church,  his  unworthy 
fear  of  being  superseded,  his  painful  lack  of  that  dignified 
humility  and  blameless  deportment  which  are  the  fairest 
characteristics  of  a  bishop. 

In  the  following  year  (1560),  the  Archduke  brought  to  the 
Castle,  Philippine  Welser,  his  beautiful  wife,  whom  he  had 
secretly  married  in  1550 ;  and  appointed  Ladislaus  von  Stern- 
berg its  Governor."  The  Baroness  von  Sternberg  was  to  be 
Philippine's  companion.  For  Augusta  and  Bilek  the  coming 
of.  these  ladies,  and  of  the  new  Governor,  proved  to  be  the 
beginning  of  a  better  time.  Both  Sternberg  and  his  wife 
manifested  a  deep  interest  in  their  welfare;  visited  the  Bishop 
and  advised  him  to  draw  up  a  petition  asking  to  be  set 
free.  Sternberg  presented  this  paper  to  the  Archduke,  who 
received  it  graciously  and  forwarded  it  to  his  father.  Ferdi- 
nand, since  the  Diet  of  1552,  had  taken  no  further  notice 
of  the  request  which  the  Bishop  of  Olmiitz  at  that  time 
had  made,  and  had  persistently  declined  to  entertain  any 
other  of  the  same  character.  Now,  however,  he  wrote  to 
his  son  that  Augusta  and  Bilek  should  be  liberated  provided 
they  were  willing  to  recant  unconditionally  and  join  the 
Catholic  Church.  He  added  that  no  further  steps  should  be 
taken  in  the  case  without  the  sanction  of  the  Jesuits  at  Prague. 

Six  articles,  in  all  probability  formulated  by  these  Fathers, 
were  accordingly  laid  before  Augusta,  who  rejected  them  at 
once.     By  the  advice  of  Sternberg  he  however  drew  up  a 

"  Philippine  Welser  was  the  daughter  of  a  rich  patrician  of  Augsburg 
and  celebrated  for  her  beauty  and  extraordinary  talents.  The  Arch- 
duke's father  was  greatly  displeased  with  the  marriage  which,  for  eiglit 
years,  he  refused  to  recognize.  In  1558,  however,  he  became  reconciled  to 
it,  and  created  Philippine,  Margravine  of  Burgau.  She  died  in  1580.  The 
marriage  proved  to  be  one  of  uninterrupted  happiness. 


THE   MORAVIAN   CHURCH.  323 

paper  of  his  own,  setting  forth  his  doctrinal  position.  This 
paper  could  be  understood  in  two  ways  and  was  pronounced 
insufficient  both  by  the  Catholic  and  Utraquist  Consistories. 
The  theological  discussions  which  Augusta  had  with  the 
Arch-duke's  chaplain  John,  led  to  no  better  results. 

But  now,  through  the  Baroness  Sternberg,  Philippine 
Welser's  sympathy  was  aroused.  In  April  of  the  year  1561, 
on  the  day  prior  to  her  departure  for  Prague,  where  she 
intended  to  spend  the  Passion  Week  and  Easter  Festival  with 
her  husband  who  had  preceded  her  to  that  city,  she  came, 
accompanied  by  her  retinue,  into  Augusta's  dungeon  and  told 
him  to  ask  for  a  boon  which,  if  within  her  power,  she  prom- 
ised to  fulfill.  In  response  to  this  gracious  offer  the  Bishop 
begged  that  he  and  Bilek  might  be  permitted  to  spend  the 
approaching  Easter  festival  in  fellowship  and  freedom ;  remind- 
ing her  that,  in  the  days  of  Christ,  the  Koman  governor  was 
wont,  at  the  Passover  Feast,  to  release  a  prisoner  unto  the 
people.  Having  assured  Augusta  that  his  wish  should  be 
granted,  she  entered  Bilek's  dungeon  and  inquired  what  favor 
she  should  secure  for  him.  Great  was  her  astonishment  and 
deeply  was  she  moved,  when  he  asked  for  the  very  same  boon 
and  almost  in  the  same  words  as  Augusta.  On  reaching: 
Prague  she  informed  her  husband  of  what  she  had  done,  and 
besought  him  to  comply  Avith  the  request  of  the  prisoners. 
His  chaplain,  whose  sympathy  had  been  enlisted  by  a  Catholic 
noble — a  friend  of  the  Brethren — came  to  her  aid.  In  the 
confessional,  on  Maundy  Thursday,  he  urged  the  Regent  to 
consent.  Against  such  persuasions  the  Archduke  could  not 
hold  out.  He  wrote  to  Sternberg  and  directed  him  to  accord 
to  the  two  prisoners,  during  the  three  days  of  the  Easter 
Festival,  the  freedom  of  the  Castle.  This  letter  reached 
Piirglitz  on  Good  Friday.  The  Baroness  Sternberg  ran  to 
the  dungeons  to  tell  the  good  news.  While  conversing  with 
Bilek,  her  husband  came  and  communicated  the  Regent's  letter. 
Then  he  asked  Bilek :  ''  How  long  is  it  since  you  have  seen 
Augusta  ?"  "  It  is  eight  years,"  was  the  reply,  "  since  we 
have  seen  each  other."     On  hearing  this  the  Baron  told  Bilek 


324  THE    HISTORY    OF 

to  come  into  the  court-yard,  sending,  at  the  same  time,  for 
Augusta.  In  great  but  joyful  agitation  Bilek  obeyed,  and  sat 
down  on  one  of  the  chairs  which  had  been  brought  by  order 
of  the  Governor.  "  Will  you  recognize  Augusta  ?"  said  he. 
Before  Bilek  could  answer,  Augusta  appeared.  With  a  gush 
of  tears  the  two  men  fell  into  each  other's  arms.  The  Baron 
and  his  wife  wept  with  them.  And  now,  sitting  in  the 
courtyard,  under  the  open  canopy  of  heaven,  which  had  for 
so  long  a  time  been  hidden  from  their  eyes,  they  spent  two 
hours  in  happy  converse.  Then  each  returned  to  his  dungeon. 
One  of  the  most  spacious  and  beautiful  rooms  in  the  Castle 
was  the  Knights'  Hall,  constructed  in  the  Gothic  style,  with 
eight  grand  windows  and  a  splendidly  decorated  ceiling.  In 
this  apartment,  on  the  next  day,  Augusta  and  Bilek,  in  the 
presence  of  all  the  inmates  of  Piirglitz,  gave  their  parole  to 
the  Governor.  "  See,  dear  son,"  said  the  Bishop  to  his  Deacon, 
"  now  we  can  rejoice ;  now  men  have  faith  again  in  our 
honor  !"  Easter-Day,  together  with  Monday  and  Tuesday  of 
Easter  Week,  constituted  the  brief  period  of  their  liberty. 
They  bore  themselves  with  dignified  propriety,  manifested 
the  utmost  cheerfulness,  and  thanked  God  for  His  mercy.  On 
Easter  Day,  of  their  own  accord,  they  came  to  the  chapel  and 
were  present  both  at  the  service  of  the  mass  and  during  the 
preaching  of  the  sermon. ^^  Baron  Sternberg  was  completely 
won  by  their  conduct,  invited  them  to  dine  with  him  every  day, 
and  failed  not  to  give  the  Regent,  on  his  return,  a  most  favor- 
able report  of  all  that  had  occurred.  Indeed  the  Governor 
openly  said,  that  he  believed  that  God  had  sent  him  to  Piirglitz 
in  order  to   bring;  about  Aug-usta's  and  Bilek's   liberation. 


^  2  The  castle-chapel  is  situated  next  to  the  large  round  keep,  and  consti- 
tutes one  of  the  most  interesting  parts  of  Piirglitz.  It  is  Gothic  in  style, 
with  light,  bold  arches ;  its  walls  are  decorated  with  carvings  in  Avood  ; 
the  door  leading  into  the  sacristy  is  a  master-piece  of  such  carving  ;  and  the 
altar,  whose  exterior  is  adorned  wath  pictures,  can  be  opened  and  displays 
in  the  interior  a  magnificent  group,  carved  in  wood  and  representing  the 
crowning  of  the  Virgin  Mary.  At  the  present  day  divine  worship  is  gen- 
erally held  in  the  Knights'  Hall,  the  chapel  being  considered  unsafe. 


THE   MORAVIAN   CHURCH.  325 

Hence  he  urged  the  Regent  to  set  them  free.  Philippine 
did  the  same,  with  loving  words  and  tender  caresses. 

The  Archduke  interposed  no  further  objections;  but, 
believing  that  his  father  would  never  consent  unless  the 
two  prisoners  recanted,  suggested  that  they  should  be  sent 
to  Prao;ue  and  receive  instruction  at  the  hands  of  the  Jesuits. 
To  this  proposal  Augusta  strenuously  objected.  On  receiving 
a  promise  that  no  coercion  should  be  used,  he  at  last  gave 
way.  This  was  another  and  a  fatal  step  in  the  downward 
course  of  the  Bishop. 

On  the  third  of  May  he  and  Bilek  were  taken  to  Prague 
by  William  von  Hradesin,  who  hired  lodgings  for  them  in  a 
private  house  and  put  no  restraint  upon  their  movements ;  but 
so  many  people  came  to  visit  them,  and  whenever  they  showed 
themselves  in  the  streets  such  a  sensation  ensued,  that  they 
were  removed  to  the  Jesuit  College  (May  the  sixth).  There 
they  spent  fifty-one  days.  They  were  well  treated  but  not 
allowed  to  receive  their  friends.^^  Their  religious  instruction 
was  undertaken  by  the  Rector,  Doctor  Henry  Blissem.  He 
met  with  no  success.  A  report  of  the  discussions — which  had 
been  carried  on  with  Augusta  alone  and  in  the  Latin  language 
— was  sent  to  the  Utraquist  Consistory.  But  this  body  de- 
clined to  express  an  opinion,  and  instead,  transmitted  fifteen 
articles  recently  agreed  upon  by  the  Utraquist  states.  These 
articles  Augusta  accepted,  and  wrote  to  the  Regent  for  per- 
mission to  leave  the  Jesuit  College  and  confer  with  the 
Utraquist  Consistory.  At  this  request  the  Regent  took  oifence 
and  replied,  in  very  sharp  words :  that  Augusta,  having 
been  born  among  the  Utraquists,  was  well  acquainted  with 
their  doctrines  and  needed  no  instruction  in  them ;  that  the 
time  had  now  come  for  him  simply  to  declare  which  faith, 
the  Utraquist  or  the  Catholic,  he  would  in  future  confess. 
Augusta's  unhappy  rejoinder  was  given  on  the  twenty-fourth 

'^  Augusta  and  Bilek  daily  came  out  on  the  balcony  of  the  College  to 
breathe  the  fresh  air.  At  such  times  their  friends  and  many  other  people 
assembled  in  the  street  below ;  conversation  was,  however,  strictly  for- 
bidden. 


326  THE    HISTORY    OF 

of  June.  He  said  that  he  and  Bilek  would  hold  to  the  Utra- 
quist  Church.  As  soon  as  the  Jesuits  heard  of  this  they 
refused  to  have  any  further  dealings  with  them.  On  the 
twenty-sixth  they  were  removed  to  Sternberg's  house,  and 
informed  that  Bilek  was  to  remain  at  Prague  but  Augusta  to 
return  to  Piirglitz.  In  vain  were  Bilek's  entreaties  to  be 
allowed  to  share  the  Bishop's  fate.  The  Jesuits  had  advised 
this  separation.  On  the  twenty-seventh,  Augusta  was  carried 
back  to  his  dungeon. 

This  was  a  hard  blow  for  the  fallen  Bishop.  He  had  taken 
the  last  step  in  his  downward  career.  He  had  denied  the 
faith,  brought  shame  upon  the  Brethren,  and  given  his 
adhesion  to  that  Church  whose  gross  corruptions  no  hand  had 
more  unsparingly  laid  bare  than  his  own.  All  this  he  had 
done  that  he  might  be  free ;  but  alas,  instead  of  liberty  came 
the  dreariness,  the  dismal  solitude,  the  now  doubly  irksome 
durance  of  his  old  prison  ! 

While  the  course  which  Bishop  Augusta  pursued  was  wrong, 
it  may  be  explained,  if  not  extenuated.  For  thirteen  years 
he  had  been  a  staunch  confessor  of  the  truth.  It  was  not  his 
intention  to  deny  it  even  now.  He  persuaded  himself  that 
with  it  could  be  reconciled  the  step  which  he  was  taking.^* 
That  he  quieted  his  conscience  with  such  quibbles  was  the 
rock  on  which  he  stranded.  But  even  this  rock  he  would 
have  avoided,  had  it  not  been  for  his  estrangement  from  the 
Council.  Through  this  unfortunate  rupture  feelings  were 
engendered  which,  intensified  by  his  pride,  his  haughty  spirit, 
his  inordinate   desire  to  rule,  carried  him  away   headlong. 

'*  This  is  evident  from  a  passage  in  the  letter  sent  to  by  him  the  Councib 
in  1561 — of  which  letter  more  hereafter.  "When  it  was  left  to  your 
choice,"  says  this  document,  "  to  join  either  the  Romish  or  the  Utraquist 
Church,  you  gave  your  adhesion  to  the  latter,  because,  as  you  say  in  your 
communication  to  Baron  Sternberg,  you  were  born  in  this  Church. 
Further  on  in  your  letter  you  turn  about,  and  add  that  you  cannot  forsake 
the  Unity.  In  saying  this  you  shift  from  side  to  side  in  a  most  remarkable 
manner,  and  set  forth  the  position  of  the  Utraquist  party  in  a  very  different 
way  from  the  well-known  one,  in  order  to  keep  a  back  door  open  through 
which  you  can  go."     Gindely,  I.  pp.  456,  457. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  327 

Augusta's  fall  presents  an  illustration,  as  sad  as  it  is  notable, 
of  the  words  of  the  Lord :  "  If  thine  eye  be  evil,  thy  whole 
body  shall  be  full  of  darkness."  ^^ 

Bilek  spent  a  mouth  in  the  White  Tower  at  Prague.  On 
the  twenty-fifth  of  July  he  was  examined  by  several  members 
of  the  Utraquist  Consistory,  and  answered  their  questions 
satisfactorily.  Thereupon  —  much  to  his  dismay  —  he  was 
required  to  accept  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper  at  the 
hands  of  a  Utraquist  priest,  and  to  sign  a  bond  denying  the 
Brethren  and  promising  to  adhere  to  the  Utraquist  Church.^*' 
On  the  fourth  of  August,  1561,  after  an  imprisonment  of 
thirteen  years,  fourteen  weeks  and  two  days,  he  was  set  at 
liberty.  He  hurried  to  Piirglitz,  entered  the  service  of 
Sternberg  and,  in  this  way,  gained  opportunities  to  minister 
to  his  Bishop,  to  whom  he  continued  to  cling  with  touching 
faithfulness.  He  was  eventually  reinstated  in  the  ministry, 
and  died  on  the  first  Sunday  in  Advent,  1581,  as  the  priest  of 
the  parish  at  Napagedl.^^ 

In  spite  of  his  breach  with  Czerny  and  the  other  Bishops, 
Augusta  did  not  cease  to  write  to  them ;  and  while  he  was 
staying  at  the  Jesuit  College  sent  them  a  very  severe  letter, 
demanding  a  renewal  of  their  allegiance  to  him  as  the  head 
of  the  Unity.  On  the  other  hand,  these  Bishops  had  been 
fully  informed  of  all  that  had  occurred  at  Prague,  and  had 
even  received,  probably  through  Augusta  himself,  a  copy  of 
the  paper  in  which  he  declared  his  adhesion  to  the  Utraquist 
Church.  Under  such  circumstances  they  convened  the  Ex- 
ecutive Council  at  Prerau  and  laid  before  this  body  the  facts 
and  documents  of  the  case.  A  resolution  was  unanimously 
adopted,  to  send  Augusta  a  final  and  decisive  answer.     This 


'5  Matthew  6 :  23. 

^^  The  questions  put  to  him  by  his  examiners  were  such  as  he  could  con- 
scientiously answer ;  the  priest  whom  he  selected  to  administer  the  sacra- 
ment belonged  to  the  Lutheran  wing  of  the  Utraquists  and  did  not  require 
him  to  recant  any  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Unity  ;  but  no  excuse  can  be 
found  for  his  signing  the  bond. 

"  Todtenbuch,  p.  69. 


328  THE    HISTORY   OF 

paper  has  been  preserved. ^^  It  is  dignified  but  severe ;  rejects 
his  claims ;  denounces  his  overture  to  the  Utraquists  as  a  base 
act ;  declares  that,  as  long  as  he  remains  obdurate  and  mani- 
fests the  implacable  spirit  by  which  he  is  animated,  he  is  to 
have  no  farther  part  in  the  government  and  guidance  of  the 
Unity ;  and  appeals  to  the  Lord  to  judge  between  him  and 
the  Council. 

At  this  same  meeting  a  very  different  question  came  up  for 
decision.  Toward  the  end  of  1560  Vergerius  had  addressed 
a  letter  to  the  Bishops,  begging  to  be  received  into  the 
fellowship  of  their  Church.  He  reminded  them  of  what  he 
had  done  to  further  its  cause,  and  asked  that  the  Brethren 
should  provide  for  him  during  the  remainder  of  his  life,  as 
also  for  a  servant,  two  secretaries,  a  coachman  and  a  pair  of 
horses.  He  said  that  he  would  give  an  equivalent  by  laboring 
for  the  Unity  still  more  zealously,  and  assured  them  that  he 
made  this  overture  not  because  he  was  in  need,  but  because 
their  discipline,  their  life,  their  Church  in  every  other  respect 
had  captivated  his  heart.  This  lettter  the  Bishops  had  not 
answered.  In  March,  1561,  he  wrote  again,  to  Rokita  by 
name,  and  begged  for  a  speedy  reply.  And  now  the  Council 
was  asked  for  its  opinion.  The  service  which  Vergerius  had 
rendered  was  fully  acknowledged ;  his  admission  to  the 
Unity  did  not  appear  desirable,  yet  could  not  well  be 
avoided.  A  reply  was  accordingly  framed,  informing  him 
that  the  Brethren  would  receive  and  care  for  him  ;  but  asking 
whether  he  had  fully  considered  the  step  he  proposed  to  take 
and  realized  all  that  it  involved.  This  hint  Vergerius  under- 
stood, and  dropped  the  negotiations.  "After  receiving  our 
answer,"  write  the  Brethren,  "  he  left  us  in  peace."  ^^ 

The  liberation  of  Bilek  led  the  Bishops  and  Council  to 
believe  that  Augusta  would  soon  be  set  free.  They  still 
feared  his  influence ;  in  any  case  it  was  desirable  to  define  his 

18  Dekrete  d.  B.  U.,  p.  203,  etc.  Gindely,  I.  pp.  454-458  gives  it  in  full, 
in  a  German  translation. 

i«  L.  F.,  IX.  pp.  297-300,  cited  by  Gindely  ;  Quellen,  pp.  255-258,  giving 
the  letters  of  Vergerius  in  full ;  Comenii  Hist.,  ^^  96,  97. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  329 

relation  to  the  Unity.  On  the  thirteenth  of  April,  1 562,  the 
Synod  met  at  Prerau.  First  of  all  a  statute  was  framed  and 
signed,  committing  the  government  of  the  Church  anew  to  its 
four  Bishops,  in  conjunction  with  the  Council ;  and  defining 
explicitly  the  duties  both  of  the  former  and  of  the  latter.  In 
the  next  place  it  was  determined,  that  if  Augusta  and  Bilek 
should  come  among  the  Brethren,  their  temporal  wants  should 
be  cared  for,  but  they  should  not  be  allowed  to  perform 
ministerial  functions ;  in  case  they  demanded  a  hearing,  they 
should  be  referred  to  the  Council.  At  the  same  time,  in 
guarded  language,  an  act  of  exclusion  was  adopted.^"  Such 
was  the  reception  which  awaited  the  fallen  Bishop. 

The  paper  sent  by  the  Council  in  1561  had  plunged  him 
into  a  pitiful  state.  That  extraordinary  energy  of  character 
which  had  upheld  him  amidst  former  trials,  seemed  to  be 
gone.  He  murmured  hopelessly  and  ceased  not  to  complain 
that,  after  all  his  sufferings,  the  Unity  had  cast  him  off.  One 
end,  however,  he  steadily  kept  in  view.  He  would  be  free. 
At  the  intercession  of  Sternberg,  the  Regent  sent  for  the 
Utraquist  priest  who  had  given  Bilek  the  Communion. 
This  priest  came  to  Piirglitz,  had  an  interview  with  the 
Bishop,  and  reported  to  the  Consistory  that  he  was  willing  to 
receive  the  sacrament.  Mistopol,  however,  raised  objections, 
and  drew  up  a  formula  of  recantation.  This  Augusta  refused 
to  sign. 

But  now  Maximilian — who  had  been  crowned  King  of 
Bohemia  on  the  twentieth  of  September,  1562,  at  Prague,  by 
Anton  Brus,  its  new  Archbishop — interested  himself  in  the 
case,  begging  his  father  to  set  Augusta  free.  With  this  end 
in  view  he  was  once  more  removed  to  Prague  (April  the 
ninth,  1563)  and  confined  in  the  White  Tower.  There 
Mistopol  visited  him,  and  promised  him  liberty  if  he  would 
recant.      Augusta  declined,  saying  that   he  had  taught  no 

20  « -y^g  i^g^yg  jjQj.  condemned  Augusta  and  Bilek ;  their  acts  have 
excluded  them  from  our  communion  and  deprived  them  of  the  priestly 
office  in  the  Unity."  Dekrete  d.  B.  U.,  p.  213,  cited  by  Czerwenka,  and  in 
full  by  Gindely,  I.  pp.  462,  463. 


330  THE    HISTORY  OF 

errors.  Other  attempts  to  elicit  a  formal  recantation  were 
equally  fruitless.  The  Regent  became  angry,  not  only  on 
this  account  but  also  because  Augusta,  in  accordance  with  the 
truth,  denied  having  recently  written  letters,  and  on  the 
twenty-fourth  of  May,  ordered  him  to  be  taken  back  to 
Piirglitz.  Again  therefore  the  unfortunate  Bishop  entered 
his  dismal  cellar  and  resumed  its  weary  life.  In  the 
beginning  of  the  next  year  (1564),  however,  once  more 
through  the  intervention  of  Maximilian,  he  was,  for  the  third 
time,  sent  to  Prague,  where  lodgings  were  provided  for  him 
at  the  house  of  John  von  Waldstein.  Neither  the  Utraquist 
nor  the  Catholic  clergy  took  any  notice  of  him ;  but  his 
friends  were  instant  in  appealing  both  to  the  Emperor  and 
to  Maximilian  for  his  release.  In  spring  Ferdinand  fell  ill. 
Deeming  his  end  at  hand,  he  gave  orders  to  liberate  Augusta 
unconditionally,  except  that  he  was  forbidden  to  preach. 
The  day  on  which  he  regained  his  liberty  is  not  known ;  his 
imprisonment  lasted  a  few  weeks  less  than  sixteen  years. 
Accompanied  by  Bilek  he  immediately  betook  himself  to 
Jungbunzlau,  where  they  spent  Easter  in  fellowship  with  the 
Brethren. 

In  the  following  summer,  on  the  twenty-fifth  of  July, 
1564,  the  Emperor  Ferdinand  died.  He  had  failed  to  reach 
the  goal  of  his  long  reign.  Protestantism  was  not  suppressed  ; 
the  Unitas  Fratrum  was  not  destroyed  ;  every  victory  that  he 
gained  in  his  life-long  conflict  with  evangelical  truth,  eventu- 
ally resulted  to  its  advantage.  Whether  he  deserves  the 
praise  which  even  many  Protestant  writers  give  him,  let  that 
history  tell  which  these  pages  have  set  forth  ! 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  331 


CHAPTER    XXXIII. 

The  Polish  BranGh  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum ;    its  Relation  to 
the  Reformed  and  I/utherans ;   and  renewed  Corre- 
spondence with  the  Swiss  Divines. 
A.  D.  1557-1564. 


A  Delegation  to  Goluchow. — John  Lorenz. — Conference  at  Leipnik. — 
Lismanin  sends  the  Confession  of  the  Brethren  to  the  Swiss  Eeformers. 
— Their  unfavorable  Opinion. — Mission  to  Switzerland  of  Rokita  and 
Herbert. — Interference  of  Vergerius  and  Duke  Christopher  of  Wiirtem- 
berg. — Herbert  and  the  Swiss  Theologians. — Synods  of  Xionz,  Posen 
and  Buzenin. — Polish  Confession  of  the  Brethren. — Colloquy  with  the 
Antitrinitarians. — Edict  against  foreign  Heretics. — The  Polish  Con- 
fession presented  to  the  King. 

The  invitation  which  the  Executive  Council  received  from 
Laski  and  his  coadjutors,  to  send  representatives  to  a  convo- 
cation of  the  Reformed  at  Goluchow,  was  laid  before  the 
General  Synod  of  Slezan  and  accepted.  George  Israel,  John 
Rokita,  Gallus  Drewinek  and  John  Lorenz  were  appointed 
delegates  (October,  1557).^ 

Of  these  men  John  Lorenz  deserves  special  notice.  He 
fills  one  of  the  most  prominent  places  in  the  history  of  the 
Polish  branch  of  the  Church.  Born  at  Kijow,  in  Moravia, 
in  1519,  he  studied  under  Trotzendorf  at  Goldberg,  under 

^  Sources  for  this  chapter  are :  Lukaszewicz,  p.  36,  etc.;  Dekrete  d.  B.  U., 
pp.  188-201,  cited  by  Czerwenka ;  and  L.  F.,  X.  cited  by  Gindely.  Gallus 
Drewinek,  or  Drzewjnek,  was  born  at  Pilgram.  He  was  a  Bachelor  of  the 
University  of  Prague  and  originally  a  Utraquist  priest.  After  having 
joined  the  Brethren,  in  1543,  he  had  charge  of  various  parishes,  was  elected 
to  the  Council  in  1553,  and  died  at  Prostegow,  in  October,  1563.  He  was  a 
learned,  diligent  and  pious  man.     Todtenbuch,  p.  36. 


332  THE    HISTORY    OF 

Luther  and  Melanchthon  at  Wittenberg,  and  at  the  University 
of  Konigsberg.  Having  declined  a  brilliant  offer  to  enter 
the  service  of  the  Bishop  of  Olmiitz  as  his  chancellor,  he 
devoted  himself  to  the  ministry  of  the  Brethren,  was  ordained 
a  priest  in  1555,  took  charge  of  the  parish  of  Kozminek,  and 
subsequently  of  that  of  Tumaszovv,  in  his  native  country. 
There  he  labored  until  his  appointment  as  Israel's  assistant 
at  Ostrorog.  While  yet  a  student  he  fell  into  the  hands  of 
robbers  who  would  have  killed  him,  if  he  had  not  escaped 
throus^h  the  aid  of  one  of  their  own  number  whose  heart 
relented ;  on  another  occasion  God  himself  delivered  him,  in 
a  wonderful  way,  as  he  was  passing  through  a  forest,  from 
the  jaws  of  a  hungry  wolf.^ 

There  was  not  a  single  Reformed  minister  at  Goluchow 
when  the  delegates  arrived.  After  some  days  a  tardy  mes- 
senger brought  a  letter  informing  them  that  the  Synod  had 
been  postponed  on  account  of  the  illness  of  Laski.  Justly 
displeased  that  they  had  not  been  notified,  before  leaving 
home,  of  this  postponement,  they  proceeded  to  visit  several  of 
the  churches  of  Great  Poland.  At  Tomice  they  met 
Lismanin,  with  whom  they  had  a  protracted  doctrinal 
discussion. 

In  the  following  year  Laski,  after  having  failed,  through 
the  interference  of  the  Konigsberg  divines,  in  inducing  Duke 
Albert  to  co-operate  with  him  in  preparing,  upon  the  basis 
of  the  Augustana,  a  Confession  for  Poland,  turned  once  more 
to  the  Brethren,  and  proposed  a  conference  at  any  place  which 
the  Council  might  designate  in  Bohemia  or  Moravia.  Always 
ready  to  promote  unity  among  Christ's  followers,  the  Council, 
in  spite  of  what  had  occurred  at  Goluchow,  accepted  this  new 
overture.  At  Leipnik,  in  Moravia,  on  the  twentieth  of 
October,  1558,  the  Bishops  gave  a  fraternal  welcome  to 
distinguished  representatives  of  the  Reformed  Church,  and 
discussed  with  them  private  confession,  justification,  the 
Lord's  Supper,  fast  days  and  other  similar  subjects.     In  no 

2  Fischer,  I.  p.  246 ;  Croeger,  II.  pp.  17,  18. 


THE   MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  333 

particular  did  the  Bishops  recede  from  their  position ;  and 
when  the  Calvinists  brought  out  a  Polish  version  of  the 
Unity's  Confession  of  1535,  with  fifteen  emendations  by 
Laski,  and  urged  that  this  document  should  be  mutually 
accepted  and  conjointly  published,  Cerwenka,  in  the  name  of 
his  colleagues,  rejected  the  proposal.  He  promised,  however, 
to  send  Laski,  who  was  not  present,  a  paper  setting  forth, 
more  at  length  than  in  their  Confession,  the  views  of  the 
Brethren  with  regard  to  the  Lord's  Supper.  On  the  twenty- 
seventh  of  October  the  delegates  returned  to  Poland.^ 

In  due  time  such  an  exposition  was  furnished.  Lismanin 
forwarded  it,  together  with  the  Confession  of  1535,  to  Calvin, 
Musculus,  Viret  and  Bullinger,  asking  these  divines  for  their 
opinion  (1560).  The  letters  which  they  wTote  in  reply  and 
to  which  Lismanin  failed  not  to  give  the  greatest  possible 
publicity,  confounded  the  Brethren  like  a  thunderbolt  from  a 
clear  sky.  The  Swiss  theologians  who,  in  1 540,  had  put  into 
their  hands  glowing  testimonials,  now  disapproved  of  their 
doctrinal  standards.  Their  good  name  and  influence  were  at 
stake  in  Poland.  Something  must  be  done,  and  done  at  once, 
to  counteract  the  bad  impression  which  had  been  made. 
Accordingly  in  May,  1560,  the  Council  commissioned  John 
Rokita  and  Peter  Herbert  to  go  to  Switzerland  and  ask  for 
an  explanation  of  the  singular  change  in  the  sentiments  of  its 
Reformers.^ 

The  two  deputies  stopped  at  Goppingen,  in  Wiirtemberg^ 
and  delivered  to  Vergerius  a  letter  from  the  Bishops,  asking 
his  advice.  This  was  an  unfortunate  step.  Vergerius  tried 
to  prevent  the  mission  to  Switzerland  ;  introduced  the  depu- 
ties to  Duke  Christopher  and  his  guest,  Wolfgang  the 
Palatine  of  the  Rhine;    and  persuaded  them  to  present  to 

*  After  the  holding  of  this  conference  Laski  no  longer  opposed  the 
Brethren.     He  died  two  years  later  (1560). 

*  Peter  Herbert  was  ordained  to  the  priesthood  in  1562,  two  years  after 
this  mission  to  Switzerland.  He  was  a  distinguished  man,  faithful  and 
learned.  In  course  of  time  he  was  elected  to  the  Council,  and  died  at 
Eibenschiitz,  October  the  first,  1571.     Todtenbuch  p.  47. 


334  THE    HISTORY    OF 

the  former  an  unauthorized  paper  appealing  to  him  for  aid 
and  protection  in  case  the  Brethren  should  be  driven  from 
their  homes.^  In  reply  the  Duke  advised  the  deputies  to 
relinquish  their  mission,  but  expressed  his  satisfaction  that 
the  Brethren  held  to  the  true  faith.  ''  Cautious  and  wise  man 
that  he  was,"  says  Blahoslaw,  "  he  put  them  off  in  a  way 
characteristic  of  the  Suabian."  Rokita  yielded  and  instead 
of  going  to  Switzerland,  returned  to  Bohemia  with  the  Duke's 
letter.  The  interference  of  Vergerius  and  Rokita's  unfaith- 
fulness to  his  commission,  excited  in  a  high  degree  the 
displeasure  of  the  Council.^ 

Meanwhile  Herbert  proceeded  to  Switzerland.  The  first 
divine  with  whom  he  had  an  interview  was  Bullinger,  at 
Zurich,  who  said  that  he  could  not  remember  having 
expressed  sentiments  unfavorable  to  the  Brethren,  and  gave 
Herbert  a  very  fraternal  letter  addressed  to  the  Council.  On 
the  twenty-fourth  of  June  Herbert  arrived  at  Bern,  where 
he  had  a  protracted  conference  with  Musculus.  He  told 
him  that  the  Council  hoped  he  would  retract  the  unfavorable 
opinion  which  he  had  sent  to  Bohemia.  This  Musculus 
declined  doing,  but  cheerfully  consented  to  explain,  in 
writing,  what  he  had  meant  by  his  criticisms.  They  related, 
he  said,  merely  to  those  points  in  the  Confession  which 
seemed  to  him  to  be  defective,  without  intending  to  call  in 
question  the  many  other  excellent  points  that  had,  on  a  former 
occasion,  elicited  his  praise.  "As  regards  myself,"  he  added, 
"I  entertain  toward  you  and  your  Churches  those  feelings 
which  ought  to  be  cherished  toward  faithful  Christians  and 
brethren  greatly  beloved."  His  concluding  words  were  the 
following : 

"  I  commend  myself  to  your  intercessions.  Pray  to  the  Lord, 
that  He  may,  through  the  power  of  His  Spirit,  keep  me,  in  my 
old  age,  faithful  unto  the  end,  and  supply  what  I  lack  of  strength 


5  This  paper  was  composed  by  Vergerius  but  signed  by  Kokita  and 
Herbert. 

^  Letters  and  documents  relating  to  the  negotiations  with  Vergerius  and 
the  Duke,  are  found  in  L.  F.,  IX.  and  reproduced  in  Quellen,  pp.  185-193. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  335 

of  body  and  mind,  not  permitting  me,  who  am  an  unprofitable 
servant,  to  fall  away  from  His  grace.  Salute  your  Churches 
most  heartily,  and  admonish  them  that  with  prayers  to  God  our 
Father  rather  than  with  a  war  of  words,  they  may  contend  with 
the  adversaries." ' 

On  the  twenty-eighth  of  June  Herbert  reached  Geneva, 
delivered  to  Calvin  the  letter  of  the  Bishops,  and  begged  hini 
to  convene  the  Reformed  theologians  of  the  city.  When  they 
had  assembled,  Herbert  addressed  them,  setting  forth  the 
injury  that  they  had  done  to  the  Brethren  in  Poland.  "  Is 
it  therefore  your  opinion,"  said  Calvin  in  reply,  "  that  we  have 
been  deceived  by  lies  and  in  consequence  have  written  falsely 
against  you  and  given  rise  to  evil  prejudices  against  your 
Church  ?"  Herbert  rejoined,  that  this  was  presenting  the  case 
from  an  extreme  point  of  view ;  explained,  once  more,  what 
the  Brethren  complained  of;  and  added  that  Calvin,  if  he 
objected  to  their  Confession,  ought  to  have  written  to  them 
and  not  to  their  enemies.  As  reasons  for  not  having  done 
this,  Calvin  assigned  the  want  of  letter-carriers  and  the  great 
distance  at  which  he  lived  from  the  Brethren.  To  the 
Reformed  of  Poland  he  had  written,  because  they  had  asked 
him  to  do  so.  Of  the  polemical  tone  which  pervaded  the 
Apology  of  the  Brethren  and  especially  of  its  obscurity,  he 
could  not  approve.  Herbert  answered :  that  the  polemical 
tone  of  the  Apology,  particularly  in  the  article  of  the  Lord's 
Supper,  was  occasioned  by  disputes  with  the  Habrowanites, 
whose  assertion  that  this  sacrament  is  a  bare  sign  the  Brethren 
rejected,  because  the  words  of  Christ,  when  instituting  the 
Lord's  Supper,  ought  to  be  strictly  upheld,  otherwise  they 
would  become  vain  words,  and  believers  would  be  deluded  by 
empty  signs  and  spectacles  ;  that  the  religious  disputes  which 
were  agitating  Poland  could  certainly  not  be  laid  at  the  door 
of  the  Brethren  ;  that  Bohemia  was  nearer  than  Poland,  and 
that  it  would  have  been  easier  for  Calvin  to  write  to  the 
former  than  to  the  latter  country. 


T  Letter  of  Musculus,  Quelleh,  pp.  206,  207. 


336  THE    HISTORY    OP 

After  this  conference  had  come  to  an  end,  Yiret  and  Beza 
both  excused  themselves  for  the  letters  which  they  had  sent 
to  Poland,  telling  Herbert  that  they  had  been  misled. 

On  the  following  day  he  was  invited  to  a  dinner  given 
by  the  entire  body  of  Reformed  theologians.  It  took  place  at 
the  house  of  Beza;  and  at  its  close  Calvin  told  Herbert 
that  they  wished  to  assure  him  of  the  love  they  bore  to  the 
Brethren  and  begged  him  to  accept  a  paper  which  he  had 
written  in  the  name  of  his  colleagues. 

This  paper  was  addressed  "To  the  faithful  servants  of 
Christ,  who  proclaim  the  pure  Gospel  in  Bohemia,  our 
beloved  fellow- ministers  and  brethren  in  the  Lord;"  and 
after  a  few  introductory  remarks,  gave  expression  to  the  fol- 
lowing fraternal  sentiments : 

"  We  return  to  you  our  sincere  thanks  that  you  have  sent  to 
us  a  brother  as  a  witness  to  our  love  and  Christian  communion, 
and  rejoice  the  more  because  you  have  done  this  out  of  pure  and 
pious  hearts.  Therefore  we  beg  you  not  to  doubt  that  we 
earnestly  desire  to  abide  in  a  close  fellowship  with  you.  Such 
a  fellowship  is  to  us  a  source  of  comfort,  in  view  of  the  distance 
by  which  we  are  separated  and  the  enemies  that  surrouud  us. 
Hence,  with  one  accord,  we  testify,  that  we  have  one  Father  in 
heaven  and  are  one  body  of  which  Christ  is  the  Head.  That 
such  are  our  sentiments,  we  are  prepared  to  show  by  our  deeds," 

The  letter  then  proceeds  to  discuss  the  points  at  issue.  It 
encourages  the  Brethren  to  extend  the  hand  to  the  Polish 
Reformed,  in  order  that  the  pure  doctrine  of  the  Gospel  may 
have  free  course;  it  tells  them  that  the  article  on  the  Lord's 
Supper,  in  their  Confession,  is  too  brief  and  obscure,  and  their 
Apology  too  polemical ;  it  denounces  those  wlio  under  the 
shadow  of  the  Augustana  seek  peace  and  rest,  although  not 
entertaining  its  views,  and  thus  escape  tribulations,  odium 
and  crosses;  and  closes,  as  it  began,  with  words  of  friendship 
and  of  love.  This  letter  was  signed  by  Calvin  and  all  liis 
colleagues,  thirteen  in  number.^ 


«  The  letter  of  the  Geneva  divines  is  found  in  fnll  in  Quellen,  pp. 
203-206,  which  work  contains  a  complete  account  of  Herbert's  mission,  pp. 
193-207,  taken  from  L.  F.,  IX. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  337 

Thus  was  renewed  the  bond  of  union  between  the  Swiss 
Reformers  and  the  Brethren ;  but  to  suppose  that  they  had 
now  come,  or  ever  after  came,  to  a  full  doctrinal  understand- 
ing with  one  another,  would  be  wide  of  the  mark. 

Some  time  after  Herbert's  return  to  Poland,  where  his 
recent  mission  had  served  to  increase  the  influence  of  the 
Unitas  Fratrum,  a  Synod  was  held  at  Xionz  (September, 
1560).  The  deliberations,  which  were  loud,  vehement  and 
more  like  those  of  a  Polish  diet  than  of  an  ecclesiastical  body, 
related  almost  exclusively  to  the  government  of  the  Reformed 
Church.^  In  the  interests  of  union  nothing  was  done ;  and 
Rokita  and  Lorenz,  the  delegates  of  the  Brethren,  had  no 
occasion  to  take  an  active  part  in  the  proceedings.  Otherwise, 
however,  their  relations  to  the  Reformed  members  were  of  a 
friendly  character  and  they  mutually  agreed  to  propose  to  the 
Lutherans  a  conference  of  the  three  church es.^^ 

It  took  place  at  Posen,  on  the  first  of  November,  of  the 
same  year,  but  led  to  no  understanding  and  did  not  further 
the  cause  of  union.  Influenced  by  Flacius  Illyricus,  the 
Lutherans  manifested  an  open  antagonism  to  the  Brethren ; 
while  the  Reformed,  on  the  contrary,  continually  drew  closer 
to  them.  At  a  subsequent  convocation,  held  at  Buzeniu,  on 
the  sixth  of  January,  1561,  the  compact  of  Kozminek  was 
renewed ;  both  parties  agreed  to  attend  each  others  synods 
without  invitation  ;  and  the  Brethren  promised  to  submit  to 
the  Reformed,  before  publishing  it,  the  Polish  version  of  their 


^  An  executive  committee,  or  consistory,  numbering  three  ministers  and 
three  nobles,  was,  on  this  occasion,  appointed  to  govern  the  Kcformed 
Church.  These  nobles  received  the  title  of  Sentores  politici.  It  was  this 
arrangement  which  led  Zinzendorf  to  introduce  in  the  Kenewed  Brethren's 
Church  the  office  of  Seniores  civiles,  who  were  to  assist  the  Bishops  in  all 
matters  not  of  a  spiritual  character  and  especially  to  negotiate  with  civil 
governments.  Men  of  noble  birth  were  generally  appointed  and  received 
a  special  ordination.     This  office  no  longer  exists. 

'"  Comenius  in   his  Hist.,    |  §  99-102,   disapproves  of  this  Synod  and 
speaks  in  very  severe  terms  of  the  political  and  carnal  wisdom  which,  in  his 
judgment,  guided  its  deliberations. 
22 


338  THE    HISTORY    OF 

Confession,  This  promise  was  fulfilled  in  1562;  in  the 
following  year  the  Confession  appeared  in  print." 

The  spread  of  Antitrinitarian  views  within  the  Reformed 
Church,  gave  to  its  fellowship  with  the  Unitas  Fratrum  a  new 
and  urgent  importance.  Laelius  Socinus  had  planted  the 
germ  of  this  heretical  system  in  Poland,  in  1551  ;  and  now 
it  had  grown  to  alarming  proportions.  The  Antitrinitarians 
began  to  constitute  an  influential  party,  with  Gregory  Pauli 
at  its  head,  and  many  Reformed  ministers  in  its  ranks. 
Sarnicki,  a  zealous  Calvinist,  pointed  out  to  the  Diet  the 
growing  danger.  A  Colloquy  was  agreed  on,  with  the  hope 
of  winning  Pauli  back  to  the  true  faith.  It  took  place  at 
Cracow,  but  failed  to  accomplish  this  end  (1563),  In  his 
opening  address  George  Israel  said,  that  the  Protestants  of 
Poland  would  not  present  so  lamentable  a  spectacle  of 
divisions  and  feuds,  if  the  compact  of  Kozminek  had  not 
been  so  utterly  neglected. 

The  Roman  Catholics,  too,  were  alarmed  by  the  rapid 
increase  of  Antitrinitarianism,  and  induced  Sigismund 
Augustus  to  issue  an  edict  banishing  all  foreign  heretics 
(August  the  seventh,  1564).  Its  execution  was  intrusted  to 
John  Koscielecki,  Governor  of  Great  Poland.  Being  one  of 
the  most  implacable  enemies  of  the  Brethren,  he  enforced  it 
against  all  such  among  them  also  as  had  been  born  in  Bohemia 
and  Moravia.  But  the  magnates  of  the  Church  came  to  their 
rescue.  A  deputation,  consisting  of  Jacob  Ostrorog — ^a 
favorite  of  the  King — Raphael  Leszeynski,  John  Krotowski, 
Albert  Marszewski,  and  accompanied  by  John  Lorenz, 
appeared  before  Sigismund,  presented  the  Polish  version  of 
the  Confession  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum,  and  persuaded  him  to 
issue  a  second  decree  (November  the  second,  1564),  addressed 
specially  to  Koscielecki,  exempting   the  Brethren  from  the 

^^  It  was  a  translation  of  the  Confession  of  1535,  presented  to  Ferdinand. 
Gindely  asserts  that  the  title  which  sets  this  forth  is  incorrect  and  that  it 
was  a  version  of  the  Confession  of  1564,  presented  to  Maximilian.  But 
tliis  latter  document  constituted  merely  a  revised  edition  of  the  Confession 
of  1535. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  839 

penalty  of  the  first.  This  measure  aiFected  Koscielecki  in 
such  a  way  that  he  fell  sick  and  died.'^  A  year  later  the 
governorship  of  Great  Poland,  through  the  resignation  of  his 
successor,  Luke  Gorka,  passed  into  the  hands  of  Jacob 
Ostrorog.  Under  his  administration  the  Brethren  prospered, 
and  the  only  mode  of  attack  remaining  to  the  Catholics  was 
the  pen.  In  this  warfare  Benedict  Herbst,  Prebendary  at 
Posen,  was  their  champion ;  while  James  Niemojewski,  an 
influential  noble  of  the  Reformed  faith,  entered  the  lists  on 
behalf  of  the  Brethren. 

'^  The  hatred  which  Koscielecki  bore  to  the  Brethren  was  so  great  that 
when  he  was  on  his  death-bed  he  sent,  so  it  is  said,  for  his  court-fool  and 
ordered  him  to  make  sport  of  their  religious  ceremonies.    Lukaszewicz,  p.  47. 


340  THE   HISTORY   OF 


CHAPTEE  XXXIY. 

Augusta  reconciled  to  the  Council.     The  Synod  of  Sendomir 
in  Poland.     A.  D.  1564-1570. 


Meeting  of  the  Bishops  at  Leipnik. — Reconciliation  with  Augusta. — Death 
of  Vergerius. — Increasing  hostility  of  the  Lutherans  in  Poland. — 
Benedict  Morgenstern. — A  Lutheran  Synod  against  the  Brethren. — 
Joint  Synod  at  Posen. — Twelve  reputed  Errors. — Decision  of  the 
Synod  of  Prerau. — Lorenz  at  Wittenberg. — Favorable  Opinion  of  the 
Theological  Faculty. — Controversies  wane. — Synod  of  Sendomir. — 
Alliance  between  the  Brethren  and  Reformed  and  Lutherans. — 
Consensus  Sendomiriensis. — Further  Union,  at  Posen,  of  the  Brethren 
and  the  Lutherans. 

After  spending  the  festival  of  Easter  at  Jungbunzlau, 
Bishop  Augusta  proceeded  to  Leipnik,  in  Moravia,  where  he 
met,  on  the  Day  of  St.  Mark  (April  the  twenty-fifth),  1 564, 
Cerwenka,  Czerny  and  Blahoslaw.  The  details  of  this 
conference  are  not  known,  but  its  result  was  auspicious.  A 
complete  reconciliation  took  place  between  Augusta  and  his 
colleagues,  and  he  was  reinstated  in  his  episcopal  seat.  At 
the  same  time  the  constitutional  provision,  that  not  less  than 
four  bishops  should  stand  at  the  head  of  the  Church  and 
eight  or  nine  priests  constitute  the  other  members  of  the 
Council,  was  anew  ratified.^ 

1  L.  F.,  X.  cited  by  Gindely;  Jaffet's  Sword  of  Goliath.  This  latter 
authority  says,  I.  p.  21,  etc.  "Im  Jahr  1564,  kam  Br.  Job.  Augusta  aus 
dem  Gefangniss  und  begab  sich  noch  in  demselben  Jahr  zu  den  Aeltesten 


THE    MORAVIAN   CHURCH.  341 

In  the  following  year  (1565)  Vergerius  died  at  Tubingen, 
on  the  fourth  of  October.  The  Brethren,  and  Blahoslaw  in 
particular,  prized  the  friendship  which  he  manifested  toward 
their  Church;  among  the  Swiss  Reformers  he  enjoyed  but 
little  confidence.  His  sincerity  and  the  service  which  he 
rendered  Protestantism,  can  not  be  doubted ;  but  he  was  fond 
of  claiming  authority  and  often  interfered  in  matters  which 
concerned  him  not. 

Meanwhile  the  relations  of  the  evangelical  churches  in 
Poland  remained  unchanged,  except  that  the  Lutherans  grew 
more  and  more  hostile  to  the  Brethren.  Of  this  hostility 
Benedict  Morgenstern,  an  ecclesiastical  demagogue,  restless, 
bigoted  and  unscrupulous,  was  the  chief  instigator. 

He  had  charge  of  the  Lutheran  parish  at  Thorn,  where,  in 
1563,  he  gave  a  notable  example  of  his  chicanery.  Although 
the  Brethren  had  established  themselves  in  that  city  on  their 
first  arrival  in  Poland,  he  forced  upon  their  minister  and  his 
assistants,  what  he  called,  a  Colloquy,  and  by  his  vehement 
denunciations  and  unparalleled  impudence,  constrained  them 
to  relinquish  their  church  and  withdraw  from  the  town. 
Elated   by  this  victory  he   published    twenty-two  doctrinal 


nach  Leipnik,  am  Tage  des  H.  Marcus,  berieth  sich  dort  mit  alien  und 
setzte  sich  wieder  auf  jenen  ersten  Platz.  Die  Bischofe  standen  nun  fiir 
kurze  Zeit  folgendermassen :  1.  Johann  Augusta.  2.  Johann  Czerny, 
3.  Matthias  Cerwenka,  4.  Georg  Israel,  5.  Johann  Blahoslaw."  In  the 
same  work,  II.  p.  37,  etc.,  we  read  :  Augusta  "  versohnte  sich  dort  (Leipnik) 
mit  ihnen.  Er  wurde  wieder  auf  seinen  bischoflichen  Platz  gesetzt,  und 
man  willigte  ein,  dass  fortan  stets  die  Ordnung  beachtet  werde,  dass  vier 
Bischofe  in  der  Fronte  sassen,  und  acht  oder  neun  Personen  im  Rath." 
Gindely  says  that  Augusta  did  not  again  receive  the  rank  of  first  Bishop 
but  only  co-ordinate  authority  with  the  other  Bishops.  It  is  clear  that 
he  was  no  longer  Chief  .Judge  (Vide  p.  320  of  this  Hist.),  and  it  is  certain 
that  he  did  not  exercise  the  same  overweening  authority  as  formerly  ;  but 
that  he  continued  to  be  President  of  the  Council,  Jaffet's  words  plainly 
show,  and  Gindely  himself,  in  his  list  of  Bishops  (Quellen,  p.  451),  assigns 
to  him  this  place  even  after  his  liberation  from  prison.  His  influence, 
however,  undoubtedly  waned,  the  older  he  grew,  and  in  the  last  years  of  his 
life  his  presidency  may  have  become  nominal. 


342  THE    HISTORY    OF 

errors  which,  he  falsely  asserted,  they  had  acknowledged  at 

the  Colloquy.^ 

And  now,  in  1565,  he  issued  another  work  reducing  these 
errors  to  sixteen.  The  cry  which  he  raised  was  taken  up  by 
a  Lutheran  Synod  at  Gostyn.  This  body  adopted  a  formal 
resolution  declaring,  that  the  Brethren  oppressed  the  Lutherans 
and  refused  the  hand  of  friendship  which  these  held  out.  In 
itself  considered  no  charge  could  be  more  absurd ;  understood 
from  the  point  of  view  of  the  Lutherans,  however,  it  had  a 
grave  meaning.  Not  all  the  priests  of  the  Unity  were  as 
submissive  as  those  at  Thorn.  The  Lutherans  came  to  many 
places  where  they  found  the  Brethren  established,  and  the 
Brethren  would  not  yield  the  ground.  This  was  the  oppres- 
sion from  which  the  Lutherans  suifered !  For  the  followers 
of  the  Unity  to  point  to  the  friendship  that  Luther  had  shown 
them,  to  acknowledge  the  Augustana  and  yet  to  uphold  a 
Confession  of  their  own  and  maintain  churches  of  their 
own,  instead  of  meekly  allowing  themselves  to  be  engulfed 
in  the  maw  of  Lutheranism,  was  schism  !  -^  That  under  such 
circumstances,  heated  disputes  took  place  and  "  the  royal 
law"  was  frequently  broken  on  both  sides,  may  well  be 
supposed.  There  were  those  who  so  entirely  forgot  it,  as  to 
maintain,  that  Luther's  Preface  to  the  Confession  of  1535 
had  not  been  written  by  him  but  forged  by  the  Brethren.* 

"^  The  Brethren  withdrew  from  Thorn  chiefly  because  the  magistrates 
sided  with  Morgenstern,  and  when  these  magistrates  invited  them  to 
re-establish  their  Church,  declined  this  overture.  Morgenstern's  headstrong 
course,  ere  long,  alienated  his  own  people.  In  1567  he  was  dismissed  from 
Thorn.  Both  the  works  which  he  wrote  are  preserved,  in  MS.,  in  the 
Herrnhut  Archives.  The  first  is  entitled  De  Valdensium  schismate,  etc.; 
the  second,  Errores  fraterculorum  Bohemicorum,  etc. 

3  Tlie  mild  sarcasm  with  which  Gindely  expresses  himself  on  this  point 
provokes  an  appreciative  smile.  He  says:  "Es  ist  sehr  schwer,  eine 
gerechte  Definition  des  Wortes  Druck  zu  geben,  wofern  es  von  religiosen 
Parteien  gebraucht  wird.  Mir  leuchtet  so  viel  ein,  dass  die  Lutheraner 
sich  iiberall  da  gedriickt  glaubten,  wo  ihnen  die  Briider  beim  ersten 
Erscheinen  das  Genomene  nicht  abtraten  und  sich  nicht  willig  darein 
ergaben,  sie  als  ihre  Erben  und  Kechtsnacliiolger  anzusehen."     II.  p.  78. 

*  Quellen,  p.  294. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH.  343 

In  order  to  put  an  end  to  such  unhappy  controversies, 
Erasmus  Gliczner,  the  newly  appointed  Superintendent  of  the 
Lutheran  Churches  in  Great  Poland,  in  conjunction  with 
prominent  nobles  of  his  faith,  proposed  to  the  Brethren  a 
joint  Synod  at  Posen.  It  took  place  on  the  twenty-eighth  of 
January,  1567,  and  was  attended,  on  the  part  of  the  Unity, 
by  Israel,  Lorenz,  and  a  number  of  magnates.  A  more 
friendly  feeling  prevailed  and,  as  Lukaszewicz  says,  "many 
obstacles  in  the  way  of  peace  were  removed ;"  but  the 
doctrinal  diflPerences  were  not  settled.  In  the  name  of  his 
associates,  Morgenstern  set  forth  twelve  points  of  difference 
between  the  Confession  of  the  Brethren  and  the  Augustana 
— hence,  in  the  estimation  of  the  Lutherans,  twelve  errors. 
This  paper  was  subsequently  sent  to  Bishop  Israel  and  he 
was  asked  to  furnish  a  reply.* 

Instead  of  at  once  complying  with  this  request,  Israel 
appealed  to  the  Executive  Council  which  laid  the  case  before 
the  Synod  convened  at  Prcrau  (June  the  twenty-fourth, 
1567).  This  body,  while  rejecting  an  absorption  such  as  the 
Lutherans  aimed  at,  declared  that  the  Brethren  were  willing 
to  unite  with  them  and  with  the  Reformed  in  an  alliance 
which  would  leave  their  own  peculiarities,  their  own  ministry, 
discipline  and  doctrine  intact.^  After  this  resolution  had 
been  made  known,  Lorenz  published  a  reply  to  Morgenstern's 
paper  .^ 

While  deliberating  upon  a  rejoinder,  the  Lutherans,  by  the 
advice  of  Stephan  Bilow,  a  bitter  foe  of  the  Unity,  determined 
to  have  it  condemned  through  the  University  of  Wittenberg. 

*  The  paper  bore  the  following  title :  Arnica  at  fraterna  adnotatis  naevorum 
et  verborum  minus  recta  positorum  in  Confessione  fratrum,  quos  Valdenses 
vocant,  proposita  in  synodo  Poznaniae  28  Januarii,  1567,  celebrata,  a 
Ministris  Confessionis  Augustanae  iisdem  fratribus  Valdcnsibus  in  duodecim 
partes  distincta. 

®  Dekrete  d.  B.  U.,  p.  228,  cited  by  Czerwenka. 

'  Lorenz's  reply  was  revised  by  Israel  and  Eokita.  It  bore  the  following 
title :  Eesponsio  brevis  et  sincera  fratrum,  quos  Valdenses  vocant,  ad  naevos 
ex  Apologia  ipsorum  excerptos  a  Ministris,  Confessioni  Augustanae  addictis, 
in  Polonia. 


344  THE    HISTORY    OF 

Inasmuch  as  the  Polish  Lutherans  were  violent  adherents  of 
Flacius  Illyricus  and  the  theologians  of  Wittenberg  Philip- 
pists,  the  success  of  this  scheme  could  not  but  be  doubtful. 
Its  actual  failure  was,  however,  owing  to  another  cause. 
Before  the  Lutherans  could  send  a  deputation,  Bishop  George 
Israel,  who  was  ignorant  of  their  intentions,  commissioned 
Lorenz  to  go  to  Wittenberg  and  appeal  to  the  University 
(February  the  tenth,  1568).^  Lorenz  arrived  on  the  sixteenth, 
delivered  letters  from  Israel  to  prominent  theologians,  gave 
an  account  of  the  controversies  in  Poland,  presented  Morgen- 
stern's  work  and  his  own  reply,  and  begged  the  Theological 
Faculty  for  a  decision  with  regard  to  the  entire  case.  Such 
a  decision  was  given,  in  writing,  on  the  twenty-second  of 
February.  It  acknowledged  the  orthodoxy  of  the  Brethren, 
attributed  the  attacks  of  the  Polish  Lutherans  to  the  poison 
instilled  by  Flacius,  and  sided  fully  with  the  Unity,  except 
on  two  unimportant  points.  The  document  was  signed  by 
Paul  Eber,  as  Dean  of  the  Faculty,  George  Major  and  Paul 
Crell.« 

This  step  of  the  Polish  Brethren  led  to  important  results. 
On  both  sides  the  magnates  began  to  discountenance  contro- 
versies and  to  urge  upon  all  Protestants  the  necessity  of 
presenting  an  undivided  front  both  to  the  Romanists  and  the 
Antitrinitarians  ;^"  while  the  idea  gained  ground,  that  an 
inter-denominational  Synod  of  the  Lutherans  and  Reformed 
and  Brethren  ought  to  be  convened,  in  order  to  determine  the 
basis  for  an  ecclesiastical  alliance.  These  three  Churches  were 
not  to  be  organically  united,  but,  in  harmony  with  the  enact- 
ment of  the  Brethren  at  their  Synod  of  Prerau,  to  be  brought 
into  such  a  relationship  that  a  member  of  one  body  would 
practically  be  a  member  of  all  the  three  bodies.     A  Synod  of 

*  Lorenz  was  accompanied  by  a  young  man  named  John  Polycarp.  A 
full  account  of  this  mission  is  found  in  L.  F.,  X.  and  reproduced  in  Quellen, 
pp.  294-318. 

®  Document  in  full  in  Quellen,  pp.  311,  etc. 

'"  The  Antitrinitarians  had,  by  this  time,  secured  firm  seats  at  Kakau  and 
on  the  domains  of  Prince  Ragotzi,  in  Transylvania. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  345 

this  kind  was  agreed  on.  It  was  to  meet  at  Sendomir,  in 
Little  Poland."  Preparatory  Synods  were  held  by  the 
Brethren  and  Lutherans  at  Posen,  and  by  the  Lutherans  and 
Reformed  at  Wilna. 

As  the  Diet  of  Lublin,  in  1569,  constituted  an  epoch  in 
the  civil  history  of  Poland,  so  the  Synod  of  Sendomir,  in 
1570,  became  an  era  in  its  ecclesiastical  history.^^  That  Diet 
brought  about  the  union  of  Lithuania  with  Poland ;  this 
Synod  effected,  what  had  never  before  been  accomplished 
since  the  birth  of  Protestantism,  a  religious  confederation 
among  the  evangelical  churches  of  the  kingdom.  On  all 
sides  the  utmost  interest  was  manifested ;  from  all  parts  there 
flocked  together  theologians  and  ministers  and  magnates. 
The  majority  of  the  representatives  belonged  to  the  Reformed 
Church.  Prominent  among  them  were  Paul  Gilovius,  Jacob 
Sylvius  and  Stanislaus  Sarnicki,  clerical  delegates ;  and 
Stanislaus  Mysskowski,  the  Palatine  of  Cracow,  Peter 
Zborowski,  the  Palatine  of  Sendomir,  and  Stanislaus  Iwan 
Karminski,  a  councilor  of  Cracow,  lay  delegates.  The 
Lutheran  Church  was  represented  by  Erasmus  Gliczner,  its 
Superintendent  in  Great  Poland,  Nicholas  Gliczner,  his 
brother.  Superintendent  of  the  Posen  district,  and  Stanislaus 
Bninski,  a  magistrate  of  Posen  and  the  proxy  of  Luke  Gorka, 
its  Palatine.  On  the  part  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum,  commis- 
sioned by  its  Executive  Council,  appeared  Andrew  Praz- 
mowski,  Superintendent  of  the  Reformed  Churches  in 
Kujavia,  with  whom  was  associated  Simon  Theophilus 
Turnovius,  a  deacon  of  the  Brethren.^^ 

"  Sendomir  or  Sandomir,  is  now  the  capital  of  the  Polish  circuit  or 
government  of  Eadom,  and  lies  on  the  left  bank  of  tlie  Vistula.  Its 
inhabitants  number  about  five  thousand. 

''  Sources  for  the  history  of  this  Synod  are :  Jablonski's  Historia  Con- 
sensus Sendomiriensis ;  Lukaszewicz,  Chap.  VII.  p.  55,  etc.;  Fischer,  I.  pp. 
157,  etc.;  and  especially  Itinerarium  Sendomiriense,  being  a  most  interesting 
MS.  journal  by  Turnovius,  in  classical  Polish,  rendered  into  German  by 
Fischer  and  given  in  his  German  translation  of  Lukaszewicz,  jjp.  51-81, 
also  in  his  own  work,  I.  jjp.  257-286. 

'^  Prazmowski  was  therefore  not  a  minister  of  tlie  Brethren,  as  Croeger 


346  THE    HISTORY  OF 

Turnovius,  who  became  one  of  the  most  influential  leaders 
of  the  Polish  branch  of  their  Church,  taking;  his  place  by  the 
side  of  Israel  and  Lorenz,  was  born  at  Turuau,  on  the 
fifteenth  of  September,  1544.  In  his  fourth  year,  because  of 
the  fierce  persecution  raging  throughout  Bohemia,  his  parents 
fled  with  him  to  Marienwerder,  in  East  Prussia.  Not  long 
after  this  flight  his  father  died,  and  he  was  adopted  by  George 
Israel,  who  put  him,  in  1555,  to  the  school  at  Kozminek. 
At  a  later  time  he  visited  the  University  of  Wittenberg. 
When  he  had  completed  his  studies,  in  1568,  he  came  to 
Ostrorog,  was  ordained  a  Deacon,  and  subsequently,  although 
only  twenty-six  years  of  age,  sent  to  Sendomir  as  Praz- 
mowski's  associate.^* 

In  that  town,  on  Sunday,  the  ninth  of  April,  a  solemn 
service  was  held,  Jacob  Sylvius  preaching  a  sermon  on  the 
twentieth  chapter  of  the  Gospel  according  to  St.  John.  In 
the  afternoon,  "at  the  nineteenth  hour,"  the  Synod  was 
opened  by  the  Palatines  of  Cracow  and  of  Sendomir.  The 
former  welcomed  the  members ;  the  latter  set  forth  the  object 
of  the  convocation.  Four  presidents  were  then  chosen :  two 
laymen,  Zborowski  and  Karminski ;  and  two  ministers, 
Gilovius  and  Prazmowski.  Sokolowski  was  ajipointed 
secretary.  This  organization  having  been  completed,  the 
Synod  adjourned. 

On  the  next  day,  Monday,  April  the  tenth,  at  eleven 
o'clock,  after  a  religious  service  at  which  Valentin  preached 
on  the  first  chapter  of  St.  Paul's  letter  to  the  Ephesians,  the 
second  session  began.  First  of  all,  the  delegates  presented 
the  salutations  of  their  constituents.  In  expressing  the  good 
wishes  of  the  Brethren,  Andrew  Prazmowski  spoke  of  them 
"with  great  reverence;"  said  that  they  were  a  body  of 
Christians  that,  for  one  hundred  and  fifty  years,  since  the  time 

implies,  but  a  Eeformed  minister  formally  commissioned  to  represent  the 
Unity.  Why  Israel  and  other  of  its  leaders  were  not  present  is  not  known ; 
its  influence  however  was,  on  that  account,  not  lost,  since  Turnovius,  in  spite 
of  his  youth,  took  a  very  prominent  part  in  the  Synod. 

'*  Fischer,  II.  p.  181.     In  Poland  Turnovius  was  often  called  Bogomil. 


THE   MORAVIAN   CHUKCH.  347 

of  Hus,  had  defended  the  Confession  of  their  Faith  not  only 
with  the  pen  and  in  books,  but  also  with  their  own  blood ; 
and  earnestly  commended  this  Confession  to  the  favorable 
notice  of  the  Synod.  In  conclusion  he  delivered  two  letters 
from  the  Bishops  excusing  their  unavoidable  absence  and 
giving  utterance  to  the  hope,  that  the  Polish  Confession  of 
their  Church  would  be  accepted  as  the  common  doctrinal 
ground. 

The  next  step  which  was  taken  showed  that  the  men 
assembled  at  Sendomir  were  determined,  whatever  their 
decision  with  regard  to  formulated  creeds  might  eventually 
be,  to  fling  out,  at  the  very  beginning  of  their  deliberations, 
an  unspotted  banner  of  scriptural  faith.  The  members  were 
called  on  to  confess  their  belief  in  the  Holy  Trinity,  in  order 
that,  if  any  Tritheists,^^  or  Socinians,  or  followers  of  Stancarus 
should  prove  to  be  present,  they  might  be  excluded  from  the 
Synod.  Such  an  exclusion  was  actually  carried  out  in  the 
case  of  several  ministers  who  were  found  to  be  tainted  with 
these  heresies. 

And  now  was  broached  that  delicate  question  upon  which 
hinged  either  the  success  or  the  failure  of  the  entire  under- 
taking. What  basis  should  be  given  to  the  projected  alliance  ? 
Gilovius  urged  the  Helvetic  Confession.  It  had,  he  said, 
been  recently  translated  into  Polish.^^  Let  this  version, 
together  with  the  Preface  specially  prepared  for  it,  be 
adopted,  published  and  presented  to  the  king,  as  the  common 
symbol  of  his  Protestant  subjects.  This  proposal  called  forth 
an  animated  debate.     Nicholas  Gliczner  avowed  his  intention 

^^  The  name  by  which  the  followers  of  Gregory  Pauli  were  known. 

'«  Lukaszewicz,  p.  61,  says  that  this  was  the  Confessio  Tigurina,  but  he 
undoubtedly  means  the  Confessio  Helvetica  posterior,  (The  Second  Helvetic 
Confession),  published  at  Tiguri,  that  is,  Zurich,  in  1566,  and  written  by 
Bullinger.  There  is  technically  no  Confessio  Tigurina  but  a  Consensus 
Tigurinus,  which  relates  only  to  the  Lord's  Supper  and  predestination.  It 
is  not  likely  that  this  was  translated  into  Polish,  and  less  likely  that  it 
should  be  adopted  by  the  Polish  Reformed.  The  Conf.  Hel.  posterior  is 
found  in  Niemeyer's  Collectio  Confessionum,  p.  462,  etc.;  comp.  Schaff's 
Creeds  of  Christendom,  I.  p.  390,  and  III.  p.  233,  etc. 


348  THE   HISTOEY   OF 

of  standing  by  the  Augustana  "  until  death  ;"  and  took  occa- 
sion to  inveigh  against  the  Brethren,  because  they  were 
Waldenses,  had  many  Confessions,  and  in  matters  of  doctrine 
were  altogether  unstable.  Erasmus  Gliczner  endorsed  what 
his  brother  had  said,  adding  that  there  existed  no  Confession 
which  the  Reformed  of  Poland  could  claim.  This  roused 
Mysskowski,  who  warmly  maintained  the  contrary  and,  at  the 
the  same  time,  defended  the  Brethren.  Other  members  also 
spoke  in  their  favor.  Luther  himself,  it  was  said,  had 
approved  of  their  Confession.  At  last  Turnovius,  who  had 
made  several  iueifectual  attempts  to  speak,  obtained  the  floor. 
He  delivered  a  long  address,  showing  that  the  Brethren  were 
not  Waldenses  ;  that,  in  Poland,  they  acknowledged  but  one 
Confession  ;  that  this  Confession  had  been  presented  to  the 
King  and  ably  defended  against  the  attacks  of  the  Roman 
Catholics ;  and  that,  for  these  reasons,  it  ought  to  take,  in  so 
far  as  the  Polish  Churches  were  concerned,  the  precedence 
over  all  other  creeds.'^  He  spoke  modestly  but  with  much 
spirit,  and  his  speech  won  general  approbation,  except  from 
Erasmus  and  Nicholas  Gliczner.  These  two  honest  but 
head-strong  brothers  reiterated  their  assertions,  and  began  to 
manifest  a  tendency  so  directly  in  opposition  to  the  end  for 
which  the  Synod  had  been  called,  that  the  Presidents  became 
alarmed,  and — an  attempt  to  bring  it  to  a  vote  resulting  in  a 
new  and  acrimonius  discussion — peremptorily  ordered  an 
adjournment  after  Zborowski  and  Karminski  had  appealed  to 
the  Lutheran  delegates  not  to  cast  obstacles  in  the  way  of  a 
union. 

At  the  opening  of  the  third  session,  Tuesday,  April  the 
eleventh,  Sylvius  preached  on  the  words  of  the  Psalmist 
133:  1:  "Behold,  how  good  and  how  pleasant  it  is  for 
brethren  to  dwell  together  in  unity."  Neither  this  theme  nor 
the  appeals  of  the  previous  day  seemed  to  have  conciliated 
Erasmus  and  Nicholas  Gliczner.  When  the  Helvetic  Con- 
fession  was  again  taken   up  they  refused  to  vote,  which  so 


''  The  address  of  Turnovius  is  found  in  full  in  his  journal. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  349 

exasperated  the  other  members  and  betrayed  them  into  such 
sharp  words,  that  the  Presidents  ordered  a  recess  until  the 
afternoon.  On  reassembling,  there  took  place,  as  previously 
agreed  upon,  a  public  disputation  with  Alexander  Vitrelius, 
a  leading  Antitrinitarian,  who  succumbed  to  the  arguments  of 
Turnovius  in  particular.^^ 

The  next  morning,  Wednesday,  April  the  twelfth,  Praz- 
mowski  having  preached  the  introductory  sermon,  the  fourth 
session  began  and  led  to  an  important  measure.  At  the 
instance  of  the  Palatine  of  Cracow,  the  Helvetic  Confession 
was  taken  out  of  the  hands  of  the  Synod  and  referred  to  a 
committee  for  further  examination. 

This  committee,  consisting  of  the  two  representatives  of  the 
Brethren's  Church,  the  three  Lutheran  delegates,  and  six  Re- 
formed members,  among  Avhom  were  Mysskowski,  Zborowski, 
Gilovius  and  Sylvius,  met  in  Zborowski's  j)alace.  Two 
points  were  to  be  decided :  first,  does  the  Helvetic  Confession 
harmonize  with  the  Holy  Scriptures?  second,  if  it  does,  will 
the  Brethren  and  the  Lutherans  unite  with  the  Reformed  in 
accepting  it  as  the  basis  of  that  confederate  union  which  these 
three  Churches  desire  to  establish  ?  Prazmowski  and  Turno- 
vius were  first  asked  for  their  opinion.  After  having  con- 
sulted in  private,  the  former,  while  once  more  expressing  his 
strong  convictions  that  the  Confession  of  the  Brethren  would 
prove  to  be  a  better  common  ground,  declared,  in  their  name, 
that  he  was  nevertheless  willing  to  accept  the  Helvetic  Con- 
fession. Thereupon  Turnovius,  urged  by  all  present  to  give 
his  views,  spoke  as  follows  : 

"  Gracious  lords  and  beloved  brethren :  The  Bohemian 
Brethren  are  moved  by  grave  and  weighty  reasons  in  proposing 
that  their  Confession,  which  has  been  presented  to  the  King, 
should  be  accepted  by  you  all.  Some  of  these  reasons  have  been 
set  forth  in  the  letters  which  they  sent  you  ;  still  other  reasons 
have  been  made  known  to  me.     Nevertheless,  inasmuch  as  the 

^'  Trecius  and  Tenaudus,  two  divines,  had  been  appointed  to  speak  for  the 
Synod ;  but  their  arguments  were  so  weak  that  Turnovious,  who  happened 
to  sit  between  them,  could  not  resist  prompting  them.  Instead  of  resenting 
this,  Trecius  asked  that  he  be  permitted  to  take  part  in  the  disputation. 


350  THE    HISTORY   OF 

Bohemian  Brethren,  at  the  same  time,  earnestly  desire  that  the 
Church  of  God  may  be  built  up  and  strengthened,  and  inasmuch 
as  they  do  what  they  can  to  bring  about  this  end, — I  believe  that 
when  they  will  have  been  informed  of  your  reasons  for  advocating 
the  Helvetic  Confession  as  a  common  ground  on  which  thus  to 
unite  the  Church  and  increase  its  power,  they  will  interpose  no 
further  objections.  As  regards  myself,  having,  long  ago,  read 
this  Confession  and  convinced  myself  that  its  doctrines  are  pure  ; 
that  they  harmonize  with  our  Confession ;  that  it  is  drawn  up 
according  to  the  same  plan  as  ours,  but  perhaps  in  a  more  com- 
plete and  intelligible  way  ; — I  find  no  fault  with  it,  but  accept  it 
as  correct  and  as  our  own." 

These  words  awakened  the  liveliest  satisfaction  among  the 
Reformed  members  of  the  committee,  and  moved  Myssowski 
even  to  tears.  But  Turnovius,  in  order  that  he  might  not 
be  misunderstood,  hastened  to  add :  "  Gracious  lords,  be 
pleased  to  take  notice,  that  I  have  accepted  the  Helvetic 
Confession  as  our  own  upon  this  condition  only,  that  you 
will  not  expect  the  Brethren  to  relinquish  the  Confession 
which  they  already  have,  but  that  they  will  be  free  to  adhere 
to  that  also,  as  they  have  ever  done."  "  God  forbid,"  replied 
Myssowski,  "  that  we  should  ask  the  Brethren  to  reject  their 
own  Confession!"  "Verily,"  added  Zborowski,  "we  will 
rather  strive  to  imitate  them  by  introducing  among  ourselves 
a  better  church -government  and  discipline." 

Every  eye  was  now  fixed  upon  the  Lutherans.  What 
would  they  do?  The  Palatine  of  Cracow  begged  them  to 
yield  their  preferences  for  the  Augustana  and  thus  promote 
the  glory  of  God  and  further  the  prosperity  of  His  Church. 
The  Palatine  of  Sendomir  delivered  a  lengthy  address 
appealing  to  them  to  weigh  well  the  incalculable  importance 
of  the  undertaking  in  which  the  Synod  was  engaged,  and 
intimating  that  Sigismund  Augustus  would  become  a  Prot- 
estant if  a  union  would  be  brought  about  among  the 
Protestant  churches  of  his  kingdom.  "  For  God's  sake,"  he 
continued,  "  remember  what  depends  upon  the  result  of  our 
deliberations,  and  incline  your  hearts  to  that  harmony  and 
that  love  which  the  Lord  has  commanded  us  to  follow  above 
everything  else."     He  spoke  with  deep  feeling,  and  broke  off 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHUECH.  351 

suddenly,  choked  with  tears.  The  Palatine  of  Cracow  sobbed 
aloud.  All  present  were  profoundly  moved.  A  sudden  out- 
pouring of  the  spirit  of  love  took  place.  Their  hearts  flowed 
together  and,  in  a  moment,  every  obstacle  vanished.  They 
themselves  scarcely  knew  what  was  transpiring,  except  that 
God  had  revealed  to  them  the  beauty  and  glory  of  a  union  in 
His  Son.^^  When  they  had  grown  calmer  it  was  agreed,  at 
the  instance  of  the  brothers  Gliczner,  that  none  of  the  existino- 
Confessions  should  be  adopted,  but  that  a  new  Confession 
should  be  prepared  to  which  the  three  Protestant  churches  of 
Poland,  without  relinquishing  their  own  creeds,  should  hold 
in  common.^''  Meauwhile  a  Consensus  should  be  drawn  up, 
making  known  that  a  confederate  union  had  been  established 
among  them  and  setting  forth  the  conditions  of  this  alliance. 

In  the  afternoon  the  committee  reported  to  the  Synod ;  the 
report  was  accepted  with  joyful  unanimity ;  and  Trecius  and 
Tenaudus  were  appointed  to  draft  the  Consensus.  A  resolu- 
tion which  was  now  adopted,  that  no  heterodox  ministers 
should  be  admitted  to  the  union,  unless  they  recanted,  induced 
seven  divines  to  come  forward  and  publicly  renounce  the  heresy 
of  Stancarus.  Immediately  after  the  adjournment  a  committee, 
composed  of  Karminski,  Prazmowski,  Turnovius,  Erasmus 
and  Nicholas  Gliczner,  revised  the  draft  of  the  Consensus. 

The  fifth  session,  Thursday,  April  the  thirteenth,  was 
opened  with  an  address  by  Jacob  Sylvius,  congratulating  the 
Synod  that  its  work  had  not  been  in  vain,  but  that  an  alliance 
had  been  formed  to  the  glory  of  God  and  the  prosperity  of 
His  Church.  Thereupon  the  Consensus,  as  adopted  by  the 
committee,    was    read.      The    Lutheran    delegates    having 

"  Turnovius  says  in  his  journal,  Lukaszewicz,  p.  78  :  "  Weiter  weiss  ich 
hier  nichts  zu  sagen,  denn  zuweilen  wussten  wir  selber  nicht  was  vorgehe. 
Mit  einem  Worte,  jene  Vereinigung  iiberraschte  uns,  mit  wunderbarer 
Schnelligkeit  die  Hindernisse  uns  dem  Wege  raumend." 

^^  This  Confession  was  to  be  prepared  at  Warsaw,  about  Whitsuntide,  at 
a  meeting  of  the  theologians  of  all  the  three  churches ;  but  such  a  meeting 
never  took  place,  and  the  proposed  Confession  did  not  appear.  This  was 
probably  owing  to  the  fact,  that,  in  time,  the  Consensus  was  deemed  to  be  a 
sufficient  doctrinal  symbol. 


352  THE    HISTORY    OF 

obtained  permission  to  retire  and  examine  this  document 
privately,  returned  it  with  several  emendations  touching  the 
Lord's  Supper.  A  warm  debate  instantly  sprang  up  which, 
for  a  time,  threatened  to  mar  the  new-born  harmony.  At 
last,  however,  it  was  agreed  to  adopt,  in  the  definition  of  the 
Lord's  Supper,  the  words,  "  the  real  presence  of  Christ,"  and 
to  incorporate  the  entire  article  of  the  Confessio  Saxonica 
with  regard  to  this  sacrament.^^  This  vexed  question  having 
been  finally  settled,  four  copies  of  the  Consensus  were  prepared 
and  signed. 

On  the  next  day,  Friday,  April  the  fourteenth,  the  Synod 
met  for  the  last  time.  The  Consensus  was  read  again  and 
unanimously  adopted ;  the  members  pledging  themselves  to  a 
faithful  observance  of  all  its  articles.  And  now  were  heard, 
on  every  side,  hearty  congratulations,  earnest  prayers,  fervent 
thanksgiving  and  praise.  Erasmus  Gliczner,  remembering 
his  recent  factiousness,  spoke  words  that  had  the  true  ring. 
The  fellowship  of  the  Lutherans  with  the  Brethren  and  the 
Reformed  should  be  close,  firm,  enduring :  the  Brethren  had 
"always  sought  the  welfare  of  the  Church  of  God  and  the 
glory  of  the  Lord :"  they  and  the  Lutherans  ought  to  meet, 
ere  long,  in  a  special  Synod,  in  order  to  publicly  set  a  seal 
to  the  alliance  which  had  been  formed.  Other  divines 
expressed  similar  sentiments ;  the  faces  of  the  two  Palatines 
were  radiant  with  joy ;  this  last  session  grew  into  a  jubilee  of 
love  and  peace.  Before  the  final  adjournment  was  ordered 
the  members  solemnly  pledged  each  other  their  right  hands ; 
and  thus,  amidst  renewed  thanksgiving  to  God,  the  Synod  of 
Sendomir  was  brought  to  a  close. 

A  few  days  after  Whitsuntide  the  Synod  proposed  by 
Gliczner  took  place  at  Posen  (May  the  twentieth).  There 
were  present  several  magnates  and  a  large  number  of  divines, 
including  Bishop  Israel,  John  Lorenz,  Turnovius,  Erasmus 
and  Nicholas  Gliczner.     Twenty  articles,   supplementary  to 

*^  The  Confessio  Saxonica  was  presented,  by  the  Lutherans,  to  the  Council 
of  Trent,  in  1551. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  353 

the  Consensus  Sendomirensis,  were  reported.  While  this 
report  was  under  discussion,  the  people  gathered  in  front  of 
the  hall  where  the  Synod  was  sitting,  anxious  to  learn  the 
issue;  and  as  soon  as  the  articles  had  been  adopted  and 
signed,  Erasmus  Gliczner  opened  the  door  and  announced 
this  result.^^  Then  raising,  by  a  common  impulse,  the 
Ambrosian  Te  Deum,  the  members  of  the  Synod  stood  up, 
the  Lutherans  advancing  to  meet  the  Brethren,  the  Brethren 
advancing  to  meet  the  Lutherans,  and  both  grasping  each 
others'  hands  with  fervent  love.  The  people  without  looked 
on,  deeply  aifected,  and  joined  in  the  hymn. 

But  a  still  more  memorable  and  solemn  evidence  of  this 
fellowship  w^as  given.  In  the  morning  of  the  first  Sunday 
after  Trinity  (May  the  twenty-eighth),  the  Brethren  moved, 
in  procession,  from  their  church,  in  the  suburbs  of  St. 
Adalbert,  to  the  Lutheran  church,  in  the  Gorka  palace,  on 
Water  Street.  At  the  portal  they  were  welcomed  by  the 
Lutherans,  and  then  the  two  congregations  united  in  a 
common  worship  of  God ;  John  Lorenz  preaching  in  Polish, 
and  Balthasar  Eichner  in  German,  and  both  wearing  the 
gown.  In  the  afternoon  the  Lutherans  formed  a  procession 
and  proceeded  from  their  church  to  that  of  the  Brethren, 
where  a  second  union  service  took  place,  Nicholas  Gliczner 
preaching  in  Polish,  and  Abraham  Abdel  in  German,  both  with- 
out the  gown.     At  the  close  the  Te  Deum  was  once  more  sung. 

The  Consensus  Sendomiriensis,  to  which  a  seal  was  thus 
publicly  set,  reads  as  follows  :^^ 


"  These  articles  were  very  important,  inasmuch  as  they  carried  the 
alliance  into  practice,  especially  at  such  places  where  both  the  Brethren 
and  the  Lutherans  had  established  themselves;  providing  rules  for  the 
mutual  relations  of  the  members  and  ministers,  for  communing  in  each 
others'  churches,  for  the  exercise  of  discipline  by  one  Church,  without  any 
interference  on  the  part  of  the  others,  etc.  The  document  containing  these 
articles  is  found  in  Jablonski's  Hist.  Send.,  pp.  195-200,  bearing  the  title : 
Consignatio  observationum  necessarium  ad  confirmandum  mutuum 
Consensnm,  etc.     For  a  German  version  compare  LuKaszewicz,  pp.  84-86. 

"  The  Consensus  was  originally  written  in  Latin  and  translated  into 
Polish.  It  was  frequently  published.  In  1586  Erasmus  Gliczner.  John 
23 


354  THE    HISTORY    OF 

Consensus  in  the  chief  Articles  of  the  Christian  Religion  betiveen 
the  Churches  of  Great  and  Little  Poland,  Russia,  Lithuania 
and  Samogitia,  which,  in  view  of  the  Augsburg  Confession,  the 
Confession  of  the  Bohemian  Brethren  and  the  Helvetic  Confes- 
sion, have  in  some  measure  appeared  to  differ  from  each  other. 
Adopted  at  the  Synod  of  Sendomir,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord 
1570,  on  the  fourteenth  of  April. 

After  long  and  frequent  disputes  with  the  sectarian  Tritheists, 
Ebionites  and  Anabaptists,^*  and  after  having  at  last  been  deliv- 
ered, by  the  grace  of  God,  from  such  great  and  lamentable  con- 
troversies, the  Polish  reformed  and  orthodox  churches,  which, 
according  to  the  assertions  of  the  enemies  of  the  Truth  and  of 
the  Gospel,  seemed  not  to  agree  in  some  points  and  formulas  of 
doctrine,  have  thought  proper,  induced  by  love  of  peace  and 
concord,  to  convene  a  Synod  and  to  testify  to  a  complete  and 
mutual  agreement.  We  have,  therefore,  held  a  friendly  and 
Christian  conference  and  have  established,  with  united  hearts, 
the  following  points  : 

First,  Not  only  we  who  have  presented  our  Confession  of  Faith 
to  this  Synod,^^  but  also  the  Bohemian  Brethren  have  always 
believed,  that  the  adherents  of  the  Augsburg  Confession  teach 
nothing  but  pious  and  orthodox  doctrines  with  regard  to  God, 
the  Holy  Trinity,  the  incarnation  of  the  vSon  of  God,  justification 
and  other  fundamental  articles  of  faith.  In  the  same  way  the 
followers  of  the  Augsburg  Confession  have  honestly  testified, 
that  they  do  not  find  in  the  Confession  of  our  churches,  or  in 
that  of  the  Bohemian  Brethren,  whom  some  ignorant  men  call 
Waldenses,  any  doctrines  with  regard  to  God,  the  Holy  Trinity, 
the  incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God,  justification  and  other  funda- 
mental articles  of  faith,  at  variance  with  orthodox  truth  and  the 
pure  Word  of  God.  We  have,  therefore,  mutually  and  solemnly 
promised  each  other,  that  we  will,  with  united  strength  and 
according  to  the  dictates  of  the  Divine  Word,  defend  this  our 
Consensus,  embracing  as  it  does  the  pure  and  true  Christian  faith, 
against  Papists,  Sectaries  and  all  other  enemies  of  the  Gospel  and 
of  the  Truth. 


Lorenz  and  Paul  Gilovius  conjointly  edited  the  document;  in  1592 
Turnovius  issued  a  new  edition  with  the  Polish  version  appended.  The 
original  is  found  in  the  Appendix  to  Camerarii  Hist.  Narratio  de  Frat. 
Ecc,  pp.  9-16 ;  Jablonski's  Hist.  Con.  Send.  p.  189,  etc.;  Niemeyer's  Conf., 
p.  553,  etc.;  German  translations  are  given  in  Fischer's  Lukaszewicz,  p.  75, 
etc.;  Fisher's  Kef.  in  Polen,  I.  pp.  164,  etc.;  Croeger,  II.  p.  45,  etc.;  and  an 
English  version  appears  in  Krasinski,  I.  p.  383,  etc.  This  English  version 
is,  however,  so  faulty  as  to  be  often  almost  unintelligible. 

**  A  name  for  the  Antitrinitarians. 

'^  The  Eeformed  are  meant. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  355 

Next,  in  so  far  as  the  unhappy  controversy  about  the  Lord's 
Supper  is  concerned,  we  have  agreed  to  hold  fast  to  the  meaning, 
of  the  words  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  as  these  have  been  properly 
interpreted  by  the  Church  Fathers,  and  by  Irenaeus  in  particular, 
who  says  that  this  mystery  consists  of  two  things,  the  one  earthly 
and  the  other  heavenly.  We  do  not  assert  that  the  elements 
only,  therefore  mere  empty  symbols,  are  present,  but  teach  that 
these  elements,  at  the  same  time  and  in  fact,  give  to  the  believer 
and  impart  to  him  through  faith  that  which  they  signify.  To 
speak  more  plainly,  we  have  agreed  to  believe  and  confess,  that 
they  do  not  only  signify  the  substantial  presence  of  Christ,  but 
that  to  those  who  partake  of  the  Communion  the  body  and  blood 
of  the  Lord  are  in  it  represented,  distributed  and  given,  inasmuch 
as  the  symbols  come  to  be  the  thing  itself,  and  consequently, 
according  to  the  nature  of  the  sacraments,  are  not  mere  symbols. 
In  order,  however,  that  different  modes  of  expressing  this  truth 
may  not  lead  to  new  controversies,  we  have  thought  proper  to 
accept,  besides  the  article  contained  in  our  own  Confession,  that 
article  with  regard  to  the  Lord's  Supper  which  is  found  in  the 
Confession  of  the  Saxon  Churches  as  laid,  in  1551,  before  the 
Council  of  Trent.  To  this  article  we  mutually  consent.  Its 
words  are  the  following : 

"  Baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper  are  pledges  and  testimonials 
of  grace,  which  remind  us  of  the  promises  and  of  the  entire  work 
of  redemption,  showing  that  the  benefits  of  the  Gospel  belong  to 
all  those  who  make  use  of  these  rites,"  etc. 

Further  :  "  No  one  is  admitted  to  the  Lord's  Supper  who  has 
not  been  examined  and  absolved  by  his  pastor,  or  his  pastor's 
assistant.  At  such  examinations  the  ignorant  are  questioned 
with  regard  to  and  instructed  in  Christian  faith  generally, 
whereupon  the  forgiveness  of  sins  is  announced  to  them.  We 
likewise  teach  men  that  the  sacraments  are  rites  instituted  by 
God,  and  that,  unless  used  as  instituted  by  Him,  they  do  not  in 
themselves  constitute  sacraments;  but  that  in  the  use  of  the 
Communion  as  instituted  by  the  Lord,  Christ  is  really  and 
substantially  (vere  et  substantial  iter)  present,  and  Christ's  body 
and  blood  are  distributed  to  the  communicants;  and  further, 
that  Christ  testifies  that  He  is  in  them  and  makes  them  His 
members  and  has  washed  them  with  His  blood."  In  short  all 
the  words  of  this  article. 

We  have  also  thought  that  it  would  serve  to  establish  this  our 
mutual  and  holy  Consensus,  if,  even  as  the  (Lutheran  brethren) 
have  pronounced  us  and  our  churches  and  our  Confession,  com- 
municated at  this  Synod,  as  also  the  Confession  of  the  Bohemian 
Brethren,  orthodox,  we,  on  our  part,  show  their  (Lutheran) 
churches  the  same  Christian  love  and  pronounce  them  orthodox. 
We  will  put  an  end  to  and  bury  in  perpetual  silence  all  those 
controversies,  strifes  and  differences  by  which  the  progress  of  the 


356  THE    HISTORY    OF 

Gospel  has  been  hindered,  grave  offence  given  to  many  pious 
souls,  and  an  opportunity  to  our  enemies  grievously  to  malign  us 
and  oppose  our  true  aud  Christian  faith.  We  rather  pledge 
ourselves  to  promote  jjeace  and  public  tranquility,  to  show  love 
one  to  another,  and  with  united  hearts,  agreeably  to  our  fraternal 
union,  to  strive  to  build  up  the  Church. 

At  the  same  time  we  further  pledge  ourselves  zealously  to 
persuade  and  invite  our  brethren,  to  accept  and  sustain  and 
further  and  strengthen  this  our  Christian  aud  unanimous  Con- 
sensus, especially  through  the  hearing  of  the  Divine  Word  and 
the  use  of  the  sacraments  in  each  other's  churches,  but  in  such  a 
way  that  the  rules  of  discipline  and  the  ritual  of  each  church  be 
observed.  For  our  present  agreement  and  union  leave  the  ritual 
and  ceremonies  of  each  church  free.  It  is  not  essential  what 
ritual  is  used,  if  only  the  doctrine  and  the  foundation  of  our 
faith  and  of  salvation  remain  pure  and  orthodox.  This  the 
Augsburg  and  Saxon  Confessions  teach,  and  we  have  said  the 
same  thing  in  our  Confession,  presented  at  this  Synod.  We 
therefore  promise  to  assist  each  other  mutually  with  good  advice 
and  the  works  of  love,  and  to  do  our  utmost,  as  members  of  one 
body,  to  preserve  and  promote  the  growth  of  the  pious,  orthodox, 
reformed  (Protestant)  Church  throughout  the  whole  kingdom  as 
also  in  Lithuania  and  Samogitia.  If  these  (the  churches  in 
Lithuania  and  Samogitia)  resolve  to  convene  General  Synods, 
they  are  to  inform  us,  and  are  not  to  decline  appearing  at  our 
Synods,  if  they  are  invited  and  their  presence  seems  necessary. 
In  order  to  give  to  this  our  Consensus  and  union  the  proper 
stability,  we  believe  that  it  will  tend  to  the  maintenance  of  our 
brotherly  fellowship,  if  we  meet  somewhere  and  deduce  from  our 
several  Confessions  of  Faith  a  short  compendium  of  doctrine — 
the  wickedness  of  the  enemies  of  the  Truth  constrains  us  to  this 
— so  that,  to  the  comfort  of  the  godly,  we  may  silence  men  that 
are  inimically  disposed.  This  we  will  do  in  the  name  of  all  the 
reformed  (Protestant)  churches  of  Poland,  Lithuania  and 
Samogitia  which  are  in  harmony  with  our  Confession  of  Faith. 

We  have  mutually  pledged  each  other  the  right  hand  of 
fellowship  and  solemnly  promised  to  live  at  peace,  to  further 
peace  more  and  more,  to  avoid  all  occasions  for  strife.  And 
now,  finally,  we  covenant  together  not  to  seek  our  own  interests, 
but  as  becometh  true  servants  of  God,  to  promote  the  glory  of 
our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ  alone,  and  both  by  precept  and  by 
works,  to  spread  the  truth  of  the  Gospel. 

And  in  order  that  all  this  may  be  auspiciously  kept  and 
remain  firm  and  unalterable,  we  fervently  pray  God,  the  Father, 
the  author  and  rich  source  of  all  comfort  and  peace,  who  has 
snatched  us  and  our  churches  from  the  thick  darkness  of  the 
papacy  and  given  them  the  pure  and  holy  light  of  His  truth,  to 
bless   the  peace,  the  Consensus   and  the  union  which  we   have 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  357 

established,  to  the  glory  of  His  name  and  the  building  up  of  His 
Church.     Amen. 

There  are  appended  twenty-two  signatures,  to  which  those 
of  Bishop  George  Israel  and  John  Lorenz  were  added,  on  the 
occasion  of  the  Synod  at  Posen ;  then  follows  a  passage  of 
Scripture,  thus  : 

Psalm  133. 
"Behold  hoiv  good  and  how  pleasant  it  is  for  brethren  to  dwell 
together  in  unity  /" 

This  document  and  the  confederate  union  of  which  it  was 
the  pledge,  excited  universal  attention  but  by  no  means 
common  approval.  While  the  Polish  Protestants  rejoiced 
and  the  Brethren  of  Bohemia  shared  their  joy  and  the  Re- 
formed of  Switzerland  were  satisfied,  the  German  Lutherans 
expressed  indignation  and  the  Roman  Catholics  gave  full 
scope  to  their  ridicule.^^ 

It  is  true  that  the  results  of  the  alliance  were  not,  in  all 
respects,  those  which  had  been  anticipated.  The  King  of 
Poland  did  not  join  the  Protestants;  the  power  of  the 
Catholics  was  not  broken;  it  rather  increased  through  the 
Jesuits  who  were  called  to  the  rescue  and  who,  in  course  of 
time,  subjected  the  evangelical  party  to  oppressions  so  constant 
and  severe  that  they  were  equivalent  to  a  counter-reformation. 
It  is  true,  too,  that  political  motives,  at  least  on  the  part  of 
the  magnates,  had  much  to  do  with  the  union ;  that  it  was 
not  permanent ;  that  it  saved  the  Polish  nation  neither  from 
internal  nor  from  external  ruin.  But  in  spite  of  all  this, 
the  Sendomirian  alliance  will  ever  be  memorable  and  excite 
the  admiration  of  Christians  in  so  far  as  they  reach  forth 
beyond  the  narrow  bounds  of  denominational  exclusivism  and 
pray  and  labor  for  "  the  unity  of  the  Spirit  in  the  bonds  of 
peace."  It  formed  a  green  spot  in  that  desert  of  the  religious 
world  which  the  hot  winds  of  controversy  had  produced.     It 

'®  There  were  exceptions  among  the  Lutherans.  Major,  in  a  letter  to 
John  Lorenz,  written  on 'the  sixth  of  May,  1571,  speaks  in  the  highest 
terms  of  the  Consensus. 


358  THE    HISTORY    OF 

exercised  an  influence  even  after  the  most  of  its  supporters 
had  fallen  off,  and  continued  to  operate  indirectly  even  when 
it  had  ceased  to  exists  It  showed,  especially  by  its  Con- 
signatio  adopted  at  Posen,  in  what  way  Protestants  may  retain 
their  several  creeds  and  peculiarities,  and  yet  be  practically 
united.  It  was  far  more  than  the  Evangelical  Alliance  of 
our  day.  It  constituted,  we  venture  to  hope,  a  presage  of 
what  is  yet  to  come. 

^"^  "  Unsern  Theils,"  says  Fischer,  "  sind  wir  der  Ansicht,  diese  polnische 
Confession  sei  ein  herrliclies  Denkmal  des  iichten,  christlichen  heiligen 
Geistes,  und  wurde  sicher  reichen  Segen  gebracht  haben,  wenn  man  sie  eine 
lebendige  Wahrheit  hiitte  werden  lassen."  (I.  p.  180.)  Schaff  says :  "  The 
spirit  of  union  which  produced  it  (the  Consensus)  passed  into  the  three 
Brandenburg  Confessions  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  revived  in  the 
Evangelical  Union  of  Prussia."     Creeds  of  Christendom,  I.  p.  588. 


THE   MORAVIAN   CHURCH.  359 


CHAPTER  XXXY. 

The  Bohemian  and  Moravian  Branch  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum 

in  the  Reign  of  Maximilian  the  Second. 

A.  D.  1564-1576. 


The  political  and  religious  condition  of  Bohemia  and  Moravia. — Maxi- 
milian's Course. — Doctor  Crato.^Petitions  presented  to  Maximilian. — 
His  vacillating  Course. — Abrogation  of  the  Compactata. — ^Relation  of 
the  Unity  to  the  Augustana. — Change  in  the  Executive  Council. — 
Edict  against  the  Brethren. — Augusta's  Dispute  with  the  Council. — His 
Plan  of  a  Union  with  the  Lutheran  Utraquists. — Petition  for  tlie 
Eecognition  of  the  Augustana. — Crato  and  the  Confession  of  the 
Brethren. — Bishops  appointed. — Death  of  Blahoslaw  and  Augusta. — 
A  new  Confession  of  Faith. — Discipline  urged  by  the  Synod. — The 
Bohemian  Confession  of  1575. — Death  of  Maximilian. 

The  sceptre  as  inherited  by  Maximilian  the  Second  was 
the  badge  of  a  more  real  authority  than  at  the  time  when  it 
was  put  into  the  hands  of  his  father.  Ferdinand's  life-long 
purpose  to  rescue  it  from  that  insignificance  into  which  the 
House  of  Jagellon  had  allowed  it  to  shrink,  was  in  part 
successful.  The  power  of  the  nobles,  excej)t  in  comparatively 
unimportant  respects,  continued  the  same;  but  the  cities  were 
shorn  of  their  independence  and  their  wealth  enriched  the 
royal  coffers.  Moreover  the  right  to  convene  the  Diet  now 
belonged  exclusively  to  the  King,  upon  whose  good  will  the 
Lower  House  depended,  and  thus  became  a  means  in  his 
hands  to  counteract  the  influence  of  the  Upper.^     Legislation, 

'  There  were  three  estates  in  the  Diet — the  barons,  the  knights  and  the 
cities.  The  barons  and  knights  formed  the  Upper  House,  which  held  its 
sittings  in  the  Castle ;  the  representatives  of  the  cities  the  Lower  House, 
which  convened  in  the  Council-House  of  the  Altstadt. 


360  .     THE   HISTORY   OF 

too,  was  in  the  main  confined  to  such  business  as  the  Govern- 
ment brought  forward  ;  but  no  act  could  become  a  law  until 
it  had  been  accepted  by  a  majority  of  the  three  estates.  At 
joint  meetings  of  the  Houses,  each  estate  voted  separately. 
The  condition  of  the  peasants  remained  unchanged.  They 
groaned  helplessly  under  the  increasing  burdens  of  their 
serfdom  and  the  tyranny  practiced  by  their  overseers. 

In  a  religious  aspect  Bohemia  and  Moravia  reaped  no 
benefits  from  the  reign  of  Ferdinand.  He  left  his  own 
church  in  a  state  of  confusion.  Its  membership,  at  the  time 
of  his  death,  embraced  but  one-third  of  the  population.  The 
new  Archbishop  of  Prague,  who  had  been  appointed  through 
his  agency,  soon  found  that  a  hard  task  had  been  given  him.^ 
He  was  to  rebuild  that  structure  whose  walls  had,  for  years, 
been  crumbling ;  and  yet  his  priests  were  insubordinate,  their 
number  was  insufficient,  they  were  driven  from  their  parishes 
by  unfriendly  lords,  and  wandered  through  the  country  idle 
and  homeless.  Nor  could  he  expect  aid  from  the  monasteries. 
These  were  rapidly  declining.  Some  of  them  numbered  only 
two  or  three  monks.  Here  and  there  a  convent  could  be 
found  in  which  lingered  but  a  single  recluse.  Nor  did  the 
freedom  of  the  cup,  granted  by  Pius  the  Fourth,  shortly  prior 
to  Ferdinand's  decease,  strengthen  the  hands  of  the  Arch- 
bishop. He  was  dismayed  to  see  that  this  concession  but 
increased  the  number  of  Catholics  who  became  unfaithful  to 
their  Church.^  The  only  hopeful  sign  to  which  he  could 
point  was  the  work  of  the  Jesuits. 

The  National  Church,  embracing  another  third  of  the 
population,  had  not  changed  its  character.  It  was  Utraquist 
in  name  only.     The  Compactata  had  become  an  antiquarian 


^  Anton  Bruss  von  Miiglitz,  appointed  January  the  twelfth,  1562,  after 
the  archiepiscopal  see  had  been  vacant  for  one  hundred  and  forty  years. 

'  Ferdinand  imagining  that  the  freedom  of  the  cup  would  help  to  restore 
the  power  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  strenuously  urged  the  Council 
of  Trent  to  make  this  concession.  The  Council  left  the  decision  to  the 
Pope  who  granted  the  cup  to  Bohemia  and  Moravia  and  to  several  other 
dioceses  (1564). 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  361 

relic.  For  every  genuine  Utraquist  priest  there  were  twenty 
who,  openly  or  in  secret,  professed  what  they  called  Luther- 
anism.  Many  of  them  were  married ;  no  longer  celebrated 
mass  ;  refused  to  institute  religious  processions ;  and  dropped 
other  ceremonies.  But  there  existed  no  common  basis  of 
doctrine  or  practice  among  those  who  had  thus  broken  with 
the  past.  They  were  unfit  to  administer  their  holy  office. 
They  lived  as  they  pleased,  taught  what  they  pleased,  and 
emancipated  themselves  from  all  authority  except  that  of 
their  patrons.^  The  relations  of  the  Utraquist  Consistory  to 
the  Archbishop  increased  the  prevailing  disorder. 

The  Anabaptists,  in  spite  of  frequent  persecutions,  were 
prospering.  Their  industrial  pursuits,  for  which  they  became 
celebrated,  won  the  good  will  of  powerful  families  among  the 
nobility;  and  when  Maximilian,  expressing  his  surprise  that 
they  had  not  been  extirpated  in  his  father's  time  and  casting 
his  tolerance  to  the  winds,  proposed  to  drive  them  out  of  the 
country,  the  Upper  House  of  the  Diet  protested  against  such 
a  measure  as  destructive  to  the  interests  of  the  kingdom. 
Hence  they  were  allowed  to  remain,  but  loaded  with  taxes.* 

The  only  Church  that  brought  Bohemia  and  Moravia  the 
Gospel  in  the  fullness  of  its  promises,  was  the  Brethren's 
Unity  which  Ferdinand  had  persistently  endeavored  to  sup- 

*  In  L.  F.,  IX.  p.  108,  cited  by  Gindely,  Blahoslaw  gives  the  following 
account  of  such  priests :  "  They  lay  hold  of  Luther's  books  and  boast  of  the 
Gospel  which  they  preach,  but  they  are  wholly  godless  men  and  do  all 
possible  things  for  the  sake  of  gain.  There  is  no  order  among  them,  they 
lead  unworthy  lives,  and  resemble  the  genuine  Lutherans  only  in  this,  that 
they  take  unto  themselves  wives."  In  a  letter  to  Hubert  Lanquetus,  Saxon 
ambassador  at  the  court  of  Vienna,  written  in  1570,  he  expresses  himself  in 
a  similar  way,  adding  that  it  is  hard  to  find  only  a  small  number  holding 
the  same  doctrines,  and  that  criminals  sometimes  have  themselves  ordained 
to  escape  punishment.     Letter  in  Quellen,  pp.  292  and  293. 

*  This  sect,  which  numbered  seventy  communities  in  Moravia,  was 
divided  into  three  factions ;  the  Communists,  who  kept  up  a  community  of 
goods,  the  Gabrielites,  and  the  Sabbatarians.  It  is  said  of  the  Anabaptists, 
that  they  were  the  best  farmers,  raised  the  best  cattle,  had  the  best  vine- 
yards, brewed  the  best  beer,  owned  the  best  flour  mills,  and  engaged,  on  a 
large  scale,  in  almost  every  kind  of  trade  known  in  their  day. 


362  THE   HISTORY   OF 

press.  But  it  had  again  outlived  in  Bohemia  every  blow 
aimed  at  its  existence;  while  in  Moravia  its  peace  and  pros- 
perity had  remained  unbroken.  The  complete  organization 
of  the  Brethren,  their  scriptural  discipline,  the  close  fellow- 
ship which  existed  among  them,  their  simple  doctrines,  and 
especially  their  independent  government,  gave  them  power 
and  a  peculiar  influence.  In  no  wise  was  their  Church 
connected  with  the  state.  Its  government  was  wholly  eccle- 
siastical. Nobles  took  no  official  part  in  the  direction  of  its 
affairs,  and  did  not,  in  the  capacity  of  patrons,  appoint  priests 
to  parishes  on  their  domains,  as  was  the  case  both  among  the 
Catholics  and  Utraquists.  Such  an  absolute  separation  of 
the  church  from  the.  state  was  unknown  even  among  other 
Protestants.  It  constituted  the  first  exemplification  of  that 
polity  which  has  been  crowned  with  the  greatest  success  in 
our  own  country,  producing  a  religious  development  almost 
unparalleled.^ 

The  accession  of  Maximilian  to  the  throne  awakened  the 
liveliest  interest  both  among  Protestants  and  Catholics. 
Would  he  fulfill  the  hopes  which  many  entertained  and  come 
out  openly  on  the  side  of  the  former  ?  The  Elector  Frederick 
the  Third  of  the  Palatinate  ^vrote  to  him  and  urged  him  to 
take  this  step ;  a  codicil  in  his  father's  will  solemnly  warned 
him  against  it.  Maximilian  adopted  a  course  of  his  own.  He 
remained  a  Catholic,  but  tolerated  the  Protestants.  It  was  his 
aim  to  stand  above  both  these  religious  parties.  To  rule  over 
the  consciences  of  men,  he  said,  was  attempting  to  ascend  the 
throne  of  God.'^     At  the  same  time  he  soon  found  that  it  was 

*  How  clearly  enlightened  theologians  recognized  the  prerogative  which 
the  Unitas  Fratrum,  in  this  respect,  enjoyed,  is  evident  from  a  letter 
written,  in  1574,  by  Caspar  Olevianus  to  Bishop  Stephan.  Quellen,  pp. 
398  and  399,  taken  from  L.  F.,  XII.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  in  its 
Bohemian  missionary  work  the  Unitas  Fratrum  still  enjoys  this  prerogative. 
It  has  recently  been  acknowledged  by  the  Austrian  Government,  but  is 
wholly  independent ;  whereas  the  two  other  recognized  Protestant 
Churches,  the  Lutheran  and  Reformed,  stand  under  a  Church  Council 
appointed  by  the  Emperor  and  receive  assistance  from  the  state. 

'  Schlesinger,  p.  453.     Hist.  Persecutionum,  Cap.  XXXIX.  2. 


THE   MORAVIAN   CHURCH.  363 

easier  for  a  Roman  Catholic  monarch  to  be  tolerant  in  theory 
than  in  practice.  He  could  not  disregard  the  Pope  or  set 
aside  his  connection  with  the  Spanish  court.®  Hence  his 
policy  vacillated  and  he  exposed  himself  to  the  charge  of 
gross  inconsistencies.  Such  was  especially  the  case  in  his 
treatment  of  the  Brethren.  During  the  life-time  of  his 
father  he  had  made  them  fair  promises ;  whether  these  would 
now  be  fulfilled,  time  would  show. 

The  Brethren  were  not  slow  in  giving  him  an  opportunity 
to  redeem  his  word.  A  petition,  praying  for  protection,  was 
drawn  up,  together  with  a  revised  German  version  of  the 
Confession  of  1535.  This  latter  work  was  prepared  by  Peter 
Herbert  and  corrected  by  Doctor  Crato.^ 

John  Crato  von  Crafftheim,  born  at  Breslau,  on  the 
twentieth  of  November,  1519,  belonged  to  the  celebrities  of 
his  age.  While  a  student  at  the  Univ^ersity  of  Wittenberg 
he  lodged  in  Luther's  house  and  daily  sat  at  his  table.^*^ 
Luther  esteemed  him  very  highly  and  tried  to  induce  him  to 
study  theology ;  but  he  preferred  the  medical  profession  for 
which  he  prepared  at  Leipzig  and  Padua.  In  this  profession 
he  became  so  distinguished  that  he  was  appointed  physician 
to  the  Emperor  Ferdinand  and,  after  his  death,  continued  to 
serve  Maximilian  in  the  same  capacity.  Crato  took  a  deep 
and  active  interest  in  the  affairs  of  the  Protestant  Church. 
For  the  Brethren  he  conceived  a  hio;h  regard." 

Barons  Wenzel  Slusky  von  Chlum  and  Joachim  Prosti- 
borsky  were  appointed  to  present  to  Maximilian  the  papers 
which  had  been  prepared.  Accompanied  by  Peter  Herbert  these 
noblemen  proceeded  to  Vienna  and  were  granted  an  audience 


^  Maximilian's  wife  was  the  sister  of  Philip  the  Second,  of  Spain,  and 
Philip's  wife,  Maximilian's  daughter. 

9  L.  F.,  p.  217,  and  XII.  p.  272,  cited  by  Gindely,  II.  p.  465,  Note  37. 

'"  Crato  committed  to  writing  the  conversations  which  Luther  carried 
on  at  table,  and  this  MS.  became  the  basis  of  John  Goldschmidt's,  or 
Aurifaber's,  well-known  work  entitled  "  Luther's  Tischreden." 

"  Of  his  connection  with  the  Brethren  numerous  letters  in  the  L.  F., 
reproduced  in  Quellen,  pp.  388,  etc.,  give  ample  evidence. 


364  THE   HISTORY   OF 

(1564).  Prostiborsky  after  having  briefly  recited  its  contents, 
delivered  the  petition.  The  Emperor  expressed  his  regret  that 
not  all  the  nobles  of  the  Unity  had  signed  the  document ; 
Prostiborsky  replied,  that  they  would  present  themselves,  in  a 
body,  whenever  his  Majesty  would  come  to  the  Diet  at  Prague. 
Thereupon  he  delivered  the  Confession.  Maximilian  accepted 
both  these  papers  and  promised  to  answer  the  petition  in  due 
time.  For  the  fulfillment  of  this  promise  the  Brethren 
anxiously  waited,  but  waited  in  vain.  No  answer  was  given. 
That  their  effort  to  gain  the  goodwill  of  the  new  monarch 
had  thus  failed,  they  ascribed  to  the  timidity  of  those  nobles 
who  had  excused  themselves  from  signing  the  petition.  The 
Church,  it  was  said,  had  not  confessed  tlie  Lord ;  therefore 
the  Lord  had  not  confessed  the  Church  .^^ 

In  the  following  year  (1565),  when  Vienna  was  full  of 
prominent  dignitaries  in  church  and  state,  who  had  come  to 
grace  the  removal  of  Ferdinand's  remains  to  Bohemia, 
and  many  of  whom  were  enemies  of  the  Brethren,  another 
deputation,  contrary  to  the  earnest  advice  of  Blahoslaw, 
appeared  before  Maximilian,  reminded  him  of  his  promise 
and  presented  a  new  petition,  asking  that  that  status  of  the 
Unity  which  had  existed  prior  to  1547,  might  be  restored. 
Four  days  after  the  presentation  of  this  paper,  the  deputies 
received,  through  the  Chancellor,  a  reply  pointing  them  to  the 
decrees  which  were  on  record  against  their  Church,  which  the 
lafe  Emperor  had  issued  and  which  the  Diet  had  sanctioned. 
This  reply  was  as  ominous  as  it  was  unexpected.  But  no  perse- 
cution followed,  and  the  alarm  of  the  Brethren  soon  subsided. 

Maximilian's  course,  however,  continued  to  be  inexplicable. 
In  1566,  in  response  to  the  appeal  of  seventy  Brethren  of 
Pardubitz,  exiled  by  the  Archduke  Ferdinand  for  reintro- 
ducing public  worship  in  their  chapel,  he  annulled  the  decree 
of  banishment  and  permitted  them  to  return  to  their  homes. 
But  in  the  following  September,  when  Bishop  Augusta,  in 
conjunction  with  several   nobles,  sent  him  a  new  petition, 

12  Czerwenka,  on  the  strength  of  a  Bohemian  MS.,  in  L.  F.,  IX,  cited  by 

Gindely  in  his  Notes. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  365 

praying  that  all  enactments  against  the  Unity  might  be 
revoked,  he  caused  the  decision  issued  by  the  Chancellor,  in 
the  previous  year,  to  be  affirmed.  And  yet,  only  two  mouths 
later,  in  November,  he  accepted  with  great  good-will  a  copy 
of  the  new  German  Hymual  which,  by  the  advice  of  Crato, 
had  been  dedicated  to  him ;  assuring  the  barons  who 
presented  it,  that  if  the  Brethren  would  continue  in  their 
allegiance,  he  would  be  their  gracious  king.^^  And  it  seemed. 
indeed  as  if  his  policy  with  regard  both  to  them  and  his 
Protestant  subjects  generally  were  settled.  For  at  the  Diet 
which  convened  at  Prague,  on  the  third  of  March,  1567,  he 
sanctioned  the  abrogation  of  the  Compactata,  which  had  so 
long  been  an  obstacle  in  the  way  of  a  legal  recognition  of  the 
evangelical  faith,  and  interposed  no  objections  when  the  states 
resolved  that,  while  heretical  sects  should  be  suppressed, 
religious  liberty  should  be  granted  to  all  Christians  whose 
belief  centered  in  the  Bible. 

One  of  the  Moravian  parishes  of  the  Brethren  was  on  the 
domain  of  Letowic,  recently  purchased  by  the  Counts 
Hardegg.  These  Counts  were  Lutherans  and  unwilling  to 
tolerate  any  confession  except  their  own.  Serious  difficulties 
thus  arose,  in  consequence  of  which  the  Executive  Council, 
in  1565,  defined  the  relation  of  the  Unity  to  the  Augustana. 
There  are,  it  was  said,  differences  between  the  Augustana  and 
the  Confession  of  the  Brethren ;  the  Brethren  will  therefore 
hold  to  their  own  doctrinal  standards,  but  at  the  same  time 
acknowledge  the  many  truly  evangelical  points  which  the 
Lutheran  Confession  sets  forth.^*     And  now,  on  the  occasion 

"  In  the  dedication  the  Brethren  expressed  their  hope  and  the  hope  of 
all  the  godly,  that  Maximilian  would  bring  about  a  general  reformation  of 
the  Church ;  that  he  would  take  courage  from  the  example  set  by  David, 
Jehoshaphat,  Josiah,  Constantine,  and  Theodosius;  and  that  he  would 
apply  to  such  an  end  the  talents  given  him  of  Grod. 

1*  Dekrete  d.  B.  U.,  p.  217,  etc.,  cited  by  Czerwenka.  The  Brethren  were 
eventually  forced  to  relinquish  their  parish  at  Letowic  to  the  Lutherans. 
The  Counts  appealed  to  the  University  of  Wittenberg  and  caused  the 
Brethren  no  little  trouble.  It  was  the  old  cry:  if  they  acknowledge  the 
Augustana,  why  do  they  keep  up  a  separate  organization  ? 


366  THE    HISTORY   OF 

of  the  Synod  which,  as  we  have  said  in  another  connection, 
regulated  the  course  of  the  Unity  in  regard  to  the  Protestants 
of  Poland,  it  was  resolved  to  render  the  form  of  government 
among  the  Brethren  more  intelligible  to  other  churches. 
These  misunderstood  the  character  of  the  Executive  Council : 
inimically  disposed  persons  even  said  that  the  Brethren  were 
ruled  by  "a  many-headed  monster."  Hence,  instead  of  the 
official  signature — "The  Seniors,  or  Bishops,  in  conjunction 
with  the  Executive  Council" — appended  to  the  canons  and 
other  documents,  the  following  new  signature  was  agreed  on  : 
"The  Seniors  (Bishops)  of  the  Unity,"  (June,  1567).  In 
consequence  of  this  change  the  members  of  the  Council  re- 
ceived the  title  of  Conseniors,  that  is,  Assistant  Bishops,  and 
their  ordination  as  such  was,  in  all  probability,  now 
introduced.^^ 

In  the  Spring  of  1568  Nikodem  brought  from  Vienna 
news  which  strengthened  the  Brethren  in  the  hope  that  they 
had  permanently  won  the  Emperor's  favor ;  for  he  had  said 
to  Crato,  who  was  advocating  their  cause :  "  The  Waldensian 
Brethren  may  enjoy  their  faith  in  peace;  let  them  be  patient ; 
all  will  be  well."  ^^  But  on  the  twenty-ninth  of  October,  of 
the  same  year,  they  were  confounded  by  the  publication  of  an 
imperial  decree — which,  however,  remained  a  dead  letter — 
ordering  their  chapels  to  be  closed  in  accordance  with  the 
edict  of  St.  James.^^ 

'^  That  the  members  of  the  Council  were  formally  ordained  Assistant 
Bishops,  we  have  shown  in  Chap.  XXIII,  p.  214,  in  accordance  with  that 
section  of  the  Katio  Discipline  which  treats  of  their  ordination  (R.  D.  p. 
28) ;  and  that  all  priests  who  were  elected  to  this  body  subsequent  to  the 
Synod  of  1567,  received  such  ordination  is  implied  by  Jaffet,  S.  G.,  II.  p. 
21,  etc.  It  does  not  appear,  however,  that  any  were  actually  ordained  at 
that  Synod ;  we  rather  suppose  that  the  Synod  merely  resolved  to  introduce 
such  an  ordination. 

1®  Nikodem  went  to  Vienna  in  order  to  consult  Doctor  Crato  with  regard 
to  Blahoslaw's  failing  health. 

"  The  Hist.  Persecutionum,  Cap.  XXXIX,  4,  relates  that,  in  1565, 
Maximilian,  much  against  his  will,  was  persuaded  by  Joachim  von 
Neuhaus,  the  Chancellor  of  Bohemia,  to  renew  the  edict  of  St.  James  in  all 
its  parts,  but  that  this  nobleman,  togetlier  with  the  greater  part  of  his 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH.      '       367 

No  less  mysterious  was  the  Emperor's  course  toward  the 
Catholics.  When  the  Archbishop,  agreeably  to  an  enactment 
of  the  Council  of  Trent,  was  about  calling  together  a 
Bohemian  Synod,  Maximilian  interfered  and  forbade  the 
convocation.'^ 

After  his  reconciliation  with  his  colleagues  Bishop  Augusta 
devoted  himself  to  official  visits  in  the  Moravian  and  Bohe- 
mian parishes,  and  on  one  occasion  proceeded  as  far  as  Poland. 
About  the  year  1569  he  was  again  involved  in  differences 
with  the  Executive  Council.  He  proposed  to  give  up  the  old 
pericopes  and  to  substitute  the  articles  of  the  Apostles'  Creed 
as  the  basis  of  the  Sunday  sermons.  With  such  an  end  in 
view  he  rewrote  the  work  which  he  had  composed  in  prison, 
and  produced  a  series  of  discourses  for  the  whole  ecclesiastical 
year.  This  book,  which  he  called  Sumovnik,  or  Summarium, 
was  to  serve  the  parish  priests  as  a  manual.  Instead  of 
accepting  it,  the  Synod  of  1567  resolved  to  retain  the  peri- 
copes. Augusta  was  greatly  disappointed;  and  when  the 
Council,  to  which  his  work  had  been  referred,  took  no  further 
notice  of  it,  he  determined  to  publish  it  on  his  own  responsi- 
bility. Such  an  undertaking  was  contrary  to  the  rules  of  the 
Unity.  On  the  first  of  September,  1570,  the  Council  held  a 
special  meeting  at  Jungbunzlau  and  adopted  a  paper  formally 
remonstrating  with  the  aged  Bishop.  This  paper,  while 
assuring  him  that  his  colleagues  regarded  him  as  children 
regard  a  father,  besought  him  to  relinquish  his  purpose  and 
come  to  an  understanding  with  them ;  warned  him  that,  if  he 

retinue,  was  drowned  in  the  Danube,  bv  the  breaking  of  the  bridge  at 
Vienna,  as  he  was  about  returning  to  Bohemia,  and  the  decree  of  renewal 
lost.  This  narrative  lacks  authority.  Cotnp.  Czerwenka,  II,  p.  401,  Note. 
'^  Maximilian  did  not  prevent  the  meeting  of  such  a  Synod  in  Moravia. 
It  was  convened  by  the  Bishop  of  Olmutz,  on  the  tenth  of  May,  1568,  in 
spite  of  the  opposition  of  many  Moravian  nobles,  and  held  its  sittings,  which 
were  public,  in  the  cathedral  of  that  town.  Nikodem  was  present  and 
refused  to  kneel  at  the  elevation  of  the  host.  He  was  commended  for  his 
fearlessness  by  some  of  the  Bishop's  own  retinue.  We  agree  with  Gindely 
in  saying,  that  he  did  not  deserve  commendation.  He  should  have  left  the 
church  when  the  celebration  of  the  mass  beeran. 


368  THE    HISTORY    OF 

persisted- in  his  course  of  action,  he  alone  would  have  to  bear 
the  consequences;  and  entreated  him  to  be  more  careful  in 
his  conduct  over  against  the  Government/^  Although  the 
result  is  not  known,  it  is  more  than  probable  that  he  listened 
to  these  expostulations ;  for  no  such  work  as  the  Summarium 
is  extant,  and  no  further  complaints  were  made  by  the  Council. 
In  the  same  year  Augusta  wrote  another  treatise,  called 
"The  Reformation."  It  set  forth  the  idea  which  he  had 
conceived  of  a  union  between  the  Brethren  and  the  Lutheran 
Utraquists,  under  a  common  church-government.  For  reasons 
of  his  own,  Martin  von  Melnik,  the  Administrator  of  the 
Consistory,^''  entered  upon  this  project  in  so  far  as  to  begin 
negotiations  with  Augusta.  The  Bishop  ardently  responded 
to  this  overture  and,  in  imagination,  saw  himself  occupying 
a  seat  in  the  body  which  was  to  govern  the  united  Church. 
But  no  sooner  did  Martin  recognize  the  impossibility  of 
carrying  out  his  own  plans  than  he  dropped  all  further 
connection  with  Augusta.  That  the  Bishop's  inborn  ambi- 
tion, which  even  old  age  could  not  quench,  was  again  aroused, 
is  no  doubt  correct ;  but  that  he  was  also  incited  by  higher 
motives,  can  scarcely  be  questioned.  His  project  grew  out  of 
the  Sendomirian  union,  which  was  awakening  general  interest 
in  Bohemia.  He  beheld  the  religious  confusion  of  that 
country,  and  believed  that  it,  as  well  as  Poland,  would  reap 
rich  benefits  from  a  religious  confederation.  The  other 
Bishops  did  not  share  his  views.  Blahoslaw,  as  on  many 
previous  occasions,  was  his  chief  opponent.  After  Augusta's 
death,  when  discussions  with  regard  to  a  common  evangelical 
Confession  were  going  on  in  the  Diet,  his  work  on  "The 
Reformation "  was  much  spoken  of,  and  its  plan  of  union 
found  supporters." 


"  Dekrete  d.  B.  IT.,  p.  226,  etc.,  cited  by  Czerwenka. 

*°  Mistopol,  who  had  filled  this  office  for  many  years,  died  in  1568. 

*i  Gindely,  II,  p.  133.  We  disagree  with  Gindely's,  but  especially  with 
Czerwenka's  extreme  views  regarding  Augusta.  Czerwenka  seems  almost 
to  take  pleasure  in  presenting  him  in  as  unfavorable  a  light  as  possible,  and 
makes  him  out  to  have  been,  after  his  liberation  from  Piirglitz,  a  mere 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHORCH.  369 

On  the  occasion  of  the  Diet  which  opened  at  Prague  on 
the  thirtieth  of  April,  1571,  the  Lutheran  Utraquist  states 
petitioned  Maximilian  to  recognize  in  Bohemia  the  Augsburg 
Confession,  as  he  had  recognized  it  in  Austria,  and  allow  the 
institution  of  a  Lutheran  Consistory.  Both  the  Utraquist 
Consistory  and  the  Archbishop  protested  against  such  a 
concession,  and  it  was  refused.  Nor  did  a  second  and  very 
urgent  appeal  induce  the  Emperor  to  change  his  mind. 
From  these  negotiations  the  Brethren  stood  aloof;  but  now 
they  were  drawn  into  an  unexpected  controversy. 

Soon  after  the  adjournment  of  the  Diet,  Crato,  who  seems 
not  to  have  been  in  communion  with  any  church,  although  he 
inclined  to  the  Reformed,-^  published  an  open  letter  recom- 
mending the  Augustana  as  a  common  Confession  for 
Protestants,  and  advising  the  Brethren  to  adopt  it  in  place 
of  their  own,  but  to  retain  their  discipline."^  This  letter 
caused  great  excitement.  Blahoslaw  was  indignant.  He 
wrote  a  sharp  reply,  drew  up  an  opinion  which  he  sent  to  his 
priests,  and  visited  Kromau,  where  Crato  was  staying,  in 
order  to  consult  with  him  in  person.  The  nobles  of  the 
Unity  were  no  less  wrought  up,  and  the  Council  issued  an 
official   answer.     There  exists   no  reason  whatever,  so    said 


troubler  in  Israel,  selfish,  headstrong  and  overbearing.  A  carefal  study  of 
the  sources,  which  are,  moreover,  insufficient,  does  not,  it  appears  to  us, 
warrant  such  conclusions,  particularly  when  the  fact  is  taken  into  consid- 
eration that  these  sources,  for  the  most  part,  proceed  from  Blahoslaw  who, 
in  the  very  nature  of  the  case,  could  not  be  an  impartial  witness.  For  the 
way  in  which  Czerwenka,  II.  p.  412,  represents  Augasta's  plan  of  union 
with  the  Lutheran  Utraquists — as  though  he  meant  individually  to  forsake 
the  Unity  and  go  over  to  the  Utraquists  in  order  to  revenge  himself  on  the 
Council — there  is  no  excuse.  It  is  hard  to  understand  how  so  careful  a 
historian  as  Czerwenka  could  allow  so  gross  an  error  to  stand,  especially 
when  we  find  that,  on  page  447,  he  speaks  of  Augusta's  project  as  "a  union 
of  the  Utraquists  with  the  Brethren  under  a  common  church-government  " 
and  therefore  contradicts  himself. 

'^  Blahoslaw  says  of  him  :  "  He  asserts  that  he  belongs  to  the  old  Church, 
which  means,  I  suppose,  that  he  holds  with  those  who  are  no  longer  living. 
He  stands  like  a  solitary  tree  in  the  wilderness."     Gindely,  II,  p.  67. 

^  Letter  in  Quellen,  p.  374,  taken  from  L.  F.,  p.  63,  etc. 
24 


370  THE    HISTORY   OF 

this  paper,  why  the  Brethren  should  depart  from  the  faith  of 
their  fathers  ;  their  Confession  is  older  than  any  other  and  its 
importance  has  been  generally  acknowledged;  in  point  of 
doctrine  and  discipline  it  contains  what  can  be  found  in  no 
other  Confession.^*  Crato  did  not  allow  these  dilFerences  to 
interfere  with  his  friendship  for  the  Unity. 

It  now  became  necessary  to  fill  up  the  ranks  of  its  episcopate. 
John  Czerny  was  asleep  in  death.  "  Worthy  of  being  per- 
petually remembered,"  he  finished  his  course  on  the  fifth  of 
February,  1565.^^  Four  years  later  Matthias  Cerwenka, 
distinguished  for  his  learning  and  eloquence,  "a  diadem  in 
the  hand  of  the  Unity,"  was  summoned,  on  the  thirteenth  of 
December,  1569,  from  the  midst  of  active  work  to  his 
eternal  reward.^®  The  only  Bishops  that  remained,  were 
John  Augusta,  George  Israel  and  John  Blahoslaw.  On  the 
eleventh  of  October,  1571,  the  Synod,  which  had  convened  at 
Eibenschiitz,  proceeded  to  an  election.  Andrew  Stephan, 
John  Kalef,  and  John  Lorenz  were  chosen.^  They  received 
consecration  at  the  hands  of  Augusta,  Israel  and  Blahoslaw. 
Thus  the  true  succession  was  renewed.^ 

Stephan,  born  about  the  year  1528  at  Prossnitz,  ordained 
to  the  priesthood  in  1557,  elected  to  the  Council  in  1564,  was 
a  man  of  extraordinary  piety,  well  versed  in  theology  and 
eloquent  as  a  preacher.  He  took  up  his  residence  at  Eiben- 
schiitz and  directed  the  Moravian  Province.^^  Kalef,  ordained 
to  the  priesthood  in  1555  and  elected  to  the  Council  in  1567, 


2*  Blahoslaw's  papers  are  given  in  L.  F.  XII,  pp.  67-97  ;  the  paper  of  the 
Council  in  the  Dekreten,  p.  234,  and  a  free  Latin  version  in  Quellen,  p.  377, 
with  a  heading  by  a  later  hand. 

2^  Todtenbuch,  p.  38.  Czerny  was  very  active  in  collecting  the  historical 
documents  which  form  the  Lissa  Folios. 

2«  Todtenbuch,  p.  42. 

"  Dekrete  d.  B.  U.,  p.  235,  cited  by  Czerwenka. 

'8  JafFet's  Sword  of  Goliath,  I,  p.  21,  R's.  Z.,  pp.  367,  368. 

'*  Todtenbuch,  p.  64.  Stephan  assumed  the  duties  of  Archivist  in  1567, 
when  Blahoslaw's  health  began  to  fail.  Blahoslaw  had  been  constituted 
Cerwenka's  assistant  as  Archivist  in  1558. 


JOHN  AUGUSTA. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  371 

had  his  seat  at  Jungbunzlau  and  superintended  the  Bohemian 
Province.  He  was  "a  staunch  defender  of  the  Truth  of 
God,"  uncompromising  in  tlie  maintenance  of  the  discipline, 
zealous  in  founding  chapels,  and  though  often  severely  tried, 
a  hero  of  faith.^  Israel  and  Lorenz  stood  at  the  head  of  the 
Polish  Province.     Their  seat  was  at  Ostrorog. 

A  few  weeks  subsequent  to  the  consecration  of  these  new 
bishops,  Blahoslaw  died  at  Kromau,  on  the  twenty-fourth  of 
November.  Although  only  forty-eight  years  old,  ill  health 
had  prematurely  aged  him.  In  the  galaxy  of  the  worthies  of 
the  Church  he  shines  as  a  star  of  the  first  magnitude.  His 
sound  judgment  was  a  safe-guard  for  his  brethren;  his  energy 
led  them  forward,  however  great  the  obtacles  by  which  they 
were  surrounded ;  his  reputation  as  a  scholar  and  author 
enhanced  their  fame.  Of  his  numerous  writings  twenty-two 
are  known  to  exist.  His  style  was  pure,  beautiful  and  classic. 
He  completed  that  development  of  the  Bohemian  language 
which  Hus  began.  "  It  pleased  the  Lord,"  says  the  Todtenbuch, 
**to  remove  him  far  too  soon,  according  to  our  judgment."  ^^ 

In  the  following  year,  on  the  thirteenth  of  January,  1572> 
Bishop  Augusta  died  at  Jungbunzlau,  aged  seventy-one  years. 
A  cloud  obscured  the  setting  of  his  sun.  The  hero  of  the 
Church  had  become  a  burden  to  his  brethren.  And  yet  in 
all  their  subsequent  history  his  equal  is  not  to  be  found.  We 
mourn  over  his  faults ;  we  bring  a  tribute  to  the  greatness  of 
his  works,  to  his  heroism  as  a  confessor,  to  the  zeal,  the 
endurance  and  the  high  aims  which  he  infused  into  the 
Unity.  His  appearance  was  striking.  He  had  a  lofty  brow, 
a  brilliant  eye,  a  noble  countenance  revealing  the  force  of  his 
character,  and  was  graced  with  extraordinary  dignity .^^ 


^"  Todtenbuch,  p.  83. 

*^  Todtenbuch,  p.  48.  Gindely,  II,  p.  471,  Note  105,  gives  a  list  of  his 
writings. 

'^  Gindely,  II,  p.  73,  says :  "  We  do  not  remember  to  have  seen  in  any 
Bohemian  portrait  a  more  noble  expression."  There  exist  two  portraits  of 
Augusta.  The  one  is  in  the  Archives  at  Herrnhut ;  the  other,  we  presume, 
at  Prague.     We  have  engravings  of  both.     Augusta  was  the  author  of  some 


372  THE   HISTORY   OF 

Prior  to  the  decease  of  these  two  leaders,  the  Bishops  had 
determined  to  issue  a  Latin  version  of  the  Confession  presented 
to  Maximilian.  Various  reasons,  but  particularly  the  import- 
ance of  making  the  doctrinal  standards  of  the  Unity  more 
accessible  to  the  theological  world,  rendered  such  a  work 
desirable.  It  was  to  take  the  place  of  the  Latin  Confession 
of  1535  and  set  forth  the  faith  of  the  Brethren  in  its  maturity. 
Esrom  Riidinger,  Professor  of  Greek  and  Philosophy  in  the 
University  of  Wittenberg,^^  having  been  engaged  as  the 
translator,  the  permission  of  the  Theological  Faculty  to  have 
the  work  printed  in  that  city,^*  as  also  a  testimonial  acknowl- 
edging the  Confession  to  be  in  harmony  with  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures and  the  Lutheran  symbols,  was  secured.  These  nego- 
tiations were  carried  on,  in  1571  and  1572,  by  Isaiah  Cepolla.^ 
It  was  with  the  utmost  difficulty  that  he  persuaded  the  Faculty 
to  accede  to  the  wishes  of  the  Council.  The  Professors,  afraid 
of  offending  the  Saxon  court  and  the  extreme  party  in  their 
own  Church,  at  first  declined  all  his  overtures.  It  was  only 
after  he  had  sent  them  a  protest,  in  which,  with  a  master's 
hand,  he  interwove  flattery  and  menaces,  that  they  reluctantly 
yielded.  But  the  publication  of  their  testimonial  they  refused 
to  permit  even  now.^^ 

twenty  devotional  and  polemical  works,  and  composed  many  hymns.  The 
charges  mentioned  by  Gindely  against  his  moral  character  are  notoriously 
false,  as  this  historian  fully  acknowledges  (II,  p.  72). 

^^  Kiidinger,  the  son-in-law  of  Joachim  Camerarius,  was  born  at  Bamberg, 
March  the  nineteenth,  1523.  Prior  to  his  connection  with  the  University 
he  was  Eector  of  the  school  at  Zwickau. 

3*  In  accordance  with  the  privileges  conferred  by  the  Elector  of  Saxony 
upon  the  University,  no  theological  work  could  be  issued  from  a  Wittenberg 
press  without  the  sanction  of  the  Theological  Faculty. 

^*  Peter  Herbert  was  appointed  translator,  but  could  not  at  once  begin  the 
work  and  died  in  1571 ;  thereupon  John  Aeneas,  a  student  at  Wittenberg, 
was  intrusted  with  it;  at  his  suggestion  the  services  of  Eudinger  were 
secured.  Isaiah  Cepolla,  or  Cybulka,  a  former  student  at  Wittenberg,  was 
born  at  Bystrice,  near  Pernstein,  ordained  to  the  priesthood  in  1572,  elected 
to  the  Council  in  1577,  and  died,  in  his  best  years,  at  Kralic,  on  the  twenty- 
fifth  of  August,  1582.     Todtenbuch,  p.  70. 

^  The  negotiations  are  given  at  great  length  in  Quellen,  pp.  319-372, 
taken  from  L.  F.,  XII. 


THE    MORAVIAN   CHURCH.  373 

Riidinger  having  finished  his  translation,  superintended  its 
printing.  The  work  appeared  in  March,  1573.  Under  his 
direction  the  German  version  was  republished  in  the  same 
year,  and  also  at  Wittenberg.^'^  In  the  way  of  introduction 
are  given :  Luther's  preface  to  the  Confession  of  1 535  ;  a 
long  historical  preface,  dated  December  the  tenth,  1572,  and 
composed  by  Rudinger,  but  signed,  "The  Seniors  and  Minis- 
ters of  the  Church  of  the  Brethren,  who  teach  the  pure 
doctrine  of  the  Gospel  in  Bohemia,  Moravia  and  Poland ;"  ^ 
and  the  preface  of  the  nobles  to  the  Confession  of  1535.  The 
doctrinal  part  is  divided  into  the  following  twenty  articles : 

1.  The  Holy  Scriptures.  They  are  true,  infallible  and  worthy 
of  all  belief,  having  been  inspired  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  2.  The 
Catechism.  It  is  the  kernel  of,  and  the  key  to,  the  entire  Bible. 
8.  The  Holy  Trinity.  God  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy 
Ghost,  are  three  distinct  persons,  but  according  to  their  being, 
the  one,  true,  eternal  and  unsearchable  God.  4.  Self-knowledge  ; 
Sin;  and  the  Promises.  The  entire  human  race  is  depraved: 
— 

''  Of  this  German  version  the  Malin  Library  contains  two  original  copies 
No.  810,  which  must  have  been  printed  at  different  times,  although  both  in 
1573,  inasmuch  as  the  type  is  different  and  the  one  does  not  give  the  name 
of  the  printer,  which  was  Johan.  Schwertel,  while  the  other  omits  a  part 
of  the  title.  The  latter  copy  is  remarkable  because  of  the  chain  with 
which  it  is  still  furnished  and  by  which  it  was,  no  doubt,  fastened  to  a 
reading  desk  in  the  vestibule  of  one  of  the  chapels  of  the  Brethren ;  subse- 
quently it  must  have  fallen  into  the  hands  of  an  enemy,  for  its  margins  are 
filled  with  remarks,  written  with  a  pen  and,  as  far  as  we  can  decipher  them, 
severely  criticising  the  Unity  and  its  Confessions.  Of  the  Latin  Confession 
we  have  seen  no  original  copy  and  do  not  know  whether  any  exists ;  it  is, 
however,  found  in  Lydius,  Tom.  II.  pp.  95-256,  and  bears  the  following 
title :  Confessio  Fidei  et  Religionis  Christianae,  quum  sereniss  et  potentiss- 
Romanorvm,  Vngariae  et  Bohemiae,  etc.  Eegi  Ferdinando,  obtulerunt 
Viennae  in  Austria  XIV.  Die  IX  bris,  Anno  Jesv  Christi  MDXXXV. 
Barones,  et  ex  nobilitate  in  regno  Bohemia  ij.  qui  puriori  doctrinae  in  pijs 
Ecclesijs,  quas  communitatem  Fratrum  Bohemicorum  nominant,  dediti  sunt 
et  conjuncti :  Quae  eadem  et  Imperatori  Maximiliano  II.  Avg.  et  Sereniss. 
Regi  Poloniae  Sigismundo,  etc.  oblata  est :  Recognita,  et  conversa  in 
linguam  Latinam  nova  interpretatione,  Anno  Christi  MDLXXIII.  Psal. 
CXIX.  Loquebar  de  testimonijs  tuis  coram  Regibus,  at  non  confundebar. 

^*  This  historical  Preface  is  found  also  in  Camerarius,  p.  263,  etc.,  where 
it  is  entitled :  De  origine  Ecclesiarum  Bohemiae,  etc.,  et  Confessionibus  ab 
iis  editis. 


374  THE   HISTORY   OF 

man  must  learn  to  know  his  depravity :  redemption  comes 
tlirough  Christ  alone,  according  to  the  promises.  5.  Eepentajice. 
Having  recognized  his  depravity  man  must  repent :  repentance 
is  fear  of  God  and  His  judgment,  sorrow  for  sin,  a  broken  and  a 
contrite  heart.  6.  Christ  and  Justification.  No  one  can  be 
delivered  from  the  bondage  of  sin  and  enter  the  liberty  of  the 
children  of  God  except  through  living  faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  who 
is  the  Only  Begotten  Son  of  the  Father  but  became  a  man  and 
took  upon  himself  human  nature:  such  faith,  without  any  work 
or  merit  of  his  own,  justifies  a  man  in  the  sight  of  God  :  justifica- 
tion is  the  forgiveness  of  sin,  deliverance  from  everlasting 
punishment,  an  imputing  to  the  believer  of  the  righteousness  of 
Christ,  acceptance  through  grace,  and  the  inheritance  of  eternal 
life:  in  this  doctrine  is  found  the  sum  of  the  Gospel.  7.  Good 
Works  and  Christian  Life.  Such  as  are  justified  must,  con- 
strained by  the  Holy  Ghost,  show  their  faith  by  good  and  pious 
Avorks.  8.  The  Church.  The  church  militant  is  the  com- 
munion of  all  Christians :  this  communion  consists  of  righteous 
and  unrighteous,  of  living  and  dead  members  :  wherever  doctrine 
is  preached  in  all  purity,  and  the  sacraments  are  administered 
according  to  the  institution  of  Christ,  and  the  members,  in  the 
unity  of  the  faith  and  of  love,  grow  up  into  Christ,— there  is  the 
true  Church :  the  Brethren  do  not  claim  to  be  exclusively  the 
true  Church,  but  they  are  a  part  of  the  true  Church.  9.  The 
Teachers  of  the  Church.  Those  that  preach  the  Gospel  are 
ambassadors  for  Christ ;  they  must  be  properly  ordained :  they 
must  not  be  lords  over  God's  heritage,  yet  the  people  must  obey 
them  as  having  the  rule  over  them  :  they  shall,  if  possible,  earn 
their  bread  by  the  labor  of  their  hands.  10.  The  Word  of  God. 
The  preaching  of  the  Gospel  is  the  true  office  of  grace,  instituted 
by  Christ  himself.  11.  The  Sacraments.  They  have  been  insti- 
tuted by  Christ  and  form  the  means  through  which  the  believer 
is  united  with  Him,  so  that  a  spiritual  body  is  produced :  the 
mere  administration  of  a  sacrament,  as  an  o^ms  operatuvi,  is 
worthless.  12.  Holy  Baptism.  The  outward  washing  with  water 
is  a  sign  and  a  testimony  of  the  spiritual  washing  and  inner 
cleansing,  through  the  Holy  Ghost,  from  innate  depravity  and 
other  sin  to  the  obtaining  of  the  new  birth  (ad  consequendum 
novum  ortum  uascendi  seu  regenerationem):  God  "washes  away 
sin,  regenerates  man  (hominem  regenerare),  and  confers  upon 
him  salvation."  Children  also  are  to  be  baptized.  13.  The 
Lord's  Supper.  "  The  bread  of  the  Lord's  Supper  is  the  body 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  given  for  us :  in  the  same  manner,  the 
cup,  or  the  wine  in  it,  is  His  blood  shed  for  us  for  the  forgiveness 
of  sin  :  this  we  believe  according  to  the  clear  words  of  Christ, 
when  He  says ;  '  This  is  my  body ;  this  is  my  blood :'  to  these 
certain  words,  spoken  by  the  Lord  Christ,  by  which  He  pro- 
claims, testifies  and  institutes,  that  the  bread  is  His  body,  and 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  375 

the  wine  His  blood,  no  one  shall  add  anything,  and  from  them 
no  one  shall  take  anything,  but  every  one  is  bound  to  believe 
what  they  say :  in  order,  however,  to  explain  the  meaning  of 
such  faith  we  teach  further,  that  although  the  bread  is  the  body 
of  Christ,  according  to  His  institution,  and  the  wine  His  blood, 
neither  the  bread  nor  the  wine  changes  or  loses  its  nature  and 
substance ;  but  the  bread  is  and  remains  real  bread,  and  the  wine 
real  wine  :  hence  this  locutio,  or  manner  of  speaking — namely, 
the  bread  is  the  body,  and  the  wine  is  the  blood  of  Christ — must 
be  understood  as  a  sacramental  locutio,  signifying  that  these  two 
different  things  remain  what,  according  to  their  nature,  they  are, 
and  yet,  in  view  of  their  sacramental  union,  also  are  that  which 
they  signify  and  testify  ;  not  by  nature  and  in  a  natural  manner, 
but  through  the  institution  and  declaration  (de  institutione  atque 
pronunciatione)  of  Him  who  instituted  this  sacrament."  14.  The 
Keys  of  Christ.  The  power  of  the  keys  is  based  upon  the  words 
of  Christ  and  has  been  received  by  the  Church  from  Him, 
through  the  Holy  Ghost :  it  is  the  power  to  bind  and  to  loose. 
15.  Vsages;  Ceremonies;  and  Christian  Liberty.  Usages  and 
ceremonies,  although  of  subordinate  importance,  are  proper  for 
the  furtherance  of  the  service  of  the  Church  :  Christian  liberty  is 
that  which  proceeds  from  the  forgiveness  of  sins :  therefore  all 
such  usages  and  ceremonies  as  militate  against  the  honor,  glory 
and  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  are  to  be  avoided.  16.  The 
Civil  Power.  Government  has  been  instituted  by  God :  it  must 
abide  by  His  commandments :  and  the  people  must  obey  it  in  all 
things  which  are  not  contrary  to  the  divine  law.  17.  The  Saiiits 
and  their  Adoration.  No  one  shall  adore  the  saints  or  their 
pictures :  adoration  belongs  to  God  alone :  but  it  is  proper  to 
hold  up  their  lives  as  an  example  to  the  people.  18.  Fasting. 
This  is  an  outward  act  of  faith,  by  which  the  believer  is  exercised 
in  abstinence.  19.  Celibacy;  Virginity;  and  Marriage.  It  is  left 
to  the  free  will  of  men  or  women  to  choose  a  life  of  celibacy,  or 
of  virginity :  and  no  one  shall  be  forced  to  adopt  it :  the  marriage 
state  is  holy  and  well-pleasing  to  God :  yet  the  Church  of  the 
Brethren  recommends  celibacy  to  its  priests,  without  binding 
them  to  accept  it :  any  priest  may  marry,  with  the  consent  of  the 
Bishops.  20.  The  Time  of  Grace.  This  present  life  includes 
the  time  of  grace :  repentance  must  not  be  delayed  until  old  age 
or  a  sick  or  dying  bed :  nevertheless  if  any  one  is  converted  in 
his  last  hour,  he  shall  receive  the  consolations  of  the  Gospel. 

The  Confession,  of  which  the  above  is  a  brief  summary, 
was  the  last  and  most  complete  of  all  the  Confessions  officially 
issued  by  the  Brethren.  It  shows  the  progress  which  they 
had  made  in  the  knowledge  of  evangelical  truth  and  the 
influence  which   the  Reformation  had  exercised  upon  their 


376  THE   HISTORY   OF 

theological  system.  The  Synod,  that  met  on  the  twentieth  of 
September,  at  Holleschau,  while  satisfied  with  Riidinger's 
translation,  for  which  he  was  liberally  paid,  expressed  its  deep 
regret  that  the  testimonial  of  the  Wittenberg  Faculty  had 
remained  in  manuscript.  Soon  afterward  the  Faculty  per- 
mitted its  publication.^^ 

The  Confession  was  widely  circulated  in  Bohemia,  Ger- 
many and  Switzerland.  With  regard  to  its  merits,  opinions 
differed.  Peter  Codicilluc,  the  Rector  of  the  University  of 
Prague,  took  great  offense  at  the  historical  Preface;  Beza 
found  fault  with  the  article  on  the  Lord's  Supper  and  with 
many  other  points;  Crato  severely  criticised  the  celibacy  of 
the  clergy  and  certain  modes  of  expression  relating  to  the 
work  of  Christ ;  but  Jerome  Zanchi,  Professor  of  Theology 
at  Heidelberg,  Olevianus,  Jacob  Mylius  and  Ursinus,  ex- 
pressed their  unqualified  approbation.*'^ 

In  their  relations  to  other  Protestants,  the  Brethren  were 
beginning  to  manifest  an  unfortunate  tendency.  That  they 
continued  to  fraternize  both  with  the  Lutherans  and  the 
Reformed,  was  right  and  in  accord  with  a  fundamental 
principle  of  the  Unity.  But  they  went  beyond  a  mere 
fraternization.  They  sought,  perhaps  unconsciously,  what 
was  tantamount  to  patronage.  How  eager  were  they  not  to 
obtain  a  testimonial  from  the  Wittenberg  Faculty,  although 
its  glory  had  departed  !  In  order  to  secure  such  an  indorse- 
ment they  were  willing  even  to  reconstruct  their  doctrinal 
articles.*^  It  is  true  that  the  same  thing  had  been  done  in 
Luther's   day.     But  at   that   time  their    theology  was  still 

'^^  Dekrete  d.  B.  U.,  p.  240.  This  testimonial  appears  in  the  original 
German  edition  of  the  Confession  published  at  Wittenberg  in  1573,  and 
referred  to  in  Note  37 ;  hence  the  Faculty  must,  prior  to  the  end  of  that 
year,  have  given  its  permission. 

*°  The  many  letters  that  passed  between  Bishop  Stephan  and  the  above 
divines,  together  with  other  cognate  documents,  are  given  in  Quellen,  pp. 
382-341,  taken  from  L.  F.,  XII. 

*'  The  article  on  baptism,  and  especially  that  part  which  related  to  the 
baptism  of  children,  was  changed  to  suit  the  views  of  the  Wittenberg 
divines. 


THE   MORAVIAN   CHURCH.  377 

forming.  Now  they  had  reached,  both  in  doctrine  and  life,  a 
maturity  which  gave  them  the  right  to  take  their  own  course 
independently  of  Wittenberg,  of  Geneva,  or  of  any  other 
theological  centre.  Amidst  the  disgraceful  controversies 
which  were  in  progress,  begetting  a  carnal  spirit  and  a  low 
standard  of  life,  they  ought  to  have  stretched  their  wings  and 
soared  like  the  eagle.  Their  true  mission  was  to  press 
forward  among  the  Slavonian  nations,  and  shaking  oif  every 
trammel,  to  lengthen  the  cords  and  strengthen  the  stakes  of 
their  Unity.  The  course  which  they  did  pursue,  diminished 
its  influence  and  eventually  helped  to  bring  about  its  extinc- 
tion. Zinzendorf  forcibly  says :  "  The  Bohemian  Brethren's 
Church  began  to  decay,  not  when  it  grew  to  be  great,  but 
when  it  sought  outside  unions."*^ 

There  was  another  evil  which  resulted  from  such  a 
tendency.  In  attempting  to  gain  the  good  will  both  of  the 
Lutherans  and  of  the  Reformed,  the  Brethren,  at  times, 
exposed  themselves  to  the  charge  of  insincerity. 

The  practical  outcome  of  their  recent  negotiations  with 
Wittenberg,  was — strange  to  say  ! — a  growing  sympathy  not 
with  the  Lutherans,  but  with  the  Reformed.  After  the 
catastrophe  which  overtook  the  University  in  1574,  such 
sympathy  became  a  marked  feature  in  their  history.*^ 

That  the  Brethren  failed  to  recognize  the  evil  results  of  the 
policy  which  has  been  indicated,  was  owing,  in  no  small 
degree,  to  the  want  of  leaders  like  Luke,  Augusta  and 
Blahoslaw.  True  and  faithful  and  superior  in  learning 
though  the  later  bishops  were,  they  did  not  guide  the  helm 
with  the  skill,  the  authority,  the  farsightedness  of  those 
masters ;  whose  intercourse  with  other  Protestants,  moreover, 
had  been  of  a  different  character.  For  what  they  had 
received,  they  had  given  a  full  equivalent.     Of  this  Augusta's 


"  Croeger,  II.  p.  90,  Note. 

*^  In  1574  the  Elector  of  Saxony  forcibly  suppressed,  at  the  CJniversity 
of  Wittenberg,  the  system  of  Melanchthon,  or  Crypto-Calvinism  as  it  was 
called,  and  treated  some  of  its  upholders  with  great  cruelty ;  especially 
Peucer,  Melanchthon's  son-in-law,  who  was  imprisoned  for  twelve  years. 


378  THE    HISTORY   OP 

admonitions  to  Luther  with  regard  to  the  discipline,  are  a 
notable  instance. 

It  was  the  discipline  which  chiefly  engaged  the  attention  of 
that  Synod  at  HoUeschau  to  which  we  have  referred.  The 
same  subject  had  been  discussed  in  the  previous  year,  at  a 
meeting  at  Austerlitz  (February  the  twenty-eighth,  1572). 
Cases  of  immorality  had  occurred  among  the  nobility  and 
too  much  license  had  been  permitted  at  weddings.  Resolu- 
tions of  the  strictest  kind  were  therefore  adopted,  to  exercise 
the  discipline  without  fear  or  favor.^* 

Meantime  the  Brethren  were  quietly  regaining  their  former 
status  in  Bohemia.  They  prospered  even  in  the  capital,  under 
the  eyes  of  the  Archbishop.  In  the  spring  of  1573  this 
prelate  lodged  formal  complaint  with  the  government,  that 
their  chapel,  on  Brennten  Street,  was  frequented  by  "  many 
more  people  than  some  of  the  principal  churches  of  the 
city."''^ 

Since  the  accession  of  the  House  of  Hapsburg  to  the 
Bohemian  throne  no  Diet  was  equal  in  importance  to  that 
which  convened  on  the  twenty-first  of  February,  1575;  and, 
with  an  occasional  recess,  continued  its  labors  until  the 
twenty-seventh  of  September,  of  the  same  year.  Under  the 
leadership  of  Bohuslaw  Felix  Lobkowitz  von  Hassenstein,  a 
movement  was  set  on  foot  to  unite  the  Lutheran  elements  of 
Utraquism  into  an  independent  evangelical  church.  Although 
the  Brethren,  at  first,  held  themselves  aloof  from  this  move- 
ment, it  gradually  drew  them  into  its  current.  The  Lutheran 
states  desired  their  co-operation.  To  define  their  relation  to 
the  new  Church  proved,  however,  a  difficult  thing.  It  was 
finally  agreed  by  both  parties  to  insert  in  the  Preface  of  the 
Confession,  prepared  by  a  committee  for  presentation  to  the 
Emperor,  a  passage  to  the  following  effect:  The  Lutheran 
states  will  not  interfere  with  the  religion  of  their  "  dear  lords 
and  friends  who  call  themselves  the  Brethren's  Unity,"  seeing 


**  Dekrete  d.  B.  U.,  p.  240,  cited  by  Czerwenka. 
«  Giadely,  II.  p.  102. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  379 

that  its  Confession  "  in  all  its  chief  articles  agreeg  with  the 
Confession  of  Christian  faith  herewith  presented."  ^^ 

This  "  Bohemian  Confession,"  as  it  is  generally  denom- 
inated, was  presented  to  Maximilian  on  the  eighteenth  of 
May,  1575.  It  was  written  in  Bohemian  and  consisted  of 
twenty-five  articles,  based  both  upon  the  Augustana  and  tlie 
Confession  of  the  Brethren.  Its  brevity  and  concise  defini- 
tions of  doctrine  constituted  its  chief  merit.  A  plan  for  the 
government  of  the  Bohemian  Lutheran  Church  accompanied 
the  document.*^ 

It  was  not  until  the  twenty-second  of  August  that  the 
Emperor  returned  an  answer.  He  could,  so  he  said,  neither 
accept  the  Confession  nor  allow  the  institution  of  a  new 
ecclesiastical  government ;  he  had  sworn  to  be  true  to  the 
Bohemian  constitution ;  the  proposed  novelties  were  not  in 
keeping  with  that  constitution.  That  he  assumed  such  a 
position  because  the  Kings  of  Spain  and  France  had  remon- 
strated with  him,  and  the  Pope  had  threatened  to  excom- 
municate him,  Maximilian  privately  confessed.  But  he  was 
ill  at  ease.  On  the  second  of  September  he  summoned  to  an 
audience  representatives  of  the  evangelical  states,  and  of  his 
own  accord  declared :  that  these  states  had  his  permission  to 

*®  "  Dass  wir  sie  (dieweil  sich  ihre  Confession  in  alien  vornemsten  Haupt- 
aitiokelu,  mit  dieser  unserer  ubergebenen  Christlichen  Glaubensbek;iutiiiss 
vergleicht)  iu  ihrer  Religion  nicht  zu  bedrangen  gedeuken."  BekUntniss, 
d,  h.  Christl.  Glaubens,  aller  dreyer  Stiind  dess  Koenigreichs  Bohmen,  etc., 
1609.  Vorrede,  fol.  5.  Malin  Library,  No.  747.  In  the  course  of  the 
negotiations  between  the  Brethren  and  the  Lutherans  the  former  drew  up 
an  independent  petition  to  the  Emperor,  but  were  persuaded  not  to  jjresent 
it.  From  this  document,  which  was  signed  by  all  the  Bohemian  nobles 
belonging  to  the  Unity  and  present  at  the  Diet,  we  obtain  an  idea  of  the 
strength  and  influence  of  the  Brethren  about  this  time.  The  signatures  of 
not  less  than  one  hundred  and  fifty-eight  heads  of  noble  houses  are 
appended.  Seventeen  of  .the  signers  were  barons  and  one  hundred  and 
forty-one  knights.     Gindely,  II.  pp.  154—158,  who  gives  the  names  in  full. 

*'  The  Bohemian  Confession  was  translated  into  German  in  the  same  year 
in  which  it  was  presented  to  the  Emperor.  Besides  the  German  edition 
cited  in  Note  46,  the  Malin  Library  contains  copies  of  the  editions  of  1611 
and  1621.  A  Latin  version  appeared  at  Frankfurt,  in  1614.  (Malin  Library, 
No.  302.)     This  version  is  found  also  in  Niemeyer's  Conf.,  pp.  819-846. 


380  THE    HISTORY   OF 

elect  " Defenders ;"  that  "he  herewith  granted  them  the  free 
exercise  of  their  religion  ;"  that  his  word  was  equivalent  to  a 
written  edict ;  that  he  would  rather  suffer  death  than  be  un- 
faithful to  that  word.*^  Several  days  later,  his  son,  Rudolph, 
was  elected  King  of  Bohemia  (September  the  eleventh).  On 
the  twenty-second  of  the  same  month,  after  having  promised 
to  respect  the  pledge  of  religious  liberty  given  by  his  father, 
he  was  solemnly  crowned. 

And  now  was  seen  a  great  change  throughout  the  kingdom. 
Ten  Defenders  were  appointed  who  began  to  arrange  a  system 
of  ecclesiastical  government ;  the  Protestant  nobles,  without 
exception,  called  to  their  domains  ministers  of  their  own  faith  ; 
the  cities  which  had  Protestant  lords  did  the  same ;  even  the 
royal  cities  re-organized  their  parishes ;  and  in  Prague  several 
churches  passed  out  of  the  hands  of  the  Utraquists.  On  a 
sudden,  however,  the  Emperor  issued  a  decree  forbidding  the 
publication  of  the  Bohemian  Confession,  the  appointment  of 
evangelical  ministers  in  royal  cities,  and,  in  accordance  with 
the  edicts  of  Uladislaus  and  Ferdinand,  the  religious  services 
of  the  Brethren.  In  vain  were  the  expostulations  of  Hassen- 
tein  and  other  nobles ;  the  Emperor  remained  firm,  saying 
that  his  edict  was  directed  against  the  Picards,  and  that  in 
the  royal  cities  he  was  lord.  The  sky  began  to  darken- 
Distant  mutterings  were  heard  of  a  coming  storm.  It  drew 
nearer  at  the  Diet  of  the  following  year.  But  before  it  burst, 
the  Emperor  was  overtaken  by  death.  He  breathed  his  last 
at  Regensburg,  on  the  twelfth  of  October,  1576.  In  Feb- 
ruary, of  1577,  his  body  was  conveyed  to  Prague  for  burial. 
The  obsequies  were  interrupted  by  a  panic,  as  unaccountable 
as  it  was  fearful,  which  dispersed  the  funeral  procession  and 
made  the  city  wild  with  terror.  It  was  said  that  the  Jesuits 
had  planned  a  massacre  which  was  to  be  the  counterpart  of 
that  of  St.  Bartholomew.  For  this  report  there  existed  no 
foundation.^^ 

*«  Czerwenka,  II.  p.  472. 

*'  A  very  full  and  quaint  account  of  this  panic  is  given  in  the  Todtenbuch 
pp.  55,  etc. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  381 


CHAPTEE  XXXYI. 

The  Beginning  of  Rudolph's  Reign.     A.  D.  1576  to  1580; 

and  the  Polish  Branch  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum  in  the 

first  Deoade  after  the  Synod  of  Sendomir. 

A.  D.  1570-1580. 


Religious  Liberty  and  the  Jesuits. — Rudolph  the  Second. — His  first  Diet. — 
Decline  of  the  Utraquist  Consistory. — Rudolph  and  the  Moravian  States. 
— Baron  Zerotin. — Correspondence  with  John  Casimir  of  the  Palatinate. 
— Death  of  Bishop  Stephan. — Feeling  against  the  Brethren. — Krajek 
excommunicated. — Correspondence  with  Casimir  renewed. — Rokita  and 
the  Russian  Czar. — Death  of  Sigismund  Augustus. — The  Pacta  Conventa. 
— Union  Synod  at  Cracow. — Synod  of  the  Brethren  at  Posen. — Corona- 
tion of  Henry  of  Valois. — Stephen  Bathori  King. — The  Jesuits. — Cor- 
respondence of  Polish  Magnates  and  Divines  with  Germany  respecting 
a  general  Convention  of  all  the  Protestants  of  Europe. — Synod  atPetrikau. 
— End  of  the  Brethren's  Church  in  East  Prussia. — New  Bishops. 

At  various  times,  in  its  past  history,  Bohemia  had  beheld 
fleeting  visions  of  religious  liberty ;  but  it  was  not  until  the 
Diet  of  1575  that  such  liberty  assumed  a  real  existence.  It 
is  true  that  this  existence  depended  upon  a  verbal  promise 
and  was  not  formally  guaranteed.  Nevertheless  the  events  of 
1575  were  the  sign  of  an  approaching  crisis.  A  crisis  was 
inevitable  in  a  kingdom  whose  sovereign  was  a  Romanist, 
while  the  majority  of  his  subjects  were  Protestants.  It  came 
in  1609,  and  resulted  in  the  Bohemian  charter.  Under  the 
broad  wing  of  this  charter  Protestants  and  Catholics  enjoyed 
equal  rights,  and  prosperity  would  have  blessed  the  realm,  if 
it  had  not  harbored  the  Jesuits.  These  satraps  of  Rome 
steadily  kept  in  view  her  supremacy  and  the  destruction,  no 
matter  by  what  means,  of  everything  that  she  called  heresy. 


382  THE    HISTORY    OF 

Hence  as  soon  as  Bohemian  Protestantism  lifted  up  its  head, 
they  silently  declared  war  against  it ;  and  never  rested  until 
by  slow  but  sure  degrees  they  brought  on  a  catastrophe  which 
crushed  evangelical  religion  and  produced  a  conflict  of  arms 
that  extended  far  beyond  the  bounds  of  Bohemia,  convulsing 
the  half  of  Europe  and  raging  fearfully  for  thirty  years. 

When  these  commotions  burst  forth  Rudolph  the  Second, 
Maximilian's  son  and  successor,  was  no  longer  living,  but  his 
reign  constituted  their  seed-time.  It  was  a  dark  day  that  saw 
him  ascend  the  throne.  Educated  at  the  Spanish  court,  under 
the  eye  of  Philip  the  Second  and  the  sinister  influences  of  the 
Jesuits,  he  grew  to  be  a  gloomy,  suspicious,  irresolute  and  yet 
self  willed  man.^  With  no  strength  of  mind  and  no  force  of 
purpose  he  undertook  to  rule  a  kingdom  and  an  empire,  and 
instead  of  devoting  himself  to  the  duties  of  his  high  mission, 
manifested  in  the  afiairs  of  state  an  indolence  that  is  almost 
incredible,  dabbled  in  astrology  and  alchemy,  collected 
pictures,  gems  and  statues,  spent  hours  in  his  stables  where 
stood  the  finest  horses  that  money  could  procure,  eschewed 
matrimony  for  a  dissolute  life,  and  became  a  mere  tool  in 
the  hands  of  unworthy  favorites. 

That  he  bore  such  a  character  was  not  known  when  he 
assumed  the  government.  His  Protestant  subjects  trembled 
with  apprehension.  To  what  extremes  might  not  his  ante- 
cedents lead  him?  Reared  in  an  atmosphere  thick  with 
Philip's  cruel  bigotry,  might  he  not  carry  out  in  Bohemia 
what  he  had  learned  in  Spain  ?  But  the  very  first  Diet  which 
he  convened  (February,  1577),  gave  unmistakable  evidence 
of  the  weakness  of  his  character.  The  Protestants  took  heart ; 
their  nobles  grew  bold;  in  a  short  time  the  power  of  the 
aristocracy  in  general  was  as  overweening  as  it  had  ever  been. 

At  the  Diet  bitter  complaints,  especially  against  the  Breth- 
ren, were  brought  forward  by  the  Utraquist  Consistory.    The 

1  Rudolph  was  born  at  Vienna,  on  the  eighteenth  of  July,  1552 ;  in  his 
eleventh  year  he  was  sent  to  Spain ;  in  1575,  soon  after  he  had  been  elected 
King  of  Bohemia,  he  was  chosen  and  crowned  Roman  King  at  Regensburg, 
and  hence  became  Emperor  on  the  death  of  his  father. 


THE   MORAVIAN   CHURCH.  383 

position  of  this  body  had  become  pitiful.  Its  authority  was 
acknowledged  by  but  fifteen  domains  and  a  few  royal  cities.^ 
The  lame  efforts  which  Rudolph  made  to  come  to  its  assist- 
ance proved  fruitless. 

And  now  he  proceeded  to  Olmiitz  in  order  to  assume  the 
sovereignty  of  his  Moravian  raargraviate.^  Its  nobles  failed 
not  to  provide  for  a  continuance  of  its  religious  liberty. 
They  exacted  pledges  before  acknowledging  him  as  Margrave. 
They  humbled  the  Bishop  of  Olmiitz  who  refused  to  join 
with  them  in  their  demands.  They  interfered  when  Rudolph, 
on  the  strength  of  a  decree  which  he  had  issued,  attempted  to 
oppress  the  Brethren  at  Gaja,  one  of  the  royal  towns. 

In  these  proceedings,  John  von  Zerotin  took  a  prominent 
part.  He  was  a  rich  and  influential  baron  and  a  leading 
member  of  the  Brethren's  Church.  Blahoslaw  had  been  his 
teacher  and  had  made  of  him  a  far-sighted  statesman  and 
an  enlightened  Christian.  His  seat  was  at  Namiest,  but  he 
owned  a  number  of  other  Moravian  and  Bohemian  domains, 
among  the  latter  Brandeis  on  the  Adler,  which  continued  to 
be  one  of  the  centres  of  the  Unity. 

While  the  Brethren  were  not  affected  by  the  complaints  of 
the  Utraquist  Consistory,  they  gained  notoriety  and  earned 
ill-will  in  another  way.  The  attention  of  the  Elector 
Frederick  the  Third,  who  had  introduced  the  Reformed 
system  into  the  Palatinate,  having  been  drawn  to  them,  he 
expressed  a  desire  to  become  acquainted  with  their  standards. 
Bishop  Stephan  sent  him  the  German  and  the  Bohemian 
Hymnals  (1576).  But  as  the  Elector  died  before  receiving 
these  books,  Stephan  wrote  to  the  Palatine  John  Casimir  and 
begged  him  to  accept  them.  In  acknowledging  this  gift 
Casimir  suggested  to  Stephan,  that  the  Brethren  should 
appoint  delegates  to  a  Reformed  Synod  at  Frankfurt-on-the- 

2  Gindely,  IT.  p.  236. 

^  As  an  instance  of  Kudolph's  unwillingness  to  attend  to  the  affairs  of 
state,  it  is  related,  that  it  was  only  with  the  greatest  difficulty  that  he 
could  be  persuaded  to  go  to  Olmiitz  in  order  to  receive  the  homage  of  the 
Moravian  nobles. 


384  THE    HISTORY    OF 

Main  (1577).^  This  Synod  was  to  be  an  offset  to  that 
Lutheran  convocation  near  Magdeburg  which  had  produced 
the  "  Form  of  Concord,"  and  representatives  were  expected 
from  all  the  Reformed  countries  of  Europe.  The  Bishops 
were  perplexed.  They  sympathized  with  the  Reformed,  but 
foresaw  the  odium  which  the  Unity  would  reap  if  they 
accepted  the  invitation.  While  still  undecided  as  to  what 
course  they  should  pursue,  Stephan  died  suddenly  at 
Jarmeritz,  on  the  twenty-first  of  July,  1577.^  This  unex- 
pected stroke  was  reported  to  Casimir  and  assigned  as  a 
reason  for  declining  his  request.  A  second  letter,  written  in 
the  same  month,  set  forth  the  relation  of  the  Brethren  to  the 
Augustana  and  the  very  serious  entanglements  which  their 
presence  at  a  Reformed  Synod  would  bring  about.*'  In  spite 
of  the  secrecy  with  which  this  correspondence  had  been  con- 
ducted, it  became  known  and  produced  so  great  a  sensation 
that  the  Council,  at  a  meeting  held  at  Prerau,  resolved  to 
consult  the  nobles  of  the  Church  in  all  future  negotiations 
with  foreign  princes. 

The  feeling  against  the  Brethren  was  intensified  through  a 
notable  exercise  of  discipline  at  Jungbunzlau.  Baron  Adam 
von  Krajek  took  part  in  a  dance  and  became  intoxicated; 
and  Kreszentia,  a  young  Baroness  of  the  same  family,  fell 
into  gross  sin  with  one  of  her  own  servants.  Both  these 
offenders  were  publicly  excommunicated  by  Bishop  Kalef.  A 
cry  of  wrath  rang  through  the  ranks  of  the  Lutheran  and 
Catholic  nobility.  Excommunicate  members  of  a  family  as 
exalted  as  the  House  of  Krajek  !    The  thing  was  not  to  be 

*  Both  the  Letters  are  found  in  Quellen,  pp.  434  and  435,  taken  from 
L.  F.  XII. 

5  On  the  following  day  his  remains  were  conveyed  to  Prossnitz  and 
buried  in  the  presence  of  thirty-four  priests  and  deacons  of  the  Unity. 
Several  nobles  of  Rudolph's  retinue  came  from  Olmiitz  and  attended  the 
funeral,  taking  occasion  to  converse  with  the  Brethren  on  their  faith  and 
public  worship.     Todtenbuch,  p.  64. 

«  Both  these  letters  are  given  in  Quellen,  pp.  437,  etc.  They  are  dated 
at  Eibenschiitz,  the  first  on  the  thirteenth  of  July ;  the  second  simply  in 
July. 


THE    MORAVIAN   CHURCH.  385 

tolerated  !  Kalef  ought  to  be  beheaded  !  Such  were  the  ex- 
pressions heard  on  many  sides.  The  excitement  had  not  yet 
subsided,  when  a  certain  Lorenz,  an  apothecary  of  Jungbunzlau 
and  a  member  of  the  Unity,  walled  his  wife  in  a  cave,  on 
suspicion  of  her  having  committed  adultery.  She  was  rescued 
by  his  neighbors ;  but  the  inhuman  act  of  which  he  had  been 
guilty  was  charged  upon  the  discipline  of  the  Brethren  and 
added  fresh  fuel  to-  the  prevailing  indignation.^  This  was  as 
unjust  as  the  fearless  course  of  Bishop  Kalef  was  illustrious. 
The  lord  of  the  domain  embracing  the  principal  seat  of  the 
Brethren  was  dealt  with  in  the  same  way  in  which  one  of 
his  serfs  would  have  been  treated.^  Such  rigid  impartiality 
can  not  but  excite  our  admiration. 

Different  is  the  impression  made  by  the  renewal  of  the  cor- 
respondence with  the  Palatine.  In  this  respect  the  position 
assumed  by  the  Bishops  deserves  anything  but  praise. 

Casimir  sent  them,  through  Peter  Duthenus,  his  court- 
preacher,  a  report,  drawn  up  by  Christopher  Threcius,  of  the 
Synod  at  Frankfurt  and  urgently  invited  them  to  a  second 
Synod  which  he  proposed  convening.^  This  overture  was  con- 
sidered at  a  special  meeting  of  the  Bishops  and  Council.  They 
realized  that  there  were  serious  obstacles  in  the  way ;  that 
they  might  be  accused  of  forming  an  alliance  with  a  foreign 
power,  nay  of  treason;  that  the  Palatine  was  actuated  rather 
by  political  than  by  religious  motives.  On  the  other  hand 
they  were  impressed  with  the  idea  that  they  ought  not  to 
allow  this  opportunity  to  gain  the  good-will  of  a  Reformed 
prince  to  pass  by ;  that  a  time  might  come  when  they  would 
be  forced  to  sever  their  connection  with  the  Lutherans  and 
make  common  cause  with  the  Calvinists.     In  any  event  the 


'  L.  F.  XII.  pp.  429  and  432,  cited  by  Gindely. 

*  Krajek  confessed  that  his  conduct  was  censurable,  but  for  a  long  time 
obstinately  refused  to  apply  for  re-admission  to  the  Church,  although  he 
as  obstinately  rejected  the  efforts  of  the  Lutherans  to  win  him  to  their  side. 
Eventually  he  became  penitent,  was  re-admitted  to  the  Unity  and  resumed 
his  former  influential  position. 

*  Letters  of  the  Palatine  and  Duthenus  in  Quellen,  pp.  441,  etc. 

25 


386  THE    HISTORY    OF 

controversies  of  the  former  were  abhorrent  to  them ;  while  in 
the  experiences  of  the  latter  they  saw,  to  some  extent,  their 
own  reflected.  Hence  they  finally  resolved  to  accept  the 
Palatine's  invitation  and  send  a  delegate,  but  with  the 
utmost  secrecy.^*^  A  preliminary  letter  was  addressed  to 
Casimir.  It  was  written  by  Esrom  Riidinger,  and  made 
humiliating  advances  and  unprecedented  concessions. 

The  Brethren  reject  ubiquitism;"  their  views  with  regard 
to  the  sacraments  must  be  understood  accordingly;  these 
views  correspond  fully  with  those  of  the  Frankfurt  Synod; 
but  the  Unity  has  thus  far  been  under  the  protection  of  the 
adherents  of  the  Augustana;  to  give  up  this  connection  would 
jeopard  its  existence  in  Bohemia  and  Moravia.  Would  the 
Palatine  be  willing  to  acknowledge  the  Confession  of  the 
Brethren  in  his  own  dominions?  Does  he  insist  on  a  public 
separation  from  the  Lutherans  and  a  public  union  with  the 
Reformed  ?  What  does  he  advise  the  Brethren  to  do  ?  They 
will  follow  his  advice. 

The  sentiments  which  this  letter  expressed,  in  the  name 
of  the  leaders  of  the  Unity,  as  well  as  the  extravagant 
humility  and  lamentable  want  of  self-assertion  shown  in  their 
previous  communications  to  Casimir,  constitute  a  further  and 
striking  proof  of  that  tendency  which  we  have  pointed  out  in 
the  foregoing  chapter.^^  It  must  not  be  forgotten,  however, 
that,  in  spite  of  the  resolution  adopted  at  Prerau,  the  nobles 
and  the  membership  generally  knew  nothing  of  such  over- 
tures, but  pursued,  witli  singleness  of  heart,  the  way  of  their 
fathers.  The  responsibility  rested  with  the  Bishops  and  the 
Council.     Their  deliberations  were  guided  by  a  questionable 


^°  So  says  Gindely  in  the  Introduction  to  the  Eleventh  Part  of  his 
Quellen,  p.  433. 

"  That  is,  the  corporeal  omnipresence  of  Christ,  which  dogma  was  creat- 
ing virulent  disputes  at  the  time. 

^2  Eudinger's  letter  is  given  in  Quellen,  p.  443,  etc.,  and  taken  from  L. 
F.  XII.  Eiidinger  had  been  obliged  to  leave  Wittenberg  and  had  taken 
charge  of  one  of  the  Brethren's  schools.  Even  Bishop  Croeger,  with  all 
his  gentleness  and  respect  for  the  divine  riglit  of  sovereigns,  grows  indignant 
and  sarcastic,  when  speaking  of  the  communication  to  Casimir. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH.  387 

expediency  which  brought  them  to  slippery  ground.  It  was 
therefore  a  fortunate  circumstance  that  the  proposed  Synod 
did  not  take  place  and  that  the  correspondence  with  Casimir 
came  to  an  end. 

In  the  year  of  the  Sendomirian  Synod  and  soon  after  its 
adjournment  (1570),  Sigismund  Augustus  sent  an  embassy  of 
four  magnates  to  the  Russian  Czar,  Ivan  the  Fourth,  sur- 
named  The  Terrible.^^  Two  of  the  ambassadors,  John  Kro- 
towski  and  Raphael  Leszcynski,  were  members  of  the  Breth- 
ren's Church.  At  their  suggestion  John  Rokita  was  invited 
to  accompany  the  embassy  as  chaplain.  The  Bishops  gladly 
gave  their  consent,  in  the  hope  that  he  might  be  the  means 
of  bringing  to  Russia  the  light  of  the  pure  Gospel.  Their 
instructions  were,  that  he  should  endeavor  to  induce  the  Czar 
to  accept    the  evangelical  faith. 

It  was  at  Moscow  that  the  ambassadors  were  admitted  to 
an  interview  with  Ivan.  His  reception  of  them  was  as  rude 
as  his  manners  were  savage.  He  snatched  from  them  what- 
ever happened  to  please  his  fancy;  and  had  the  horses, 
which  they  had  brought  as  a  gift  from  the  King,  hewn  in 
pieces,  in  wanton  contempt,  before  their  very  eyes.  Undis- 
mayed by  such  barbarism  Rokita  sought  and  obtained  an  audi- 
ence. It  took  place  in  public  and  was  opened  by  the  Czar 
with  the  curt  question,  harshly  put :  "  Who  are  you  ?  " 

Rokita,  to  whom  had  been  assigned  a  seat  on  a  divan 
covered  with  rich  tapestry,  replied :  "  I  am  a  minister  and 
preacher  of  the  Church  of  Christ." 

"  What  do  you  teach  your  hearers  ?  " 

"  The  doctrines  comprehended  in  the  writings  of  the  Prophets 
and  Apostles,  and  sealed  with  the  testimony  of  miracles ;  of 
which  doctrines  the  chief  are  found  in  the  Decalogue,  the 
Apostles'  Creed,  the  Lord's  Prayer,  in  the  definitions  of  the 
two  sacraments  of  Baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  in 
what  is  set  forth  respecting  the  duties  of  each  Christian." 

"  Also  known  as  Ivan  Vasilievitch  the  Second,  and  called,  in  some 
of  the  sources,  the  Grand  Duke  John  Basil.  He  was  the  first  Russian 
ruler  that  assumed  the  title  of  Czar. 


388  THE    HISTORY    OF 

Continuing  his  questions  Ivan  successively  asked  : 

"  What  do  you  believe  concerning  man's  justification  before 
God  ?  " 

"  If  divine  grace  alone  saves  men,  why  will  Christ  judge 
them  according  to  their  works  ?  " 

"  What  religion  do  you  confess  ?  It  seems  to  me  that  it  is  the 
religion  of  Martin  Luther,  who  fell  away  from  the  old  faith." 

"  If  you  have  fallen  away  from  the  old  faith,  tell  me,  who 
has  called  you  to  the  priestly  office?" 

"  What  do  you  hold  of  Christian  fasting  ?  " 

"  In  what  way  do  your  people  pray  ?  " 

"Why  do  you  not  adore  the  pictures  and  images  of  the 
saints?" 

"  What  is  your  opinion  with  regard  to  the  marriage  of 
priests,  and  celibacy  ?  " 

These  questions  Rokita  answered  with  great  boldness  and 
power  from  on  high.  Of  justification  he  said,  that  no  man 
can  free  himself  from  the  curse  of  sin  or  satisfy  his  Creator 
by  good  works.  "  But  when,"  so  he  proceeded,  "  the  con- 
science is  overwhelmed  by  the  multitude  of  the  sins  which  it 
has  recognized  and  is  filled  with  sorrow  because  of  the  oflfence 
which  these  sins  have  given  to  the  Divine  Majesty,  I  point, 
as  John  the  Baptist  pointed,  to  the  Lamb  and  Son  of  God, 
Jesus  Christ,  who  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world,  and  Him- 
self is  the  righteousness  of  all  who  believe."  This  truth  he 
developed,  with  great  force,  according  to  the  Scriptures. 

As  to  good  works  he  declared  that  faith  is  hidden  in  the 
heart,  but  that  good  works  are  its  fruit  which  must  be  seen 
of  men.  "  And  indeed,"  he  solemnly  added,  "  I  who  stand 
here  before  God  and  the  angels  confess,  yea,  and  testify  to 
thee,  that  we  believe  and  teach,  that  a  Christian  washed  by 
the  blood  of  Jesus  and  reconciled  to  God  ought  not  any  more 
to  give  a  loose  bridle  to  his  depraved  lusts,  nor  trusting  in 
mercy,  allow  sin  to  reign  in  his  mortal  body ;  but  that  he 
ought  rather  to  adjust  the  whole  course  of  his  life  in  such 
a  way  as  will  lead  him  to  serve  the  Lord  in  all  holiness, 
righteousness  and  truth." 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  389 

"NVheii  treating  of  the  adoration  of  the  saints  he  proclaimed, 
with  the  utmost  freedom,  that  God,  in  the  twenty-sixth 
chapter  of  Leviticus,  had  distinctly  forbidden  such  adora- 
tion ;  that  St.  John  had  written,  "  Little  children  keep  your- 
selves from  idols ;"  that  St.  Peter  had  said  to  Cornelius,  when 
he  fell  down  at  his  feet  and  worshiped  him :  "  Stand  up,  I 
myself  also  am  a  man ;"  that  even  the  angel  before  whom 
St.  John  prostrated  himself,  had  said :  "  See  thou  do  it  not !  "' 

In  speaking  thus  fearlessly  Rokita  did  not  forget  the 
violent  character  of  the  monarch  with  whom  he  had  to  do ; 
but  he  trusted  in  the  promise  of  his  divine  and  infinitely 
greater  Master:  "Ye  shall  be  brought  before  governors  and 
kings  for  my  sake,  for  a  testimony  against  them  and  the 
Gentiles ;  it  shall  be  given  you  in  that  same  hour  what  ye 
shall  speak."  "  This  ])romise  was  fulfilled.  The  testimony 
borne  in  the  presence  of  Ivan  The  Terrible  was  a  demonstra- 
tion of  divine  power,  even  though  his  proud  heart  remained 
unimpressed. 

That  its  chords  had  not  been  touched,  soon  became  evident. 
The  first  Czar  of  Russia  neither  accepted  Protestantism  him- 
self nor  allowed  it  to  have  free  course  in  his  dominions. 
Rokita  received  in  writing,  what  claimed  to  be,  a  complete 
refutation  of  all  that  he  had  said  at  the  audience.  This 
refutation  abounded  in  coarse  invectives  against  himself  and 
his  Church.  It  told  him  that  he  might  depart  in  peace,  but 
that  he  was  nevertheless  a  heretic,  a  servant  of  Antichrist, 
inspired  by  the  devil ;  and  that  to  try  and  convince  him  and 
his  brethren  of  their  errors,  was  to  give  that  which  is  holy 
to  the  dogs  and  to  throw  pearls  before  swine. 

In  spite  of  such  vituperations,  Ivan  presented  to  Rokita, 
when  he  was  about  leaving  Moscow,  a  royal  gift.  It  con- 
sisted of  an  exposition,  in  manuscript,  of  the  faith  of  the 
Greek  Church.  This  manuscript  was  bound  in  plates  of 
solid  gold  and  richly  ornamented  with  pearls.^^ 

"  Matt.  10  :  18  and  19. 

^"  The  authorities  for  the  above  narrative  are  the  following :  A  Polish 
MS.  written  by  Kokita  and  found  at  Lissa,  by  Gindely,  who  cites  it  in  II. 


390  THE    HISTORY    OF 

Two  years  after  tlie  return  of  this  embassy,  on  the  seventh 
of  July,  1572,  Sigismund  Augustus  died  without  issue.  The 
Diet  of  Convocation,  as  it  was  called,  met  on  the  sixth  of 
January,  in  the  following  year,  and  adopted  an  act  of  con- 
federation, known  as  the  Pacta  Conventa,  which  secured  to 
Poland  religious  liberty,  but  at  the  same  time  gave  the  nobles 
unlimited  power,  even  in  spiritual  things,  over  the  peasants, 
who  were  thus — so  Krasinski  says — estranged  from  Protestant- 
ism. This  act  was  constituted  a  fundamental  law  to  which 
the  Polish  kings  were  obliged  to  swear  fidelity ;  the  mon- 
archy became  elective;  and  its  prerogatives  were  circum- 
scribed. In  effecting  these  changes  the  magnates  of  the 
Unity  took  a  prominent  part.  Three  months  later,  Henry 
of  Valois,  Duke  of  Anjou  and  brother  of  Charles  the  Ninth 
of  France,  was  chosen  king. 

On  the  twenty-ninth  of  September,  of  the  same  year  (1573), 
at  Cracow,  the  confederated  Protestants  held  their  first  general 
Synod.^^  The  Brethren  were  represented  by  Israel,  Lorenz, 
Turnovius,  and  John  Enoch.  After  the  Consensus  Sendo- 
miriensis  and  the  Articles  of  Posen  had  been  anew  ratified, 
various  constitutional  points  and  disciplinary  principles  were 
settled.  The  latter  applied  to  the  Reformed  only;  the 
Brethren  having  a  well-established  discipline  and  the 
Lutherans  being  allowed  to  take  their  own  course.  There 
followed  at  Posen,  on  the  eighteenth  of  November,  a  Synod 
of  the  Brethren,  at  which    Erasmus   Gliczner   was   present. 

p.  89  and  p.  474,  Note  128 ;  Lukaszcwicz,  p.  53,  etc. ;  Kegenvolscius,  p.  91 : 
a  letter  in  L.  F.,  X.  written  by  Rokita  to  Cerwenka  and  consulting  him 
with  regard  to  the  proposed  mission,  Quellen,  p.  123;  Krasinski,  II.  p.  398, 
Note;  Croeger,  II.  p.  90,  etc.;  and  especially  a  work  by  Lasitius,  entitled 
De  Russorum  Moscovitarum  et  Tartarorum  Religione,  etc.,  Spirse,  1582 
(Malin  Library,  No.  347).  This  work  contains  the  Czar's  ten  questions, 
with  Rokita's  answers  in  full,  and  also,  in  fourteen  chapters,  the  Czar's 
refutation,  each  chapter  having  a  reply  by  Lasitius  appended.  Where 
Bishop  Croeger  found  the  answers  which  he  ascribes  to  Rokita,  we  have  no 
means  of  ascertaining.  They  differ  materially  from  those  given  by  Lasitius 
whom  we  follow. 

•^  Sources  for  the  History,  in  this  cliapter,  of  the  Polish  Brethren,  are 
Lukaszewicz,  pp.  87-98,  and  Krasinski,  II.  Chap.  HI. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHUllCII.  391 

The  various  compacts  with  their  fellow  Protestants  were  dis- 
cussed and  affirmed;  and  a  suggestion  that  the  Protestant 
magnates  should  assemble  in  full  force  in  order  to  receive 
the  new  king,  found  great  favor.  In  this  way,  it  was  said? 
he  would  get  a  proper  idea  of  the  strength  of  the  evangelical 
party. 

When  Henry  reached  Poland,  in  January,  1574,  this  sug- 
gestion was  carried  out  on  so  magnificent  a  scale  that  his 
French  escort  were  filled  with  astonishment.  His  coronation 
took  place  on  the  twenty-first  of  February.  It  was  a  memor- 
able occasion.  At  Paris  he  had  sworn  to  uphold  the  Pacta 
Conventa ;  at  Cracow  the  oath  was  to  be  repeated.  But, 
influenced  by  the  Catholic  clergy,  he  sought  to  evade  this  ob- 
ligation. The  ceremony  was  almost  at  an  end;  he  had 
already  knelt  at  the  altar  in  order  to  be  crowned ;  it  was 
evident  that  he  meant  to  ignore  the  prescribed  oath.  In  that 
moment  the  Palatines  Firley  and  Dembrinski  came  forward 
and  presented  it  written  on  a  scroll.  In  great  astonishment 
Henry  rose  from  his  knees  and  confronted  them.  But  Firley 
seizing  the  crown  exclaimed  in  a  loud  voice:  ^' Si  non  jurabis 
non  regnabis  !  "  *''  The  French  Prince  took  the  oath  and  was 
crowned. 

He  reigned  four  months  and  then,  on  receiving  the  news  of 
his  brother's  decease,  secretly  left  Poland,  hurried  to  France 
and  ascended  its  more  congenial  throne. 

In  his  stead  Stephen  Bathori,  Prince  of  Transylvania,  was 
elected  king  and  married  Anna,  the  sister  of  Sigismund 
Augustus  (1575).  He  was  a  zealous  but  conscientious 
Catholic.  "  Three  things,"  he  said,  "  God  has  reserved  for 
himself:  the  creation  of  the  world  out  of  nothing;  the  knowl- 
edge of  future  events ;  and  the  power  over  the  human  con- 
science." ^^  Nor  could  he  be  persuaded  to  interfere  with 
religious  liberty. 

''  "If  thou  '.vilt  not  swear,  thou  shalt  not  reign."  Krasinski,  II,  p.  41. 

^*  Croeger,  II,  p.  94.  Krasinski  maintains  that  Bathori  was  a  Protestant 
but  was  induced  by  the  Roman  Catholic  clergy  to  become  a  pervert,  to 
Romanism. 


392  THE    HISTORY    OF 

During  his  reign  the  Jesuits  made  rapid  progress  in 
Poland.  They  had  been  introduced  in  the  time  of  Sigismund 
Augustus,  by  Cardinal  Stanislaus  Hosius,  a  bigoted  but  cele- 
brated prelate,  who  established  them  at  Braunsberg  (1564). 
Six  years  later,  in  1570,  they  gained  access  to  Posen,  which 
place  soon  grew  to  be  their  stronghold.  They  won  the  favor 
of  the  Princess  Anna  who  upheld  them,  in  every  way,  when 
she  became  Queen ;  they  opened  schools  which  gained  a  high 
repute  and  were  patronized  even  by  Protestants ;  they  intro- 
duced public  disputations  that  attracted  great  attention; 
they  manifested  unusual  eloquence  in  the  pulpit;  and  with 
the  most  insinuating  arts  they  crept  up  to  powerful  magnates 
of  the  evangelical  party,  and  tried  to  entice  them  back  to 
Romanism. 

Meanwhile  some  of  these  magnates  were  endeavoring  to 
extend  the  blessings  of  the  Sendomirian  confederation.  On 
the  occasion  of  the  Diet  of  Warsaw,  in  1578,  they  wrote 
to  the  Palatine  John  Casimir,  to  the  Elector  of  Saxony 
and  to  the  Margrave  of  Brandenburg,  deploring  the  discord 
which  prevailed  among  the  German  churches,  suggesting  a 
union  on  the  plan  of  that  established  in  Poland,  and  urging 
that  there  should  be  held  a  convention  in  which  all  the 
Protestant  churches  of  Europe  should  be  represented.  At 
the  same  time  Gliczner,  Turnovius,  Gilovius,  Prazmowski 
and  other  divines  sent  similar  letters  to  the  theologians  of 
Germany.     This  laudable  eflfbrt  was  not  crowned  with  success. 

It  was  followed  by  a  second  General  Synod,  held  on  the 
first  of  June,  in  the  same  year,  at  Petrikau.  This  body 
again  ratified  the  Consensus  Sendomirensis ;  forbade  com- 
municants to  remain  seated  when  receiving  the  elements 
of  the  Lord's  Supper,  but  otherwise  allowed  each  church 
to  maintain  its  own  ceremonies  at  this  sacrament ;  resolved 
that  any  church  connected  with  the  Sendomirian  union 
might,  with  the  consent  of  the  proper  authorities,  call  to  its 
service  a  minister  of  either  of  the  other  two  churches ; 
determined  to  establish  a  general  Protestant  school  for 
Poland  ;    and  adopted  a  number  of  other  regulations. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  393 

In  1574  the  Prussian  branch  of  the  Unity  came  to  an 
end.  After  the  death  of  Duke  Albert  (1568),  the  restrictions 
imposed  upon  the  Brethren  grew  more  and  more  irksome, 
until  at  last  their  ritual  was  altogether  forbidden.  There- 
upon the  majority  of  them  went  to  Poland ;  the  rest  returned 
to  Bohemia. 

The  vacancy  in  the  episcopate,  caused  by  the  death 
of  Bishop  Stephan,  was  filled  on  the  thirtieth  of  August 
1577,  when  Zacharias  and  John  Aeneas  were  elected.  They 
received  consecration  at  Holleschau,  at  the  hands  of  Israel 
and  Kalef.'^  Both  the  new  Bishops  were  set  over  the 
Moravian  Province.  Zacharias  took  up  his  seat  at  Slezan 
and  Aeneas  at  Eibenschiitz.  The  latter  was  a  very  learned 
man.^ 

^'  Jaffet's  S.  G.,  II,  p.  38.  Zacharias  was  born  at  Leitomischl ;  in  1552 
he  was  ordained  to  the  priesthood ;  in  1572  elected  to  the  Council. 

'*"  In  1572  he  was  ordained  a  deacon  on  one  day  and  a  priest  on  the 
next,  after  which  he  took  charge  of  the  parish  at  Trebitz  and  remained 
there  until  his  election  to  the  episcopacy. 


394  THE    HISTORY    OF 


CHAPTEE   XXXYII. 

Hymnology  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum.     A.  D.  1517-1580. 


The  Bohemian  Hymnal  of  1505.— The  German  of  1531  and  1540.— The 
Polish  of  1554. — New  and  enlarged  Hymnals  in  Bohemian,  German, 
and  Polish. 

One  of  the  most  attractive  features  in  the  history  of  the 
Bohemian  Brethren  is  their  hymnology.  It  beautifully 
illustrates  the  doctrinal  system  which  they  upheld,  and 
affords  an  insight  into  the  depths  of  their  Christian  life. 

As  their  Hymn-books  were  destroyed,  by  thousands,  in 
the  Anti-Reformation  and  the  copies  which  remain  are 
extremely  rare,  we  will,  at  some  length,  describe  the  principal 
editions. 

Of  the  first  Hymnal,  edited  in  Bohemian,  by  Bishop 
Luke,  in  1505,  and  containing  versions  of  old  Latin  hymns, 
too-ether  with  original  compositions,  we  have  spoken  in  a 
previous  chapter.^  It  was  republished  in  a  revised  form,  in 
1541,  at  Prague,  Bishop  Horn  being  its  editor  and  Paul 
Severin  its  printer. 

Out  of  it  grew  the  German  Hymnal,  edited  by  Michael 
Weiss,  published  at  Jungbunzlau  in  1531,  and  republished 
at    Ulm,  in    1535.2     It   bears   the   following    title:     1523. 

1  Vide  p.  226. 

"^  Michael  Weiss  was  born  at  Neisse,  in  Silesia.  He  founded  the 
churches  at  Landskron,  where  he  died  in  15b4,  and  at  Fulneck.  Having 
learned  the  Bohemian  language  he  translated  many  Bohemian  hymns  into 
German.  Luther  said  of  him  that  he  was  an  excellent  German  poet. 
German  Hymnal,  ed.  of  1639,  p.  482,  which  work  says  that  besides  the 
edition  of  1535,  two  others  were  published  at  Ulm.  But  these  undoubtedly 
are  editions  of  Horn's  revised  Hymnal. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  395 

Veritas  Odium  parit.     Elm  New  Gesangbiichlen.    MDXXXI. 

Venite  exultemus    Domino,    jubilemus    Deo    salutari    nostro. 
Psalm  95.      Veritas  vincit. 

"  1523.  The  Truth  produces  hatred.  A  new  Hymn-book. 
1531.  O  come,  let  us  sing  unto  the  Lord  ;  let  us  make  a  joyful 
noise  to  the  rock  of  our  salvation.  Psalm  95.  The  Truth 
conquers." 

The  colophon  reads :  Gedriickt  zum  Jungen  Buntzel 
in  Behnen.  Durch  Georgen  Wylensehioerer.  Im  Jar 
MCCCCCXXXL     Am  zwelften  Tag  des  Mertzen  volendet. 

"Printed  at  Jungbunzlau  in  Bohemia,  by  George  Wylen- 
schwerer,  in  the  year  1531.  Finished  on  the  twelfth  day  of 
March."  ^ 

This  work  contains  one  hundred  and  seventeen  hymns, 
mostly  translated  from  the  Bohemian,  and  classified  under 
seventeen  heads.  Along  with  the  hymns  are  printed  in 
full  the  notes  of  the  tunes — an  arrangement  which  is  kept 
up  in  all  the  subsequent  Hymnals.  The  dedication,  signed 
by  Michael  Weiss,  is  addressed  to  "  The  Churches  of  the 
Christian  Brotherhood  at  Fulneck  and  Landskron,"  and 
says: 

"Your  frequent  requests  have  induced  your  Seniors  and 
Pastors  to  supply  you,  our  German  brethren,  as  well  as  our 
Bohemian  brethren,  with  spiritual  songs.  The  compilation  of 
this  work  was  committed  to  me.  I  have  undertaken  it  to  the 
best  of  my  ability,  making  use  of  your  and  the  Bohemian 
brethren's  old  Hymnal,  and  bringing  its  meaning,  according 
to  the  sure  words  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  into  German  rhymes. 
The  syllables,  words  and  metre  I  have  arranged  in  such  a  way 
that  each  hymn  can  be  sung  according  to  the  notes  by  which  it 
is  accompanied.  These  hymns,  after  having  been  diligently 
revised,  corrected  and  improved,  have  now  been  published  by  the 
Seniors.  Therefore,  dear  brethren,  make  use  of  this  little  book 
and  pray  to  God  that  He  may  lay  upon  it  His  benediction." 

There  follows,  in  rhymes,  an  "  Exhortation  "  addressed  to 
the  reader,  to  praise  God  in  the  German  tongue. 

*  Of  this  Hymnal  the  Herrnhut  Archives  contain  a  copy,  whose  title  has 
been  transcribed  for  us.  What  the  figures  1523,  at  the  beginning  of  the 
title  signify,  we  do  not  know ;  nor  could  our  copyist  tell  us.  Our 
description   of  the   work   is  based   upon    Hist.    Nachricht    vom    Briider 

Gesangbuche,  Gnadui,  1835,  p.  16-18. 


396  THE    HISTORY    OF 

But  not  until  this  Hymnal  had  appeared  in  print  did  the 
Bishops  discover  that  Weiss  had  tampered  with  it,  setting 
forth,  as  he  had  done  in  the  German  version  of  the  Confession 
of  1532,  the  Zwinglian  view  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  He  was 
called  to  a  severe  account  and  directed  to  revise  the 
objectionable  hymns;  but  before  this  revision  was  completed, 
"  God  summoned  him  from  hence."  ■*  Thereupon  Bishop 
Horn  undertook  the  work,  assisted  by  two  other  Bishops ; 
and  in  1540  the  Hymnal  appeared  in  its  new  form. 

Its  title,  printed  partly  in  red  and  partly  in  black  letters, 
is  the  following :  Eln  Gesangbuch  der  Brilder  in  Behemen 
vnd  Merherrn,  Die  man  cms  hass  vnd  neyd,  Piekharden, 
Waldenses,  etc.,  nennet.  Von  jnen  auff  ein  newcs  {sonderlich 
vom  Sacrament  des  Nachtmals)  gebessert,  und  etliche  schone 
newe  geseng  hinzu  gethan. 

"  A  Hymn-book  of  the  Brethren  in  Bohemia  and  Moravia, 
who  through  hatred  and  envy  are  called  Picards,  Waldenses,  etc. 
Newly  revised  by  them  (especially  in  relation  to  the  Sacrament 
of  the  Lord's  Supper),  and  several  beautiful  new  hymns  added." 

Tliere  follow  three  x>assages  from  Scripture :  Psalm  68:5- 
Psalm  149  :  1 ;  Ephesians  5  :  19  and  20.  This  work,  as  the 
colophon  shows,  was  printed  at  Nuremberg  by  John  vom 
Bero;  and  Ulrich  Neuber. 

The  Preface  has  this  heading :  "  John  Horn  wishes  the 
Christian  reader  grace  and  peace  through  Jesus  Christ  our 
Lord ;"  and  explains  how  Weiss  succeeded  in  interpolating 
his  Zwinglian  tendencies.  Horn  assumes  part  of  the  blame. 
He  revised  the  hymns  translated  from  the  Bohemian,  but 
allowed  such  as  were  original  to  go  to  the  printer  without 
revision  or  examination.  This  he  did  because  Weiss' 
knowledge  of  the  German  was  far  superior  to  his  own. 
Hence  that  representation  of  the  Lord's  Supper  which  is 
contrary  to  the  long-established  principles  of  the  Brethren. 
Speaking  of  the  new  Hymnal  Horn  says  : 


*  Bishop   Horn's   words   in   the   Preface  to  the  revised  Hymnal.     His 
censure  of  Weiss  is  harsh. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHUKCH.  397 

"  It  has  been  our  chief  aim  to  let  every  one  fully  and  clearly 
understand  what  our  views  are  with  regard  to  the  articles 
of  Christian  faith ;  also  how  and  in  what  way,  in  our  assemblies, 
we  praise,  honor,  and  call  upon  God  the  Father,  together  with 
His  beloved  Son,  Christ  Jesus,  and  the  Holy  Ghost.  And  now, 
in  all  kindness,  we  would  request  such  printers  as  will  republish 
this  Hymnal,  not  to  change  its  sense ;  not  to  add  syllables  to, 
and  not  to  take  syllables  from,  the  words,  as  was  done  in  the 
former  edition;  not  to  mix  strange  hymns  with  these  our  hymns  ; 
but  to  let  this  Hymnal  be  and  remain  our  Hymnal.  As  such 
we  acknowledge  it." 

The  table  of  contents  embraces  the  following  twenty-three 
heads : 

1.  Incarnation  of  Christ ;  2.  His  Birth;  3.  His  Circumcision ; 
4.  His  Manifestation  to  the  Gentiles ;  5.  His  Presentation  at 
the  Temple ;  6.  His  Walk  on  Earth  ;  7.  His  Triumphal  Entry 
into  Jerusalem  ;  8.  His  Sufferings  and  Death  ;  9.  His  Resurrec- 
tion; 10.  His  Ascension  ;  11.  The  Holy  Ghost ;  12.  The  Holy 
Trinity;  13.  The  Holy  Christian  Church;  14.  Didactic  Hymns; 
15.  The  Lord's  Supper;  16.  Hymns  of  Praise;  17.  Hymns 
of  Prayer;  18.  Morning  and  Evening  Hymns;  19.  Hymns 
for  the  Fallen;  20.  Hymns  for  Children;  21.  The  Saints; 
22.  Funeral  Hymns ;    23.  The  Judgment. 

There  are  one  hundred  and  eighty  hymns — sixty-three 
more  than  in  Weiss'  edition,  most  of  the  new  hymns  being 
translations  from  the  Bohemian.  The  book  is  a  small  octavo 
of  five  hundred  and  eight  pages,  and  is  illustrated  with 
sixteen  wood-cuts.^ 

In  the  year  1554  the  Brethren  published,  at  Ostrorog, 
their  first  Polish  Hymnal.  It  was  compiled  and  edited  by 
George  Israel. 

Thus  they  had  a  complete  hymnology,  in  the  three 
languages  of  the  Unity — the  Bohemian,  German,  and  Polish. 
The  German  Hymn-book,  which  was  extensively  used  in 
Germany  also,  passed  through  several  editions  at  Ulm  and 
Nuremberg. 

^  The  copy  which  we  have  described  above  is  No.  765  of  the  Malin 
Library.  Although  the  year  of  its  publication  is  not  given,  internal 
evidence  shows  that  it  is  a  copy  of  Horn's  original  edition  of  1540.  The 
same  Library  contains  a  Nuremberg  reprint  of  1611.  Our  own  Library 
contains  a  copy  printed,  without  the  wood-cuts,  at  the  same  place,  in  1585. 


398  THE    HISTORY    OF 

The  year  1560  marks  an  era  iu  the  hyranology  of  the 
Brethren.  They  determined  to  publish  new  and  larger 
Hymnals,  "adapted  to  the  spirit  of  the  age,"  and  yet  not 
disconnected  with  the  past.  Their  fathers,  it  was  said,  had 
exercised  the  greatest  care  in  choosing  hymns  "  which  would 
cause  the  minds  of  the  singers  to  flow  together  in  the  unity 
of  the  divine  truth;"  therefore  of  these  hymns  the  best 
should  be  retained.  But  there  existed  also  a  large  number 
of  new  ones;  hence  of  these  too  a  good  selection  should  be 
made.  Thus  the  old  and  the  new  would  be  brought  into 
harmony;  the  churches  would  be  edified;  and  God  would 
have  the  praise.  This  important  work  was  intrusted,  by  the 
Synod,  to  "  several  tried  men  of  the  Unity ."^ 

'  Czerny  and  Blahoslaw  were  charged  with  the  revision 
of  the  Bohemian  Hymnal.  In  1561  the  new  work  appeared 
at  Samter,  iu  Poland.     Its  title  is  the  following : 

Pisne  Duehownj  Eioangelistke,  opet  znowu  prehbdnute, 
zprawene  a  shromazdene :  etc. 

"Evangelical  spiritual  Hymns,  revised,  emended  and  collected : 
many  new  ones  having  been  composed  on  the  basis  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  to  the  glory  and  praise  of  the  one  eternal  God  and 
of  the  blessed  Trinity.  Also  to  be  an  Aid  and  a  Comfort  in 
the  service  of  true  Christian  godliness ;  for  all  Believers  who 
love  the  Bohemian  Nation  and  Tongue." 

The  book  is  a  small  folio,  contains  three  hundred  and 
seventy-six  pages,  and  seven  hundred  and  forty-three  hymns.^ 
Its  Preface  was  written  by  John  Blahoslaw  and  is  signed : 
"  The  Seniors  of  those  Brethren  of  the  Law  of  Christ  whom 
some,  through  ignorance  or  hatred,  call  Picards  or  Waldenses." 
There  were  forty  contributors  to  the   hymns;    the   largest 

«  L.  F.,  TX,  pp.  318,  etc.,  E.'s  Z.,  p.  397,  etc.,  gives  the  substance  of  the 
above ;  adduces  the  names  of  all  the  authors  whose  hymns  found  a  place 
in  the  new  Bohemian  Hymnal ;  sets  forth  brief  biographical  notices  with 
regard  to  these  authors ;  and  appends  to  their  names  the  numbers  of  the 
hymns  which  they  composed. 

■^  There  is  a  copy  of  an  early  edition,  printed  in  1564,  in  the  Herrnhut 
Archives.  The  Malin  Library  contains  a  beautiful  copy,  folio,  bound  in 
parchment,  with  clasps,  and  printed  in  1615.  The  Psalms  in  metre  are 
added,  translated  by  George  Vetter,  and  each  part  of  the  Hymnal  has  a 
separate  and  highly  ornamented  title  page. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  399 

number  having  been  composed  by  Bishops  Luke,  Augusta, 
Michaiek,  and  Blahoslaw.  Other  well-known  names  are: 
Hus,  Ciklovvsky,  Krasonicky,  John  Taborsky,  Czerny, 
Cerwenka,  Adam  Sturm,  Rokita,  and  even  Rokycana. 

In  the  next  place  a  new  German  Hymnal  was  compiled. 
This  work  was  intrusted  to  Michael  Tham,  John  Geletzky, 
and  Peter  Herbert,  whom  names  are  appended  to  the  Preface. 
These  three  editors  contributed  together  one  hundred  and 
fifty-three  hymns;  the  rest  were  composed  or  translated  by 
Weiss,  Horn,  John  Giskius,  Paul  KlantendoriFer,  John 
Korytanski,  Syrutschko,  Valentine  Schultz,  Martin  Zitta- 
viensis,  George  Vetter,  or  Streic,  Martin  Polycarp  of  Hradek, 
and  Luke  Libaviensis.^ 

The  work  appeared  in  1566  and  bears  the  following  title, 
which  is  highly  ornamented  with  arabesques,  the  letters  being 
partly  red  and  partly  black : 

Kirchengeseng,  Darinnen  die  Heuptartickel  des  Christlichen 
Glaubens  kurtz  gefasst  vnd  aussgeleget  sind:  Jetzt  vom  newen 
durchsehen,  gemehret,  vnd  Der  Rom.  Key.  Mai.  in  vnterthen- 
igster  demut  zugesehrieben. 

"Church  Hymns,  in  which  the  chief  Articles  of  the  Christian 
Faith  are  briefly  defined  and  explained :  Now  newly  revised 
and  enlarged,  and  dedicated,  in  deepest  humility,  to  his  Koman 
Imperial  Majesty." 

The  colophon  says :  "  Printed  at  Nuremberg,  by  Catharine 

Gerlach  and  the  Heirs  of  John  vom  Berg."  ^ 

*  Verzeychniss  derer  Personen,  welche  die  Bohmischen  Gesiinge  in 
Deutsche  Eeymen  iibergesetzt,  und  also  dieses  Cantional  verfertigt  haben. 
Edition  of  1639,  pp.  482  and  483.  Michael  Tham  was  a  German,  an 
upright,  pious,  examplary  and  very  diligent  old  priest,  ordained  in  1534. 
He  had  charge  of  the  churches  at  Fulneck  and  Landskron,  labored  also 
at  Jungbunzlau  and  in  Poland,  and  died  at  Fulneck,  August  the  twenty- 
seventh,  1571.  Geletzky  was  a  faithful  priest  who  had  charge  of  the 
churches  at  Fulneck  and  Grodlitz,  in  Bohemia.  He  died  in  1568.  The 
rest  were  all  ministers  or  students  of  the  Unity. 

'  The  copy  which  we  describe  is  No.  100,  a,  of  the  MalinLibrary  and  was 
printed  in  1580,  but  it  prestents  the  same  appearance  as  the  copies 
of  1564.  The  Malin  Library  copy  is  bound  in  a  sheet  of  parchment,  on 
which  are  written,  in  illuminated  characters,  the  notes  and  words  of  an  old 
chant. 


400  THE    HISTORY    OF 

This  Hymnal  consists  of  three  parts.     The  first  comprises, 

so  says  the  Preface,  "hymns  in  relation  to  Christ  and  His 

work,  describing  His  life  and  our   redemption;    the  second 

includes  the  chief  points  of  Christian  doctrine,  according  to 

the  contents  and  order  of  that  Christian  Faith  which  is  called 

the  Symbolum  Apostolieum;'''  the  third  is  made  up  of  "  Spiritual 

Hymns,  of  which  some  were  commonly  used  in  the  Church 

from  of  old,  and  others  have  been  composed,  in  our  time, 

by  pious,  enlightened  Christians  and  by  godly  teachers,"     In 

the  first  part  we  find  the  following  thirteen  heads : 

1.  Christ's  Incarnation  ;  2.  His  Birth  ;  2.  His  Circumcision  ; 
4.  His  Manifestation  to  the  Magi ;  5.  His  Presentation  at  the 
Temple;  6.  His  Fhght  into  Egypt;  7.  His  human  Growth 
8.  His  Conversation  in  His  twelfth  Year ;  9.  His  Human  Life 
and  Ministry;  10.  His  Sufferings,  Death  and  Burial;  11.  His 
Resurrection;    12.  His  Ascension ;    13.  The  Holy  Ghost. 

In  the  second  part,  which  has  an  ornamented  title  page 

of  its  own,  there  are  twenty-two  heads : 

1.  The  One  Triune  God;  2.  Creation  ;  3.  The  Angels;  4.  The 
Fall  of  Man;  5.  The  Law;  6.  Christ  the  only  Mediator;  7.  The 
Church;  8.  The  Servants  of  the  Church;  9.  The  Word  of  God; 
10.  Faith;  11.  Repentance;  12.  Prayer;  13.  Justification; 
14.  The  Sacraments;  15.  Christian  Life;  16.  Marriage;  17.  The 
Civil  Power;  18.  Mortality;  19.  Funeral  Hymns ;  20.  Resur- 
rection of  the  Dead;  21.  The  Last  Judgment;  22.  Eternal  Life. 

These  two  parts  together  comprise  three  hundred  and 
forty-five  hymns ;  in  the  third  part,  which  has  both  a  title 
and  paging  of  its  own,  are  given  one  hundred  and  eight 
hymns,  mostly  by  Luther;  hence  there  are,  in  all,  four 
hundred  and  fifty-three  hymns.  The  volume  is  a  quarto 
of  six  hundred  and  twenty  pages,  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
two  of  which  belong  to  the  third  part. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  Dedication  stands  the  following 
greeting :  "  The  Evangelical  churches  in  Bohemia  and 
Moravia  (which  by  some  are  called  Waldenses)  invoke  grace 
and  peace  from  God  the  Father  and  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
upon  the  most  serene,  the  most  powerful  and  the  invincible 
Prince  and  Lord,  Maximilian  of  this  name  the  Second, 
Roman  Emperor,  King  of  Hungary  and  Bohemia,  Archduke 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  401 

of  Austria/'  etc.  The  Dedication  itself  is  a  fervent  protesta- 
tion of  loyalty  and  an  earnest  plea  for  protection,  setting 
forth  also  the  importance  of  hyninology  in  the  Church  of 
Christ. 

In  the  Preface  the  editors,  first,  speak  of  the  wonderful 
works  of  God  in  all  ages  of  His  Church.  Then  they  go 
on  to  say :  Of  such  works  there  has  been  given  an  example, 
"  in  these  countries  toward  the  north,  in  as  much  as  God, 
prior  to  our  time,  raised  up  that  beloved  man,  John  Hus, 
the  Bohemian  Apostle,  the  steadfast  confessor  and  martyr  ; 
and  after  him,  in  our  time,  that  excellent  teacher  and  prophet 
of  the  German  country,  Martin  Luther,  through  both  of 
whom  He  has  renewed  the  Church ;"  in  as  much  as  these  two 
distinguished  men  were  closely  allied  in  the  character  of 
their  undertakings,  their  descendants  ought  to  live  in  loving 
fellowship;  Hus  introduced  church-hymns  in  the  vernacular 
as  a  means  to  carry  on  his  reformation;  his  descendants 
developed  both  hymnology  and  singing  in  a  way  never  before 
known;  this  new  collection  of  their  spiritual  songs  is  to  set 
forth  clearly  the  doctrines  of  the  Evangelical  Bohemian 
Church ;  the  old  songs  of  praise,  which  the  Church  used  in 
ancient  days,  have  been  gathered  as  precious  crumbs ; 
modern  hymns,  by  distinguished  writers,  have  been  added, 
but  in  a  separate  part,  so  that  the  Brethren  may  not  be 
accused  of  appropriating  to  themselves  the  work  done  by 
others;  this  new  Hymnal  is  offered  not  only  to  their  own 
German  churches,  but  also  to  the  evangelical  churches  of 
Germany  itself. 

Last  of  all  the  Polish  Hymn-book  was  revised  and 
enlarged.     It  appeared,  in  its  new  form,  in  1569. 

The  works  which  we  have  now  described  were  frequently 
republished,  always  in  small  folio  or  quarto  form,  and 
remained  in  use  as  long  as  the  Bohemian  Brethren  continued 
to  exist.^°     A  large  number  of  their  German  hymns  passed 

^^  In  1604  and  1605  a  revision  of  the  German  Hymnal  was  again  under- 
taken by  Martin  Polycarp,  of  Hradeck,  who  added  thirty-two  hymns  of  his 
own.     This  work  appeared   in  1606.      Malin  Library,  No.  100,  b.     The 
26 


402  THE    HISTORY    OF 

into  the  Hymnals  published  by  their  descendants  of  the 
Renewed  Unitas  Fratrum." 

What  the  Hymnals  say  with  regard  to  the  general  character 
of  the  songs  of  the  Brethren,  is  still  more  clearly  set  forth  by 
Bishop  Stephan,  who  adds  important  information  touching 
the  tunes.  In  that  letter  to  the  Elector  Frederick  the  Third 
of  the  Palatinate,  which  we  have  mentioned  in  another 
connection,  he  writes : 

"  Our  fathers  have  taught  us  not  only  to  preach  the  doctrines 
of  religion  from  the  pulpit,  but  also  to  frame  them  in  hymns. 
In  this  way  our  songs  become  homilies.  Experience  having 
shown  us  that  this  principle  bears  good  fruits  among  the 
Bohemians,  we  have  introduced  it  among  the  Germans  also. 
Some  of  our  hymns  date  back  to  the  time  of  Hus  and  the 
Taborites ;  others  are  new,  and  among  these  several  have  been 
composed  by  noblemen."     Our  tunes  are,  in  part,  the  old  Grego- 

arabesques  of  the  title  page  are  different  from  those  of  the  former  edition 
at  the  top  of  the  page  stands  the  name  Jehovah,  in  Hebrew  characters  ; 
at  the  bottom  is  an  Agnus  Dei,  surrounded  by  crowned  saints  singing  and 
playing  the  harps  of  God ;  the  Preface  is  not  signed  by  the  three  editors, 
but  by  "  The  Seniors  and  Ministers  of  the  churches  of  the  Brethren  in 
Bohemia,  Moravia  and  Poland ;"  and  the  first  part,  as  well  as  the  second 
and  third,  has  an  ornamented  title  page  of  its  own,  in  addition  to  the 
g  neral  title.  A  second  copy  of  the  same  edition,  with  the  Psalms  in  metre 
appended,  is  preserved  in  the  Bethlehem  Archives.  This  copy  has  an 
interesting  history.  It  was  carried  by  Paul  Miinster,  strapped  to  his  back 
from  Moravia  to  Herrnhut,  in  Saxony,  in  1729,  when  he  fled  for  the 
Gospel's  sake.  He  deemed  it  his  greatest  treasure ;  all  his  other  possessions 
he  left  behind.  In  the  Library  of  the  Moravian  Historical  Society,  at 
Nazareth,  there  is  a  copy  printed  at  Lissa,  in  1639.  This  edition  was 
revised  by  Daniel  Vetter. 

"  Croeger,  I,  p.  235,  etc.,  and  II,  p.  Ill,  etc.,  gives  fifty-nine  hymns 
of  the  Bohemian  Brethren  found  in  the  various  German  Hymnals  of  the 
Renewed  Brethren's  Church.  There  are  many  more.  The  American 
edition  of  the  English  Hymnal  contains  the  following  seven:  Nos.  2,  37, 
54,  174,  228,  828,  and  922.  The  following  additional  hymns  are  given  in 
the  Second  Series  of  Catharine  Winkworth's  Lyra  Germanica:  "Once  more 
the  day-light  shines  abroad,"  p.  69 ;  "  Now  lay  we  calmly  in  the  grave," 
p.  117;  "  Faith  is  a  living  power  from  heaven,"  p.  160. 

^*  An  interesting  example  is  the  Hymn  We  gmeno  Kryda  daufame, 
("We  hope  in  the  name  of  Christ,")  Boh.  Hymnal,  1615,  p.  378,  composed 
by  Barons  Krajek,  Prostiborsky,  Tym,  and  Bishop  Augusta  conjointly, 
in  1535,  when  they  were  about  to  go  to  Vienna  to  present  the  Confession 
to  Ferdinand. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  403 

rian,  which  Hus  used,  and  in  part  bori'owed  from  foreign  nations, 
especially  the  Germans.  Among  these  latter  tunes  are  popular 
airs  according  to  which  worldly  songs  are  sung.  At  this 
strangers,  coming  from  countries  where  they  have  heard  them 
used  in  this  way,  take  offence.  But  our  hymnologists  have 
purposely  adopted  them,  in  order  through  these  popular  notes  to 
draw  the  people  to  the  truth  which  saves.  We  find  no  fault 
with  intentions  which  are  so  good."  '^ 

To  a  musically  uncultured  ear  the  tunes  are  not  euphonious ; 
and  the  versification  of  the  German  hymns,  on  account  of 
their  literal  rendering  from  the  Bohemian,  is  often  hard  and 
rough.  Nevertheless  both  tunes  and  hymns  have  excited, 
even  in  modern  times,  profound  admiration.  Herder,  than 
whom  no  writer  of  the  last  century  had  a  more  thorough 
knowledge  of  sacred  poetry,  says : 

"  The  hymns  of  the  Bohemian  Brethren  are  instinct  with  a 
simplicity  and  devotion,  with  a  fervor  and  spirit  of  brotherly 
love,  which  we  must  not  hope  to  imitate,  because  these 
characteristics  no  longer  exist  among  us."  " 

Doring,  another  authority,  says : 

"  It  is  the  duty  of  the  conscientious  hymnologist  to  point  to 
the  old  songs  of  the  Brethren,  which  constitute  a  precious 
treasury  of  tunes  that  can  not  be  sufficiently  extolled.  *  *  * 
Few  composers  have  been  able  to  strike,  with  the  same  correctness 
and  effect  as  was  done  in  the  songs  of  these  little  churches,  the 
tone  of  a  piety  strong  in  its  faith,  of  an  earnestness  which  ever 
reproved  sin,  of  prayers  that  were  most  fervent,  and  of  a  joy 
that  was  godly.  *  *  *  To  render  these  songs,  or  even  a 
mere  selection  of  them,  more  accessible,  would  be  a  meritorious 
work." '' 

In  response  to  this  suggestion  John  Zahn  has  published 
such  a  selection,  both  of  hymns  and  tunes.  The  latter  are, 
to  some  extent,  modernized.     In  his  Preface  he  says  :  ^® 


"  Epistola  Fr.,  etc.,  de  cantionibus,  Camerarius,  p.  286. 

"  Croeger,  II,  p.  110. 

'*  Doring's  Choralkunde,  p.  61.,  cited  by  Zahn. 

'®  Zahn's  Geistliche  Lieder  d.  Briider.  Nuremberg,  1875.  Two  of  the 
old  tunes  are  retained  in  the  German  Moravian  Tune  Book  of  the  present 
day,  namely  69  and  520. 


404  THE    HISTORY  OF 

"  No  other  songs  express,  in  so  touching  and  childlike  a  way, 
a  consciousness  of  the  necessity  of  redemption,  joy  in  the  Gospel 
of  the  Incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God,  earnestness  in  the  con- 
flicts for  holiness,  and  trust  in  the  aid  of  God  amidst  all  the 
trials  of  earth.  As  to  the  tunes,  many  of  them  bear  a  character 
peoiiliarly  their  own.  When  heard  for  the  first  time,  they  sound 
strange ;  but  the  oftener  they  are  sung  the  deeper  they  pene- 
trate the  heart.  Hence  they  are  classed,  by  all  connoisseurs 
of  evangelical  psalmody,  among  the  noblest  productions  of 
music." 

If  we  turn  to  the  time  in  which  the  hymns  of  the  Brethren 
were  still  in  use,  we  will  hear  from  various  sides,  but  with  one 
voice,  testimony  of  the  same  kind. 

Joachim  Camerarius,  the  distinguished  Leipzig  Professor, 
writes  to  Cepolla,  that  he  uses  the  new  Hymnal  with  which 
he  has  been  presented  almost  daily,  and  that  he  and  his 
family  often  unite  in  its  songs.^*^ 

Lasitius  describes  the  impression  which  the  singing  of  the 
Brethren  made  upon  him,  by  applying  to  himself  the  words 
of  St.  Paul  ill  his  first  epistle  to  the  Corinthians  (14:  25): 
*'And  so,  falling  down  on  his  face,  he  will  worship  God, 
and  report  that  God  is  in  you  of  a  truth." 

In  dedicating  his  exposition  of  the  Psalms  to  Baron  John 
von  Zerotin,  Esrom  Riidinger  gives  expression  to  the  follow- 
ing sentiments : 

"  Your  churches  surpass  all  others  in  singing.  For  where 
else  are  songs  of  praise,  of  thanksgiving,  of  prayer  and  instruc- 
tion so  often  heard  ?  Where  is  there  better  singing  ?  The  newest 
edition  of  the  Bohemian  Hymn  Book,  with  its  seven  hundred 
and  forty-three  hymns,  is  an  evidence  of  the  multitude  of  your 
songs;  and  yet  double  that  number  have  never  been  printed. 
Three  hundred  and  forty-six  have  been  rendered  into  German ; 
I  wish  that  all  the  rest  might  be  translated.  If  I  understood 
Bohemian,  I  would  not  wish  or  ask  it,  but  do  it.  There  is  no 
doubt  with  regard  to  the  character  of  the  hymns  and  the  sing- 
ing. Your  churches  sing  what  you  teach,  and  many  of  the 
hymns  are  real  homilies.  And  since  the  people  can  be  best 
taught  by  hymns,  why  should  these  not  contain  all  the  essential 
doctrines?  Another  advantage  which  your  churches  enjoy,  is, 
that  the  whole  congregation  sings  and  thus  takes  part  in  the 

"  Hist.  Nachricht,  pp.  22  and  23. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  405 

worship  of  God.  That  which,  in  the  Hebrew  Psalms,  seems  to 
be  beyond  imitation,  has  been  best  imitated  in  the  hymns  of  the 
Brethren.  Therefore  I  was  deeply  moved  when  as  a  stranger, 
I,  for  the  first  time,  heard  your  hymns  and  found  that  they  were 
used  not  only  in  public  assemblies,  but  also  in  the  family-circle 
— in  your  own  house  and  in  other  noble  houses — at  morning 
and  evening  worship,  before  and  after  meals,  with  a  devotion 
w^hich,  in  your  own  case  in  particular,  was  most  exemplary."  ^* 

Peter  von  Chlumecky,  a  Moravian  writer  of  the  present 
(lay,  adds: 

"  The  wonderful  songs  in  the  Hymnals  of  the  Brethren  set 
forth  the  ideal  picture  of  the  Slavonian's  inner  life.  The  deep 
religious  spirit  of  the  people  was  poured  out  in  these  lays, 
which  lifted  the  soul  of  the  singer  up  to  God.  Like  the  old 
epics  these  Hymnals  were  not  the  work  of  a  single  mind  ;  the 
people  helped  to  edit  them.  Therefore  it  may,  with  great  pro- 
priety, be  asserted  that  in  these  Hymnals  was  contained  the 
history  of  the  religious  development  and  of  the  poesia  sacra 
of  the  Slavonians  of  Moravia.  They  were  a  blossom  of  the 
national  life ;  when  this  ceased  to  pulsate,  those  songs  grew 
silent.^* 

Chlumecky's  words,  when  compared  with  Riidinger's 
description,  show  how  great  must  have  been  the  influence 
which  the  hymns  of  the  Brethren  exercised  upon  the  popular 
mind.  They  used  that  gift  of  song  with  which  the  Czechs, 
in  all  periods  of  their  history,  have  been  endowed,  to  the 
edification  of  the  Church,  to  the  aAvakening  of  the  religious 
consciousness  of  the  nation,  to  the  glory  of  God.  In  the 
cottage  of  the  peasant,  in  the  home  of  the  burgher,  in  the 
ancient  castle  of  the  baron,  were  heard  the  songs  of  Zion, 
strengthening  faith,  enlivening  hope,  inspiring  love,  giving 
tone  to  daily  life. 


'*  Hist.  Nachricht,  p.  23,  etc. ;  Croeger,  II,  p.  109,  etc.  In  the  chapels 
the  singing  was  led  by  a  precentor.  There  was  no  instrumental  accompani- 
ment. 

^^  Chlumecky's  Carl  v.  Zerotin  u.  s.  Zeit,  p.  266. 


406  THE    HISTORY    OP 


CHAPTEE  XXXYin. 

The  Catechisms,  Other  Literary  Works,  and  the  Schools  of 
the  Unitas  Fratrum.     A.D.  1517-1580. 


Catechisms  of  1522,  1554,  and  1616. — Blahoslaw's  New  Testament  and 
other  Works. — Sermons.  —  Metrical  Psalms.  —  Histories.  —  Publication 
Offices. — Schools. — College  at  Eibenschiitz. — Schools  in  Poland. 

In   point   of  importance   the   Catechisms  of    the   Unitas 

Fratrum  rank  next  to  its  Hymnals.     Of  the  first  Catechism, 

which   was   published  in    1505,  but  is  now   lost,  we  have 

spoken  in  another  connection.     The  second  was  written,  in 

Bohemian,  by  Bishop  Luke  in  1521,  and  in  the  same  year 

translated   into   German,   probably   by   John   Horn.      Both 

versions  appeared  in  1522.     This  was  the  Catechism  which 

led  to  the  controversy  between  Luke  and  Luther.^     It  was 

published    in    octavo   form   and    bears   the   folloAving   title: 

Ein  christliche  vnterweysung  Der  klaynen  Kinder  jm  Gelauben, 

durch  ein  weyss  einer  Frag.     M.D.XXIJ. 

"  Christian  Instruction  in  the  Faith,  in  the  Form  of  Questions, 
for  little  Children.     1522." 

This  Catechism  originally  had   seventy-six  questions  and 

answers.     The  first  five  are  the  following : 

1.  WJiat  art  thouf  A  rational  creature  of  God  and  a  mortal. 
2.  Why  did  God  create  theef  That  I  should  know  and  love  Him, 
and  having  the  love  of  God,  that  I  should  be  saved.  3.  Upon 
what  does  thy  salvation  depend  f  Upon  three  divine  graces. 
4.  Name  these  graces.  Faith,  love,  and  hope.  5.  Prove  this. 
St.  Paul  says:  "And  now  abideth  faith,  hope,  and  charity,  but 
the  greatest  of  these  is  charity." 

'  Vide  pp.  226  and  234  of  this  History. 


TilE    MORAVIAN    CHUKCII.  407 

Tlie  remaining  questions  and  answers  treat  of  faitli ;  of  tlie 
commandments ;  of  love ;  of  salvation  and  eternal  life ;  of 
tlie  Trinity ;  of  honoring  God ;  of  prayer ;  of  the  Virgin 
and  the  Saints;  of  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper; 
of  the  service  of  God  ;  of  false  and  true  hope ;  of  mortal 
affections ;  and  of  the  unity  of  believers.  In  the  course  of 
the  work  are  introduced  the  Apostles'  Creed,  the  Ten 
Commandments,  the  Beatitudes,  and  the  Lord's  Prayer.^ 

The  next  Catechism  of  Avhicli  we  have  any  knowledge 
was  orio^inally  written  in  Bohemian  and  translated  into 
German  in  1554,  by  John  George,  who  dedicated  it  to 
Duke  Albert  of  East  Prussia.  Its  title  is  the  following: 
Catechismus  Der  Bechtghubigen  Behemischen  Bruder,  Welclie 
der  Antichrist  mit  seinem  Gotlosen  anlicmg  verfolget,  vnd  auss 
Teuffelschem  eingeben,  Hass,  Neid,  vnd  vnrcarheit  fur  Ver- 
filhrer,  Ficcarden,  vnd  Waldenser,  etc.,  schilt  vnd  lestcrt,  Alien 
rechtscliaffenen  gleubigen  ziim  trost  vnd  ivareni  Bericht,  Ver- 
deutscht  Durch  Johannem  Gyrc'k,  Strelnensem,  Pfarlierrn  zu 
Neidenburgh,  in  Brcvsscn,  3T.D.LIIII. 

*  The  oldest  copy  known  to  exist  belongs  to  the  Royal  Library  of  Dres- 
den, and  is  rejiroduced  by  Zezsclnvitz  in  his  Katecliisnien  d.  Waldenser  u. 
Boh.  Bruder,  pp.  39-57.  This  copy  has  seventy-five  questions  and  answers; 
but  it  omits  tlie  sixty-first,  to  which  Luther  took  exception  and  which 
.  treats  of  honoring  Christ  in  the  Lord's  Supper.  In  the  edition  of  1531, 
found  in  Ehwalt,  pp.  353-377,  No.  61  is  reinserted,  and  the  title  says  that 
this  edition  is  a  faithful  reprint  of  the  original,  whereas  other  reprints 
have  been  tampered  with.  Ehwalt's  numbers,  however,  are  wrong  and 
Nos.  63  and  64  have  been  omitted,  evidently  through  an  inadvertence. 
Zezschwitz  devotes  his  work  to  a  comparison  of  this  C'atecliism  with  that 
of  the  Waldenses,  to  which  he  assigns  tlie  year  1498  as  its  date.  He 
asserts  that  the  latter  is  the  source  from  which  the  former  was  taken ; 
and  intimates  that  the  visit  of  Bishop  Luke  to  the  AValdeuses,  in  1497  and 
1498,  led  him  to  write  a  new  Catechism.  Such  a  position,  according  to 
Palacky's  Waldenser,  pp.  34  and  36,  is  untenable  ("ganz  u.  gar  ohne  Be- 
griindung").  Lideed  the  latest  researches  in  the  field  of  AValdensian 
literature  render  it  far  more  probable  that  the  Waldenses  based  their 
Catechism  upon  that  of  the  Brethren.  Many  parts  of  the  tAvo  Catechisms 
are  identical.  It  is  not  unlikely  that  the  foundation  of  that  of  the 
Bretliren  is  a  Catechism  discovered  by  Palacky  and  supposed  to  have 
been  written  by  John  Hus.  (Documenta  Hus,  pp.  708-712.)  Compare 
The  Catechism  of  tlie  Boh.  Brethren,  by  E.  de  Scliweinitz.  Bethlehem.  1869. 


408  THE    JJIHTOKV    OF 

"Catechism  of  the  orthodox  Bohemian  Brethren,  whom 
Antichrist  with  his  wicked  followers  jjersecutes,  and  insj)ired 
by  the  devil,  by  hatred,  envy,  and  lies,  reviles  and  slanders  as 
Seducers,  Picards,  and  Waldenses,  etc.  In  order  that  all 
upright  believers  may  receive  comfort  and  a  true  report,  trans- 
lated into  German  by  John  George,  of  Strehlen,  Minister  at 
Neidenburg,  in  Prussia.     1554."  ^ 

On  the  reverse  of  the  title-page  are  printed  the  twenty^ 
second  and  twenty-third  verses  of  the  sixth  chapter  of  St. 
Luke's  Gospel :  there  follow  the  Dedication  to  Duke  Albert, 
signed  by  John  George;  extracts  from  the  thirty-third  chapter 
of  Ezekiel,  from  the  third  chapter  of  St.  Peter's  first  epistle, 
from  the  fifteenth  chapter  of  Jeremiah ;  and  the  "  Preface  of 
the  Seniors  of  the  Brethren."  In  this  Preface  they  say,  that 
that  pure  and  true  Christian  doctrine,  without  any  hurtful 
human  additions,  wiiich  the  Catechism  sets  forth,  they  hold 
to  be  the  doctrine  of  God  to  which  the  Holy  Sciiptures  bear 
testimony.  The  work  contains  one  hundred  and  eighty-seven 
questions  and  answers.  In  1560  appeared  a  second  part  with 
the  following  title : 

Das  ander  theil  des  Jleyllgen  Catechismi,  Das  ist:  Lehre 
%md  Beincht  von  dcr  Heyligen  Tauff,  Beicht,  Vergebung  {oder 
Aufflosung)  der  S'llnden,  vnd  dem  Abentmal  des  Her r en, 
Dessgleichen  von  der  ewigen  Seligkeit,  eic.  Gezogen  aus  ge- 
meiner  Lehr  der  RecMgleuhigen  Behemischen  Bruder,  fur  die' 
Jungen  Christen,  Durch  Johannem  Gyrclc  von  Strelen,  etc. 
Psalm  IIG :  Ich  gleuhe,  Darub  rede  icli,  Ich  werde  aber  sehr 
geplagt.  GedrucJd  zn  Konigsperg  in  Preussen,  Durch  Johann 
Daubman.  M.D.LX. 

"  The  other  part  of  the  Holy  Catechism.  That  is :  The 
Doctrine  and  Exposition  of  Holy  Baptism,  of  Confession,  of 
Forgiveness  of  Sins,  and  of  the  Supper  of  the  Lord,  also  of 
eternal  Salvation,  etc.  Drawn  from  the  doctrines  of  the  orthodox 
Bohemian  Brethren,  for  young  Christians.  By  John  George,  of 
Strehlen,  etc.  Psalm  116 :  I  believed,  therefore  have  I  spoken  : 
I  was  greatly  afflicted.  Printed  at  Konigsberg  in  Prussia,  by 
John  Daubman.     1560." 

^  Given  by  Ehwalt,  pp.  1-290,  wlio  adds,  page  for  page,  a  Latin  version 
wliicli  he  found,  in  manuscript,  in  the  Ivihrarv  of  Dantzic. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  409 

Tills  worlv  enil)races  sixty-five  questious  aud  answers  relat- 
ing to  the  subjects  set  forth  iu  the  title.  There  are  appended 
instructions  as  to  the  use  of  the  Lord's  Prayer,  as  also 
"Passages  from  the  Holy  Gospels"  for  the  comfort  of  all 
Christians.^ 

Finally,  although  it  belongs  to  a  later  period,  we  adduce 
the  Latin  Catechism.     It  bears  the  following:  title : 

Catechesis  Cliristiana,  ad  lustifuendam  piam  Juventidem 
Gonscripta;  in  qua  summa  docirince  Dei proponitur  et  e.iplicatur. 
Ex  Boemico  idiomate  in  latinum  translata.  Anno  Domini: 
M.DC.XVI.  The  colophon  says:  Hmdeci  cis  Albim.  In 
OJicina  typograpjhica  Martini  Kleimcechteri. 

"Christian  Catechism,  written  for  the  Instruction  of  pious 
Youth  ;  in  which  the  substance  of  the  Doctrines  of  God  are 
set  forth  and  explained.  Translated  from  the  Bohemian  ver- 
nacular into  Latin.     A.  D.  1616." 

This  work,  which  was  probably  adopted  at  Zerawic,  in 
1616,  by  the  same  Synod  that  issued  the  Baiio  Disciplinai, 
embraces  two  hundred  and  three  questions  and  answers,  and 
iu  many  particulars  resembles  the  Catechism  of  1554.^  It  is 
known  as  the  "Greater  Catechism,"  in  contradistinction  to  the 
"Shorter  Catechism,"  which  existed  both  in  German  aud 
Polish.  When  and  by  whom  the  original  Bohemian  was 
written,  we  can  not  tell. 

Thus  it  appears  that  the  Brethren  introduced  into  their 
churches  Catechisms  in  the  Bohemian,  German,  Polish,  and 
Latin  languages.  The  importance  which  they  attached  to 
these  manuals  and  to  a  systematic  use  of  them,  is  evident  from 

*  Given  by  Ehwalt,  pp.  291-352. 

*  It  is  found  in  tlie  form  of  foot-notes,  in  Ehwalt,  pp.  20-289,  reprinted 
from  the  original  which  appeared  in  duodecimo  form  and  a  copy  of 
which  was  lent  to  him  by  Bishop  Cassius,  of  Lissa.  Besides  the  Catecliism 
of  Amos  Comenius,  of  which  we  will  speak  in  a  later  chapter,  four  others 
are  mentioned  by  Koecher,  pp.  20-28:  one  of  1591,  another  of  1607;  a 
third  of  1615,  published  at  Bremen,  in  Greek,  Latin,  Bohemian,  and 
German,  in  parallel  columns ;  and  a  fourth,  without  date,  being  a  threefold 
mode  of  catechising.  These  are  of  minor  importance  and  not  farther 
known.  They  were  probably  ijublished  by  individuals  and  not  by  the 
Church. 


410  THE    HISTORY    OF 

the  second  article  iu  their  Confession  of  1573.     This  article 
says : 

"Our  preachers  recognize  the  Catechism  as  a  sure  guide  in, 
an  established  standard  for,  and  an  index  to,  all  their  instructions, 
sermons  and  writings.  Hence,  with  faithful  care,  they  give  all 
diligence  to  inculcate  in  the  hearts  of  Christians,  and  engraft  in 
the  minds  and  lives  of  their  hearers,  the  entire  body  of  Truth 
contained  in  these  first  and  fundamental  principles  of  religion. 
*  *  *  *  In  the  same  way  they  instruct  little  children, 
that  from  their  youth  upward  they  may  be  practised  in  the  chief 
articles  of  the  divine  covenant,  and  learn  to  understand  the  true 
service  of  God.  Therefore,  too,  special  services  for  the  children 
are  instituted.  *  *  *  *  Iu  particular,  however,  is  the 
Catechism,  with  its  first  principles  of  true  religion,  diligently 
taught  to  young  people  who  begin  a  Christian  life,  before  they 
are  admitted  to  the  Lord's  Table,  which  sort  of  instruction 
serves  to  lead  them  to  true  repentance,  as  well  as  to  the  enjoy- 
ment of  the  grace  of  faith  in  all  its  power."  ^ 

Turning  to  the  general  literature  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum 
we  notice,  first  of  all,  a  distinguished  work  by  Blahoslaw. 
It  was  a  Bohemian  version  of  the  New  Testament.  At  the 
time  in  which  it  appeared  there  existed  sixteen  different 
editions  of  the  Testament;  two — those  of  1518  and  1525 — 
having  been  issued  by  the  Unity.  But  all  these  editions 
were  translated  from  the  Vulgate.  Blahoslaw's  version,  was 
the  first  rendered  from  the  original  Greek,  and  constituted  a 
model  of  pure,  flowing,  idiomatic  Bohemian,  The  volume 
was  published  in  1565,  in  a  beautiful  style,  with  small  but 
clear  type,  and  in  the  form  of  a  pocket  edition.  Gindely 
thinks  it  was  printed  at  Eibenschiitz,  where  the  Brethren 
had  established  their  fourth  press.  In  1568  a  second  edition, 
in  large  octavo  form,  was  issued.'^ 

Other  works  by  the  same  author  were:  a  Bohemian 
Grammar,  republished  at  Vienna  iu  1857,  and  containing 
a  valuable  list  of  all  the  Bohemian    writers   from   Hus  to 


«  Confessio,  Das  ist  Bekenntnis,  etc.,  Art.  II,  pp.  9-12. 

'  The  publication  of  this  New  Testament  led  to  an  interesting  corres- 
pondence with  Doctor  Peucer,  Malanchthon's  son-in-law,  who  encouraged 
Blahoslaw  to  translate  the  Old  Testament  also.  Quellen,  p.  287,  etc.,  taken 
from  the  L.  F. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH.  411 

Augusta;  a  Treatise  on  Music,  which  appeared  in  1558  and 
a  second  edition  in  1560;  a  Biography  of  Bishop  Augusta; 
an  Apology  of  the  Bohemian  Hymnal ;  a  Treatise  on  Election 
through  Grace ;  etc. 

Augusta's  works,  both  of  a  devotional  and  polemical 
character,  were  numerous;  Bishop  Stephan  issued  a  series 
of  Sermons  on  the  Gospels  and  Epistles  of  the  Ecclesiastical 
Year;  John  Capito  was  the  author  of  another  series  of 
Sermons ;  George  Vetter  translated  the  "  Institutes  of  Calvin  " 
into  Bohemian,  and  produced  a  metrical  version  of  the 
Psalms;^  This  version  was  arranged  according  to  the  tunes 
introduced  by  the  Calvinists  of  France,  and  added  to  the 
Bohemian  Hymnal,  constituting  its  last  part.  Riidinger 
prepared  a  German  version,  which  Ambrose  Lob wasser  adapted 
to  the  French  tunes.  This  work  having  been  revised  by 
Martin  Opitz,  was  appended  to  later  editions  of  the  German 
Hymnal.    A  Polish  version  was  produced  by  Rybinius. 

In  addition  to  the  brief  Latin  History  of  the  Unitas 
Fratrum  by  Blahosla"\v,  of  which  work  we  have  spoken  in 
another  connection,  and  the  more  voluminous  History  in 
Bohemian,  which  we  have  repeatedly  cited  and  whose 
authorship  is  doubtful,  three  other  Historical  Treatises  claim 
attention. 

John  Lasitius,  a  Polish  nobleman,  visited  some  of  the 
Bohemian  churches  of  the  Brethren  and  was  so  impressed 
with  their  apostolic  character  that  he  determined  to  write  a 
History  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum.     He  says : 

"  When  I  beheld  Avith  mine  own  eyes  what  Ignatius,  Justin 
and  Tertullian  report  of  the  primitive  Christians,  it  seemed 
to  me  as  though  I  were  at  Ephesus,  or  Thessalonica,  or  in  the 
midst  of  some  other  church  founded  by  the  Apostles.  Truly, 
most  unreasonable  are  all  those  who  find  fault  with  the  Brethren ! 

•*  George  Strejc,  or  Vetter,  was  ordained  to  the  priesthood  in  1567  ; 
became  a  member  of  the  Executive  Council;  was  a  learned  and  diligent 
scholar  and  a  hymnologist;  and  exercised  no  little  influence  in  the  Church. 
At  the  time  of  his  death  he  was  priest  of  the  parish  at  Schlowitz,  in 
Moravia.  He  died  on  Friday  after  the  second  Sunday  after  Epiphany, 
1599.     Todtenbuch,  p.  91. 


412  THE    HISTORY   OF 

Bohemia  does  not  recoguize,  Moravia  does  not  know,  what  they 
are ;  otherwise  these  countries  would  honor  and  love  them. 
They  are  worthy  to  govern  the  whole  Church,  if  it  is  to  revive 
and  regain  its  apostolic  power." " 

Supplied  by  the  Bishops  with  the  necessary  documents 
Lasitius  began  his  work  subsequent  to  1567,  and  finished 
it  about  1570.  On  the  twenty-third  of  March  he  sent  the 
manuscript  to  John  Lorenz.  It  Avas  to  be  submitted  to  the 
Bishops  and,  with  their  approval,  published.  But  they 
hesitated  to  give  their  approval.  Beza,  whom  Lasitius 
consulted,  advised  him  to  undertake  a  thorough  revision, 
omitting  everything  that  seemed  marvelous.  If  this  were 
done,  he  promised  to  -write  a  preface.  Riklinger,  to  whom 
the  manuscript  was  submitted  by  Cepolla,  at  Wittenberg,  in 
1571,  severely  criticised  the  work.  Its  style  was  faulty,  he 
said,  and  its  author  superstitious.  Even  Blahoslaw,  in  a 
letter  to  Lasitius  written  in  the  same  year,  although  favoring 
the  History  and  sending  additional  materials,  gave  him  an 
unmistakable  hint  that  the  Bishops  would  prefer  if,  for  the 
time  being,  it  remained  in  manuscript.^"  Hence  it  was  not 
printed.  Whde  the  manuscript  had  been  in  the  hands  of 
the  Bishops,  Turnovius  had  enriched  it  with  copious  anno- 
tations; and  now  Lasitius  himself  began  a  careful  revision. 
This  was  completed  in  1599,  at  Czaslau,  in  Lithuania;  and 
the  revised  work,  carrying  the  history  of  the  Brethren  to  the 
year  1575,  was  dedicated  to  Charles  von  Zerotin.  But  even 
now  it  was  not  published." 

At  the  request  of  the  Bishops,  Professor  Joachim  Camera- 
rius,  of  the  University  of  Leipzig,  consented  to  write  a  History 
of  the  Unity.^^  This  work  was  found  completed  among  his 
papers,  after  his  death  in  1574;  but  it  was  not  published 
until  1605,  when  his  grand-son,  Lewis  Camerarius,  brought 

»  Croeger,  II.  pp.  100  and  101. 

^^  Authorities  for  the  above,  letters  in  Quellen,  pp.  379,  380,  etc.,  and  325. 
*i  Comenius,  in  1648,  published  the  eighth  Book  and  the  Contents  of  the 
other  Books. 

'■^  Quellen,  p.  343,  compared  with  p.  347. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  413 

it  out  at  Heidelberg.  Along  with  it  appeared  a  brief  History 
by  Riidinger,  written  in  1579,  entitled:  De  Fratrum 
Orthodoxorum  in  Bohemia  et  lloravia  EcclesioUs  Narrati- 
uncula}^  Of  the  origin  and  progress  of  the  Unity  in  Poland, 
George  Israel  wrote  a  short  account. 

The  above  are  only  a  few  of  the  works  which  were  issued 
in  the  period  under  review ;  a  number  have  been  omitted,  and 
the  majority  were  lost  amidst  the  storms  of  the  Anti-Reforma- 
tion. As  in  all  former  times  of  their  history  the  Brethren 
still  diligently  used  the  press  to  the  glory  of  God.  In 
addition  to  their  four  presses  in  Bohemia  and  Moravia,  they 
had  a  fifth  at  Szamotuli  in  Poland.  This  press  was  subse- 
quently removed  to  Lissa.  Hymnals  Avere  issued  in  the 
highest  style  of  art.  The  arabesques  with  which  they  were 
ornamented  were  particularly  beautiful;  in  some  instances 
such  works  were  printed  on  the  finest  parchment.  Claudia- 
uus,  proved  to  be  an  adept  in  bringing  out  publications  of 
this  kind.  About  1580  the  offices  for  baptisms,  and  marriages, 
for  the  burial  of  the  dead,  and  for  other  occasions  of  worship, 
were  published  for  the  use  of  the  priests.  Such  offices  were 
not  given  into  the  hands  of  the  people. 

Education  was  greatly  developed.  In  1575  about  forty 
students  were  studying  for  the  ministry  at  foreign  universities, 
besides  many  young  nobles  of  the  Church.  The  number  of 
its  schools  in  Bohemia  and  jNIoravia  had  increased.  While 
the  course  of  instruction  was  thorough  and  systematized,  and 
probably  reached  beyond  the  elements  of  Latin,  we  know 
nothing  further  with  regard  to  it.  In  1574  a  College  was 
founded  at  Eibenschiitz,  for  young  noblemen,  by  Barons 
John  von  Zerotin,  Znata  von  Lonenic,  and  Frederick  von 
Nachod.  Its  first  Rector  was  Esrom  Riidinger.  In  con- 
sequence of  the  Ciypto-Calvinistic  catastrophe  which  over- 
whelmed the  University  of  AYittenberg  in  1574,  he  was 
imprisoned  and  then  banished.  The  Brethren  received  him 
with  open  arms.     One   of  the    first  Professors   of  the    ncAv 


'^  Camerarius,  p.  145,  etc. 


414  THE    HISTORY    OF 

College  was  John  Aeneas.  It  was  supported  by  a  grant  which 
seventeen  nobles  pledged  themselves  annually  to  make.  This 
college  prospered.  Among  its  students  were  young  men  from 
Germany  and  Catholics  from  Moravia. 

Not  less  was  the  care  bestowed  by  the  Brethren  upon  their 
schools  in  Poland.  Acolytes  were  educated  in  the  Parsonages, 
as  in  Bohemia  and  Moravia,  Lorenz  and  Turnovius  being 
particularly  zealous  in  furthering  this  mode  of  instruction ; 
elementary  schools  existed  at  Barcin,  Lobsenia,  Ostrorog, 
Posen,  and  Wieruszew;  and  schools  of  a  higher  grade  at 
Kozminek  and  at  Lissa.^^ 

1*  Eegenvolscius,  pp.  117  and  118;  Lukaszewic,  (Polish  ed.),  p.  388,  etc. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  415 


PERIOD  VII. 


THE  UNITAS  FRATRUM  IN  THE  TIME  OF  ITS  OUT- 

WARD  PROSPERITY,  CULMINATING   IN 

ITS  RECOGNITION  UNDER  THE 

BOHEMIAN  CHARTER. 

A.  D.  1580-1620. 


CHAPTER  XXXIX. 

The  Unitas  Frairum  in  Bohemia  and  Moravia. 
A.  D.  1580-1590. 


The  Jesuits. — Sturm  preaches  and  writes  against  the  Brethren. — Kirmezer 
and  Hedericus. — Persecutions. — The  Bishop  of  Olmiitz  and  Eiidinger. 
— Theological  Seminaries. — Death  of  Bishops  Lorenz  and  Israel. — 
New  Bishops. — Jungbunzlau  passes  out  of  the  Hands  of  the  Krajek 
Family. — Changes  in  the  Manner  of  Living  among  the  Clergy. 

With  the  progress  of  Protestantism  the  influence  of  the 
Jesuits  kept  even  pace.  Protestantism  was  preparing  for  a 
general  victory  throughout  Bohemia  and  Moravia ;  the  Jesuits 
were  scheming  to  change  this  triumph  into  a  defeat.  During 
the  first  part  of  his  reign,  Rudolph  was  like  wax  in  their 
hands.  Whenever  it  suited  their  purpose  they  moulded  him 
as  they  pleased ;  at  other  times  they  did  not  deem  it  worth 
their  while  to  seek  his  support.^  Their  order  numbered  forty 
members,  among  them  several  Bohemians  educated  at  Rome, 

'  Subsequent  to  1600  Rudolph  entertained  a  positive  dislike  to  the  clergy, 
including  the  Jesuits.  This  was  owing  to  his  mental  weakness  which,  at. 
that  time,  began  to  show  itself.     Gindely's  Rudolf  II.,  I.  p.  42. 


416  THE    HI8TOKY    OF 

at  Ferdinand's  expense.  But  wlietlier  they  were  natives  or 
foreigners,  they  all  burned  with  equal  zeal  to  restore  the 
supremacy  of  the  Catholic  Church.  In  endeavoring  to  reach 
this  end  they  employed  the  same  means  as  in  Poland.  They 
established  schools  which  soon  won  a  high  repute.  They 
undertook  missionary  tours,  preaching  and  disputing  on  doc- 
trinal points  in  towns  and  villages,  in  churches,  in  market- 
places, in  private  houses,  and  wherever  else  they  gained  a  hear- 
ing. They  strained  every  nerve  to  turn  the  powerful  hands 
of  the  nobles  against  Protestantism,  and  in  this  effort  were 
supported  by  the  Spanish  wives  w^hom  several  of  the  Barons 
had  married. 

Weuzel  Sturm  and  HostoAvin  distinguished  themselves. 
The  former  was  appointed  by  the  Archbishop  to  undertake  a 
mission  against  tlie  Brethren.  Sturm  prej)ared  for  it  by 
critically  studying  their  writings.  Rejecting  as  absurd  the 
charges  of  moral  depravity,  he  made  dogmatical  points  the 
base  from  which  to  begin  an  attack.  The  Brethren,  he  as- 
serted, had  repeatedly  changed  their  doctrinal  syctem.  It  was 
unstable.  This  he  offered  to  prove  in  public  disputations. 
He  traveled  through  the  country,  making  known  the  result 
of  his  studies  and  repeating  his  challenge.  It  Avas  not  ac- 
cepted. Foiled  in  this  effort,  he  published  a  number  of 
polemical  works,  criticising  the  faith,  ministry,  and  claims  of 
the  Unity  as  an  apostolic  church.  The  most  important  of  these 
writings  was  his  "  Comparison  of  the  doctrinal  Teachings  of 
the  Brethren"  (1582). 

About  the  same  time  two  Protestant  controversialists,  both 
in  Moravia,  entered  the  field.  The  one  was  Paul  Kirmezer, 
Dean  at  Ungarisch-Brod,  an  independent  Lutheran,  ignorant, 
unstable  and  perfidious.  In  that  town  the  Unity  had  a  flour- 
ishing parish  of  which  he  tried  to  gain  the  control.  Failing 
in  this  attempt  he  issued  a  scurrilous  work,  incited  Baron  von 
Kunowic,  the  owner  of  the  domain,  against  the  Brethren,  de- 
nounced their  parsonage  as  a  common  brothel  and  had  it 
searched.  Bishop  Aeneas  indignantly  repelled  such  charges ; 
Zerotin  and  other  Moravian  nobles  opened  the  eyes  of  Kuno- 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  417 

wic  to  the  true  character  of  Kirmezer.  He  was  dismissed 
from  Uugarisch-Brod.  In  deep  abasement  he  came  to  the 
Brethren  and  begged  them  to  have  mercy  on  him.  They  re- 
ceived and  supported  him  to  the  day  of  his  death.^ 

The  other  opponent  was  Doctor  Hedericus,  or  Heidenreich, 
pastor  of  the  Lutheran  Church  at  Iglau  and  a  zealous  advo- 
cate of  ubiquitism.  He  published  a  work  at  Frankfort-ou- 
the-Oder,  attacking  the  doctrines  of  the  Unity  (1580).  The 
offers  of  several  Lutheran  divines — opponents  of  ubiquitism 
— to  write  a  reply,  were  declined  by  the  Bishops.  They  them- 
selves took  no  notice  of  this  assault  until  eleven  years  later, 
when  Turnovius  was  appointed  by  the  Synod  to  publish  a 
refutation  (1591)  f  but  they  complained  to  the  Moravian 
Diet  of  the  various  publications  that  had  been  recently  issued 
against  their  Church.  The  Diet  found  these  complaints  to  be 
just  and  resolved  that  all  writers  of  libels  should  thereafter  oe 
dealt  with  strictly  according  to  law.^ 

But  more  formidable  attacks  than  those  of  the  pen  were 
undertaken  against  the  Brethren.  In  1582,  mstigated  by  the 
Jesuits,  Baron  Pernsteiu,  on  whose  estates  about  one-third  of 
their  number  Avas  domiciliated,  began  a  persecution.  At  Pot- 
tenstein,  Kostelec  and  other  places  their  chapels  were  closed ; 
at  Landskrou  their  parsonage  was  laid  even  with  the  ground  ; 
in  many  instances  they  were  driven  with  clubs  to  Catholic 
churches,  and  while  servants  held  them  and  forced  them  to 
open  their  mouths,  the  priests  thrust  in  the  consecrated  wafer.^ 
The  spiritual  oversight  of  his  Moravian  domains  Pernsteiu 
committed  to  the  Bishop  of  Olmiitz,  who  was  not  slow  to  ex- 

■■*  Croeger,  II.  p.  170. 

^  The  work  of  Hedericus  bore  the  following  title :  D.  Johannis  Hederici 
Examinationem  capitum  doctrinse  fratruru,  etc.,  quibus  ab  ecclesia  Augus- 
tanse  Confessionis  publice  privatimque  dissentire  eos,  demonstratnr.  In 
1585  it  was  translated  into  German  by  John  Lsetus ;  in  1742  a  new  German 
version  was  added  by  Carpzov  to  his  Religions-Untersuchung  d.  Bohmisch 
und  Miihrischen  Briider,  published  at  Leipzig,  a  polemical  work  against  the 
Unitas  Fratrum,  both  the  Ancient  and  the  Renewed. 

*  Gindely,  11.  p.  271. 

^  L.  F.,  XIII.  p.  261.    R.'s  Z.,  p.  432. 
27 


418  THE    HISTORY    OF 

ercise  the  power  wliicli  lie  thus  received,  even  after  the  Baron's 
death,  which  occurred  in  the  same  year. 

In  other  respects,  too,  this  Bisliop,  unmindful  of  the  humilia- 
tion he  had,  on  former  occasions,  endured  at  the  hands  of 
Moravian  nobles,  gave  evidence  of  his  zeal  as  a  persecutor. 
He  secured  an  order  for  the  arrest  of  Riidinger.  Although 
Baron  von  Lippe,  the  owner  of  Eibenschiitz,  Avho  had  disre- 
garded an  imperial  mandate,  issued  in  1578,  to  close  the  Col- 
lege at  that  place,  refused  to  allow  this  ncAV  order  to  be 
executed,  Riidiuger  became  uneasy,  left  his  post  and  accepted 
an  asylum  on  a  domain  of  Frederick  von  Zerotin.  Riidinger 
never  returned  to  Eibenschiitz.  His  health  was  failing  and, 
after  a  time,  he  retired  to  Nuremberg,  where  he  died  in  1590. 
The  persecution  on  the  Pernstein  estates  gradually  came  to  an 
end. 

In  1584  Rudolph,  yielding  to  the  persuasions  of  Rosen Ijerg 
and  the  Jesuits,  renewed  the  Edict  of  St.  James,  and  thus  at- 
tempted a  general  persecution.  But  it  failed.  The  edict  was 
everywhere  disregarded.  The  Brethren  manifested  no  alarm 
and  continued  to  develop  their  Church.  At  a  meeting  of  the 
Synod,  held  in  the  same  year  at  Jungbunzlau,  it  was  resolved 
to  found  three  Theological  Seminaries — one  in  that  town, 
another  at  Prerau,  and  a  third  at  Eibenschiitz.'^  Of  the  char- 
acter of  these  institutions  we  know  nothing.  They  probably 
Avere  merely  a  higher  grade  of  the  schools  conducted  in  the 
parsonages. 

On  the  Day  of  John  the  Baptist  (June  the  twenty-fourth), 
in  1587,  Bishop  Lorenz  died  at  Ostrorog,  aged  sixty-eight 
years.  In  perfect  peace,  bidding  farcAvell  to  each  member  of 
his  family,  and  calling  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord,  he  Avent  to 
his  rcAvard.  "  Through  his  labors  God  accomplished  great 
things  in  Poland."^  In  the  same  year  the  Synod  met  at 
Leipnik  and  elected  John  Abdias  and  Simon  Theophilus  Turn- 


*  Kegenvolscins,  p.  65;  Croeger,  II.  pj).  161  and  162. 
'  Todtenbucli,  p.  78.     Lorenz  married  in  his  old  age.     He  was  probably 
the  first  Bisliop  that  took  this  step. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  419 

oviiis  to  the  episcopacy.*  -They  were  consecrated  by  Kalef, 
Zacharias  and  Aeneas.  Israel,  who  had  retired  from  active 
work  and  who  was  known  and  greatly  honored  as  "  The  Sire," 
probably  took  part  in  this  consecration.  Of  the  new  Bishops 
Turnovius  continued  to  labor  in  Poland,  Avhile  Abdias  was  as- 
signed to  the  Moravian  Province.  He  was  a  godly,  kind- 
hearted  and  zealous  servant  of  the  Church,  But  the  Lord  had 
need  of  him  and  called  him  from  the  work  of  his  episcopate 
when  it  had  continued  for  scarcely  a  year.  He  died  at  Prerau, 
on  the  twenty-fourth  of  June,  1588.  A  few  weeks  later,  on 
the  fifteenth  of  July,  the  venerable  George  Israel,  in  a  full  age 
of  eighty  years,  was  gathered  to  his  fathers.  George  Vetter 
preached  a  memorial  sermon,  which  moved  the  congregation  to 
tears.  His  text  was :  "  The  righteous  perisheth,  and  no  man 
layeth  it  to  heart;  and  merciful  men  are  taken  away,  none 
considering  that  the  righteous  is  taken  away  from  the  evil  to 
come.  He  shall  enter  into  peace ;  they  shall  rest  in  their  beds, 
each  one  walking  in  his  uprightness."  (Isaiah  57  :  1  and  2.) 
In  conclusion  he  spoke,  in  substance,  as  follows  : 

Amidst  all  the  circumstances  of  his  long  life  the  deceased 
Bishop  was  eminent  "  because  of  his  sound  judgment,  his  wonder- 
ful memory,  his  extraordinary  piety  and  zeal.  Passing  by  many 
other  points,  I  sum  up  his  character  and  work  by  saying,  that  he 
was  a  most  distinguished  instance  of  divine  grace  and  a  most 
illustrious  instrument  in  the  hands  of  God.  Oh  how  we  all  re- 
joiced whenever  we  were  permitted  to  behold  his  hoary  head,  to 
listen  to  his  earnest  words,  to  make  them  the  basis  of  our  deliber- 
ations, to  watch  him  in  his  daily  life,  which  was  so  gentle  and 
fatherly,  to  enjoy  his  fellowship !  Alas  the  all-wise  God  has 
taken  back  this  rare  gift,  which  He  granted  us  for  a  season  ! 
Where  shall  we  find  another  father  like  unto  him?  Certainly  not 
in  the  communion  of  Antichrist !  "  " 

Bishop  Kalef  was  now  appointed  President  of  the  Council. 
In  consecpience  of  the  death  of  Baron  Adam  von  Krajek  (Mav 
the  seventeenth,  1588),  and  the  intrigues  by  which  his  domain 


8  Jaffet's  S.  G.,  I.  p.  22,  etc.     E.'s  Z.,  436. 

^  That  is,  the  Eoinish  Qiurch.     Todtenbuch,  p.  80-82,  which  work  gives 
the  Latin  epitaph  engraven  on  Israel's  tombstone. 


420  THE    HISTORY    OF 

of  Jungbunzlau  was  alienated,  Kalef  removed  to  Brandeis  on 
the  Adler,  taking  the  archives  with  him/" 

There  he  died  on  Monday  after  the  third  Sunday  in  Ad- 
vent, 1588.  In  the  next  year,  in  the  week  following  the  first 
Sunday  after  Trinity,  John  Ephraim  and  Paul  Jessen  were 
elected  to  the  episcopacy  at  Leipnik,  and  consecrated  by 
Zacharias,  Aeneas  and  Turnovius.  Zacharias  was  appointed 
President  of  the  Council. ^^ 

A  marked  change  was  going  on  among  the  ministers  of  the 
Unity.  Although  many  of  them  still  supported  themselves, 
in  part,  by  the  labor  of  their  hands,  there  were  few,  especially 
in  Moravia,  who  did  not,  at  the  same  time,  enjoy  an  income 
from  a  fund,  or  from  the  gardens,  vineyards  and  fields  belong- 
ing to  their  parishes.  Moreover,  they  were  now  commonly 
married.  Even  the  Bishops  began  to  take  unto  themselves 
wives.  Subsequent  to  the  first  decade  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, celibacy  was  given  up  entirely.  Those  of  the  parsonages 
which  were  conducted  on  the  old  style,  had  been  improved  and 
enlarged,  and  were  furnished  with  every  convenience  necessary 
to  the  comfort  of  the  household.  The  servants,  both  male  and 
female,  were  under  the  control  of  the  Council. 

In  every  parish  there  was  a  fund,  called  Korhona,  from 
which  the  poor  and  the  sick  received  aid.  This  fund  was 
maintained  through  the  free-will  offerings  of  the  people,  and 
with  it  were  paid  also  the  contributions  toward  the  support  of 
the  priest.^^ 

^^  Krajek  left  no  children.  His  heirs  were  his  widow  and  two  sisters. 
George  Popel  von  Lobkowitz,  under  whose  protection  the  widow  put  her- 
self, succeeded  in  getting  possession  of  the  estate ;  subsequently  he  exchanged 
it  for  another  and  it  passed  into  the  hands  of  Bohuslaw  Hassenstein  von 
Lobkowitz. 

"  JafFet's  S.  G.,  I.  p.  22,  etc.  and  II.  p.  38,  etc.     R.'s  Z.  pp.  435  and  436. 

^^  Gindely's  Comenius,  p.  532. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  421 


CHA.PTER   XL. 

Progress  of  the  Unity  and  the  Kralitz  Bible. 
A.  D.  1591-1593. 


The  Utraquists,  Catholics  and  Reformed. — Bohemia  in  a  State  of  Confusion. 
— Activity  of  the  Brethren's  Church. — Synods. — Meetings  of  the  Aco- 
lytes, Deacons  and  Priests. — Peter  Wok  von  Eosenberg. — The  Kralitz 
Bible. — Its  three  Editions. — Extracts  from  the  first  Edition. — Opinions 
of  Scholars. — Reprints. 

While  the  Unitas  Fratriim  continued  to  prosper  and  the 
changes,  of  which  we  have  spoken  in  the  last  chapter,  helped 
to  develop  its  inner  growth,  the  Lutherans  were  still  in  an  un- 
settled state  and  the  Utraquists  dwindling  to  a  bare  remnant. 
The  few  cities  which  acknowledged  the  Consistory,  did  nothing 
to  uphold  its  authority  ;  the  priests  which  it  appointed,  were 
ridiculed  and  hindered  in  the  discharge  of  their  functions  ; 
the  Administrator  was  a  worthless  character ;  the  University 
was  alienated  and  had  practically  become  a  Protestant  seat ; 
and  the  inferior  schools  were  following  in  its  footsteps.  That 
National  Church  which  Rokycana  had  so  proudly  organized, 
lay  in  its  last  gasps.  At  the  same  time  the  Roman  Catholic 
reaction  went  boldly  on,  through  the  efforts  of  the  Jesuits ; 
and  the  Reformed  began  to  gain  footholds.  In  the  last  years 
of  the  sixteenth  century  they  spread  rapidly,  exercising  no 
little  influence  in  the  religious  development  of  the  kingdom. 
In  other  respects  its  state  was  deplorable.  The  increasing 
lethargy  of  Rudolph  produced  confusion  which  often  bordered 
on  anarchy. 


422  THE    HISTORY    OF 

Such  circumstances  brought  out  the  activity  of  the  Breth- 
ren's Church  in  bold  relief.  This  Church  labored  with  un- 
abated vigor.  Numerous  Synods  were  held.  On  one  of  these 
occasions,  at  Leipnik,  July  the  eighth,  1591,  special  meetings 
of  the  acolytes  were  appointed  for  the  following  year.^  Those 
in  Bohemia  were  to  assemble  at  Jungbunzlau,  those  in  Mora- 
via at  Zerawic ;  both  on  Tuesday  following  the  Sunday  called 
Jubilate,  or  the  Third  Sunday  after  Easter,  when  a  Bishop 
would  deliver  to  them  a  charge  on  the  duties  of  the  priesthood. 
The  meeting  at  Zerawic  was  conducted  by  Bishop  Aeneas 
(April  the  twenty-first,  1592).  There  were  present  ninety- 
nine  acolytes,  with  whom  had  come  twenty-seven  deacons. 
In  his  charge  he  w^arued  them — so  says  Gindely — against 
witchcraft,  astrology,  jurisprudence  and  medicine.^ 

On  the  twelfth  of  July,  of  the  same  year,  another  Synod 
convened  at  Leipnik.  Bohuslaw  von  Lobkowitz,  the  new 
owaier  of  Jungbunzlau,  asked,  whether  a  murderer,  if  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Unity,  might  be  accompanied  by  a  priest  to  the 
place  of  execution  ?  The  decision  of  the  Synod  was  as  fol- 
lows :  "  It  is  not  proper  to  comfort  him  whom  God  does  not 
comfort,  or  to  grant  the  service  of  love  to  one  to  whom  it  is 
not  granted  by  God."  ^  At  the  instance  of  Daniel  Strasnicky 
permission  was  given  for  the  purchase,  at  Prerau,  of  a  house 
which  was  to  be  converted,  according  to  the  example  of  other 

^  Dekrete  d.  B.  U.,  p.  243,  cited  by  Czerwenka. 

2  Gindely,  II.  p.  326,  cites  a  MS.  from  Lissa  in  the  Boh.  Museum  at 
Prague.  This  MS.,  as  appears  from  Czerwenka,  is  the  original  of  the  De- 
krete d.  B.  U.,  since  published  by  Gindely ;  and  yet  in  the  published  work 
there  is  found  no  report  of  the  meeting  at  Zerawic.  It  is  therefore  not  clear 
from  what  source  he  derives  his  information  ;  and  it  is,  in  the  highest  de- 
gree, improbable  that  Bishop  Aeneas,  whatever  his  opinion  of  the  study 
and  practice  of  law  may  have  been,  warned  the  acolytes  against  the  science 
of  medicine. 

^  Dekrete  d.  B.  U.,  p.  249,  etc.,  cited  by  Czerwenka,  who  correctly  remarks, 
that  the  service  of  a  priest,  on  the  occasion  referred  to,  was  therefore  made 
to  depend  upon  the  state  of  mind  of  the  criminal.  If  he  repented  he  might 
be  accompanied  by  a  priest ;  not  otherwise.  Gindely  incorrectly  interprets 
the  decision  as  referring  to  every  case,  whether  the  criminal  was  penitent 
or  not. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  423 

parishes,  into  a  hospital.  Au  ordination  of  thirty-three  priests 
took  place  ;  and  John  Popel/  Zacharias  Aristou,  John  Albin 
and  Jacob  Alpheus  were  elected  to  the  Executive  Council. 
Immediately  after  the  Synod,  on  the  sixteenth  of  July,  a 
special  meeting  for  the  instruction  of  the  priests  and  deacons 
took  place  at  Leipnik. 

About  this  time  there  died  at  Prague  Baron  A^^illiam  von 
Rosenberg,  a  trusted  councilor  of  the  Emperor,  an  ardent  sup- 
porter of  the  Jesuits,  the  most  influential  and  richest  Catholic 
noble  of  the  realm.  He  left  no  children  and  his  vast  domains 
passed  into  the  hands  of  his  brother,  Baron  Peter  Wok  von 
Rosenberg.  This  nobleman  was  a  member  of  the  Unity. 
What  a  blow  to  the  Romanist  cause !  What  a  gain  for  the 
Brethren  and  the  faith  which  they  represented !  ^ 

The  year  1593  saw  the  completion  of  the  Kralitz  Bible. 
This  was  the  greatest  literary  work  undertaken  by  the  Unitas 
Fratrum  and  constitutes  its  grandest  monument. 

There  existed  a  number  of  earlier  Bohemian  versions,  but 
they  had  all  been  translated  from  the  Vulgate.  The  Brethren 
determined  to  give  the  Czechs  a  Bible  rendered  from  the 
original.  Blahoslaw,  of  whose  New  Testament  we  have 
spoken,  set  the  project  on  foot.  The  most  thorough  prepara- 
tions took  place :  in  particular  were  several  young  men  sent  to 
the  Universities  of  Wittenberg  and  Basel  in  order  to  fit  them- 
selves for  the  difficult  task  of  translating.  When  they  had 
completed  their  studies  a  Commission  was  appointed  to  under- 
take the  work.^     This  Commission  consisted  of  Bishop  John 

*  Popel  was  an  exemplary  servant  of  God,  ordained  to  the  priesthood  at 
Austerlitz,  in  1581.  He  died  at  Horazdowic  on  Friday  previous  to  the 
twentieth  Sunday  after  Trinity,  1599,  and  was  buried  in  the  convent  where 
the  remains  of  many  other  priests  of  the  Unity  were  resting.  Tliis  convent 
was  the  property  of  the  Brethren.     Todtenbuch,  p.  92. 

*  Wok  von  Eosenberg  joined  the  Brethren  in  1582,  through  the  influence 
of  Henry  Schwarz,  who  became  his  chaplain.     Chlumecky's  Zerotin,  p.  148. 

®  Our  account  of  tlie  Kralitz  Bible  is  based  upon  Eisner's  rare  but  in- 
valuable treatise  entitled,  "  Vei-such  einer  Bohmischen  Bibel-Geschichte," 
Halle,  1765;  Malin's  "The  Boliemian  Bible,"  in  the  Appendix  to  the 
Catalogue  of  his  library ;  and  a  personal  examination  of  the  copies  of  tlie 
Kralitz  Bible  in  this  librai-v. 


424  THE    HISTORY    OF 

Aeneas,  the  chairman ;  of  George  Streic,  or  Vetter,  Isaiah 
Cepolla,  John  Ephraim,  Paul  Jessen,  John  Capito/  members 
of  the  Council ;  and  of  Albert  Nicholas,  a  Silesian,  and  Luke 
Helic,  the  son  of  a  baptized  Jew,  distinguished  Hebrew 
scholars.  The  vacancies  created  through  the  death  of  Cepolla 
and  Capito,  were  filled  by  John  Nemczansky  and  Zacharias 
Ariston.  Near  Willimowitz,  in  Moravia,  stood  a  castle  known 
as  Kralitz,  the  property  of  John  von  Zerotin.  In  that  castle 
the  Commission  met  and  the  work  was  printed  ;  hence  the 
name  by  which  it  is  commonly  known.  Zacharias  Soliu,  a 
priest  of  the  Unity,  had  charge  of  the  press  ;^  Zerotin  assumed 
the  entire  cost  of  the  undertaking. 

For  fourteen  years  the  Commission  labored  with  indefatiga- 
ble diligence.  The  work  was  published  in  six  Parts.  The 
first,  which  contained  the  Five  Books  of  Moses,  appeared  in 
1579;  the  second,  comprising  the  Books  from  Joshua  to 
Esther,  in  1580;  the  third,  embracing  the  Poetical  Books,  in 
1582;  the  fourth,  consisting  of  the  Prophetical  Books,  in 
1587;  the  fifth,  composed  of  the  Apocrypha,  in  1588;  and 
the  sixth,  being  Blahoslaw's  New  Testament,  in  1593.® 

We  will  proceed  to  describe  each  of  these  volumes. 

Voi.UME  I. — Biblj  Ceske  Djk  pricnj,  totiz  Patery  Knihy 
Mogzjssowy,  w  nowe  wyclane  MDLXXIX. 

"  The  First  Part  of  the  Bohemian  Bible,  that  is,  the  Five  Books 
of  Moses,  published  anew  1579." 

This  title  is  printed  partly  in  red  and  partly  in  black  letters 
and  surrounded  by  an  arabesque  border,  with  an  Agnus  Dei 

''  John  Capito  was  born  at  Bystric,  near  Pernstein  ;  a  learned  man ;  died 
at  Trebitz,  on  tlie  last  Sunday  of  the  year  1589.     Todtenbuch,  pp.  84  and  92. 

*  Solin  was  as  faithful  in  the  discharge  of  his  ministerial  duties  as  he  was 
skillful  in  superintending  a  printing-office.  He  brought  out  beautiful  copies 
of  the  Bible,  printed  on  vellum,  and  corresponding  in  style  to  the  vellum 
Hymnals.  In  1581  he  was  ordained  to  the  priesthood  and  died  at  Kralitz, 
on  the  eighth  of  March,  1595.     Todtenbuch,  p.  89. 

'  Why  both  Gindely  and  Czerwenka  assert  that  the  fifth  and  sixth  Parts 
were  published  simultaneously  in  1593,  we  do  not  know.  Eisner,  who  wrote 
with  a  copy  of  the  Kralitz  Bible  before  him,  says  the  fifth  Part  was  pub- 
lished in  1588  ;  and  this  is  substantiated  by  the  title  of  that  Part  transcribed 
for  us  fi'om  the  copy  in  the  Herrnhut  Archives. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  425 

at  the  top.'"     Ou  the  reverse  side  of  the  page  are  given  the 
following  passages  of  Scripture  : 

"  When  all  Israel  is  come  to  appear  before  the  Lord  Thy  God 
in  the  place  which  He  shall  choose,  thou  shalt  read  this  law  before 
all  Israel  in  their  hearing."     (Deut.  31  :  11.) 

"  This  book  of  the  law  shall  not  depart  out  of  thy  mouth  ;  but 
thou  shalt  meditate  therein  day  and  night,  that  thou  mayest  ob- 
serve to  do  according  to  all  that  is  written  therein  :  for  then  thou 
shalt  make  thy  way  prosperous,  and  then  thou  shalt  have  good 
success.  Only  be  strong  and  very  courageous,  that  thou  mayest 
observe  to  do  according  to  all  the  law  which  Moses  my  servant 
commanded  thee :  turn  not  from  it  to  thy  right  hand  or  to  the 
left,  that  thou  mayest  prosper  whithersoever  thou  goest."  (Joshua 
1  :  8,  7.) 

"Abraham  said  unto  him.  They  have  Moses  and  the  prophets; 
let  them  hear  them."    ( Luke  16  :  29.) 

"And  beginning  at  Moses,  and  all  the  prophets.  He  expounded 
unto  them  in  all  the  Scriptures  the  things  concerning  himself." 
(Luke  24:  27.) 

"  For  had  ye  believed  Moses,  ye  would  have  believed  me  :  for 
he  wrote  of  me."     (John  5 :  46.) 

There  follows  a  preface  iu  which  the  Bishops  inform  their 
clergy  why  this  Bible  is  published.  A  second  preface  is  ad- 
dressed to  the  reader  and  contains  an  account  of  the  origin  and 
arrangement  of  the  entire  work.  At  the  end  of  the  volume 
are  five  synoptical  tables.  The  first  treats  of  the  division  of 
the  divine  laAV  into  the  moral,  ceremonial  and  civil ;  the  second 
sets  forth  those  passages  iu  the  Pentateuch  which  contain  the 
commandments  of  the  moral  law ;  the  third  presents,  accord- 
ing to  Origen,  such  passages  as  relate  to  the  worship  of  God, 
to  priests  and  sacrifices,  and  to  whatever  else  is  embraced  in 
the  ceremonial  law  ;  the  fourth  contains,  again  according  to 
Origen,  the  various  statutes  belonging  to  the  civil  law ;  and 
the  fifth  gives  passages  encouraging  men  to  prize  and  diligently 
keep  the  entire  law  of  God.  "  I  find  these  five  tables,"  says 
Eisner,  "  to  be  very  good.     They  serve  an  intelligent  reader 


'•*  The  title  pages  of  the  books  published  by  the  Brethren  were  frequently 
ornamented  with  an  Agnus  Dei,  because  it  constituted  the  device  on  tlieir 
episcopal  seal,  with  the  legend :  Vicit  agnus  nosier,  eum  sequamur.  Tliis 
seal  was  made  over  to  the  Renewed  U.  F.,  when  it  obtained  the  episcopal 
Buccessiou  througli  .Jablonsky,  and  is  still  in  use. 


426  THE    HISTORY    OF 

as  a  compendious  Concordance  to  the  Pentateuch  and  enable 
him  to  ffain  a  clear  idea  of  the  Mosaic  law  in  all  its  various 
characters." 

Volume  II. — Biblj  Ccske  Djk  druhy,  w  nowe  loydany  Leta 
Pane  MDLXXX. 

"  The  Second  Part  of  the  Bohemian  Bible,  published  anew  in 
the  year  of  the  Lord  1580." 

On  the  reverse  side  of  the  title-page  is  given  a  list  of  the 
Books,  from  Joshua  to  Esther,  contained  in  this  volume. 

Volume  III. — BibJj  Ceske  Djk  tretj,  w  wydany  Leta  Pane 
MDLXXXIL 

"The  Third  Part  of  the  Bohemian  Bible,  published  anew  in 
the  year  1582." 

On  the  reverse  side  of  the  title-page  we  find  a  list  of  the 
Books,  from  Job  to  the  Song  of  Solomon,  embraced  in  this 
volume.  The  Book  of  Job  is  supplied  with  a  preface  holding 
him  up  as  an  example  of  patience ;  and  an  introduction  to  the 
Psalms  treats  of  their  importance,  of  their  titles  and  authors, 
and  of  the  order  in  which  they  are  given.  It  is  that  of  the 
Hebrew  Bible  and  not  that  of  the  Septuagint,  which  latter 
order  was  observed  in  the  other  Bohemian  versions ;  but  the 
ninth  Psalm  is  divided  into  two  parts,  while  the  one  hundred 
and  forty-sixth  and  the  one  hundred  and  forty-seventh  are 
combined  into  one.  At  the  head  of  each  Psalm  the  numbers 
according  to  the  Hebrew  Bible  and  Septuagint  are  both  given. 

Volume  IV. — Biblj  Ceske  Djk  divrty,  w  nowe  wydany  Leta 

MDLXXXVIL 

"  The  Fourth  Part  of  the  Bohemian  Bible,  published  anew  in 
the  year  1587." 

On  the  reverse  side  of  the  title-page  is  a  list  of  the  Pro- 
phetical Books,  from  Isaiah  to  Malachi ;  the  next  page  begins 
with  a  preface  treating  of  the  importance  and  excellency  of 
these  writings,  and  of  the  rules  to  be  observed  in  reading  them. 

Volume  V. — Biblj  Ceske  Djk  paty,  w  neniz  se  Knihy  ty, 
kterez  sau  nazioany  Apokryfi'a,  pokladagj.  W  nowe  wydany 
Leta  MDLXXXVHL 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  427 

"  The  Fifth  Part  of  the  Bohemian  Bible,  in  which  those  Books 
which  are  called  the  Apocrypha  usually  stand.  Published  anew 
in  the  year  1588." 

Ou  the  reverse  side  of  the  title-page  is  found  a  list  of  the 
Apocryphal  Books ;  a  lengthy  preface  treats  of  their  impor- 
tance and  of  the  way  in  which  they  ought  to  be  read. 

Volume  VI. — Bihij  Ceske  JDjk  ssesty,  totiz  Noioy  Zahon. 
W  nowe  wydany  Leta  Pdne  MDXCIII. 

"  The  Sixth  Part  of  the  Bohemian  Bible,  that  is,  the  New 
Testament.     Published  anew  in  the  year  of  the  Lord  1593." 

On  the  reverse  side  of  the  title-page  is  a  list  of  the  Books 
of  the  New  Testament ;  to  each  Book  is  prefixed  a  summarv 
of  its  contents.  At  the  end  of  the  volume  is  a  Table  of  the 
Pericopes  appointed  for  the  ecclesiastical  year. 

These  six  volumes  are  quarto  in  form,  and  printed  on  good, 
stout  paper,  in  beautiful  Latin  type ;  the  outer  margin  of  each 
page  contains  annotations  ou  the  text,  and  the  inner,  references 
to  parallel  passages,  as  also  brief  summaries  of  the  contents. 
Nemcansky  and  Ariston  furnished  the  greater  part  of  the 
commentary.  In  order  to  give  an  idea  of  its  character  we 
here  present  a  few  extracts  translated  into  English  from  the 
German  of  Czerwenka,  who  has  rendered  them  from  the 
original  Bohemian :  ^^ 

Matthew  26  :  26.  ''And  as  they  were  eating,  Jesus  took  bread, 
and  Messed  it,  (or  gave  thanks,) — He  gave  thanks  to  His  Father 
for  the  work  of  redemption  which  was  soon  to  be  finished,  in  re- 
membrance of  which  He  instituted  the  sacrament  of  His  body 
and  blood  : — or  He  blessed  ordinary  bread  to  this  particular 
purpose,  so  that  it  might  become  the  sacrament  of  His  body,  and 
thus  be  distinguished  from  all  other  bread — and  brake  it, — not 
only  in  order  that  it  might  the  more  easily  be  distributed  among 
His  disciples,  but  also  as  a  symbol  and  testimony,  that  He  would 
himself  be  broken  on  the  Cross  for  our  sins,  that  He  would  give 
himself  as  a  ransom  for  all  believers  so  that,  through  His  merits, 
there  would  be  a  communion  among  them — and  gave  it  to  the  dis- 
ciples,— as  a  sign  and  an  assurance,  that  He  gave  to  them  Him- 
self, the  true  bread  of  life,  for  the  strengthening  of  their  fellow- 
ship and  for  the  nourishment  of  their  souls, — a7id  said.  Take,  eat; 
this  is  my  body, — this  bread,  which  I  break,  or  this  sacrament, 


"  Czerwenka,  II.  pp.  501  and  502. 


428  THE    HISTORY    OF 

which  I  institute,  is  a  mighty  testimony  and  proof,  that  my  body 
is  given  for  you  unto  death,  that  it  is  crucified,  broken  as  it  were, 
and  prepared  as  delicious  food  for  your  souls ;  this  body  is  given 
unto  death  for  the  life  of  the  world,  laid  as  it  were  upon  the 
table,  that  it  may  be  partaken  of  in  faith. 

Romans  9  :  8-11.  That  is,  They  which  are  the  children  of  the 
flesh, — begotten  according  to  the  flesh,  as  there  still  are  many 
false  Christians,  who  indeed  have  a  name,  but  not  the  truth — 
these  are  not  the  children  of  God :  but  the  children  of  the  proniise — 
who  have  been  chosen  by*  God  through  free  grace  as  His  children 
— are  counted  for  the  seed, — such  are  those  to  whom  God  has  pro- 
mised that  He  would  be  their  gracious  God.  For  this  is  the  word 
of  promise,  At  this  time  will  I  come,  and  Sarah  shall  have  a  son. — 
Some  one  might  perhaps  think,  that  Isaac  was  chosen  on  account 
of  his  mother,  a  believing  and  righteous  woman,  and  that  Ish- 
mael  was  rejected  on  account  of  his  proud  and  perverse  mother. 
But  the  example  of  Jacob  and  Esau  shows  the  contrary ;  for 
although  they  were  the  children  of  the  same  father  and  mother, 
Esau,  and  he  the  first-born,  was  rejected,  while  Jacob,  through 
grace,  was  chosen  of  God— ^nd  not  only  this;  but  when  Rebecca 
also  had  conceived  by  one,  even  by  our  father  Isaac ;  for  the  children 
being  not  yet  born,  neither  having  done  any  good  or  evil, — whereby 
they  might  have  merited  the  wrath  or  the  grace  of  God — that  the 
purpose  of  God, — according  to  which  He  ordained  whom,  through 
grace.  He  would  save,  and  whom,  in  consequence  of  His  justice. 
He  would  condemn — according  to  election,  might  stand,  not  oj 
works,  but  of  him  that  calleth;—the  purpose  of  God  rests  upon  His 
electing  and  rejecting  ;  for  those  whom  He  has  elected  unto  eternal 
life.  He  has  also  purposed  to  save,  and  those  whom  He  has  rejected. 
He  means  to  condemn. 

1  Peter  3:  19,  20.  By  which  also  he  went  and  preached — 
through  Noah,  the  preacher  of  righteousness,  that  which  served 
to  awaken  repentance  and  faith.  Or  as  others  interpret  the  words: 
Christ  came  and  preached,  and  thus  caused  the  power  of  His 
death  and  merits  to  be  experienced  not  only  by  the  living  but  also 
by  those  long  dead,  in  that  He  made  known  to  them  that  power 
— fmfo  the  spirits  in  prison; — those  who  had  long  ago  died,  whose 
spirits  however,  separated  from  their  bodies,  had  come,  on  account 
of  their  unbelief  and  impenitent  lives,  into  the  prison  of  everlast- 
ing damnation.  Which  sometime  were  disobedient,  when  once  the 
long-suffering  of  God  waited  in  the  days  of  Noah,— not  in  vain  has 
the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  made  use  of  the  word  "  once  ;"  He  meant  to 
show  that  the  time  which  God  has  fixed,  is  limited ;  whoever 
neglects  this  time,  has  no  other  for  repentance. 

Revelation  11 :  3.  And  I  urill  give  power  unto  my  two  wit- 
nesses, and  they  shall  prophesy  a  thousand  two  hundred  and  three- 
score days,  clothed  in  sackcloth. — In  comparison  with  the  number 
of  Antichrist's  deceivers,  I  will  intrust  my  city  and  the  temple  of 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH.  429 

my  holy  Church,  to  but  a  few  iusignificant  and  despised  ones 
among  my  servants,  as  it  were  to  but  one  or  two  of  them  ;  never- 
theless they  shall,  in  unity,  accomplish  my  work  and  mutually 
support  each  other ;  and  shall  prove  themselves  sufficient  as  wit- 
nesses unto  the  truth,  which  shall  be  established  in  the  mouth  of 
two  or  three  witnesses,  so  that  in  the  presence  of  wisdom  like  unto 
theirs  the  enemies  will  not  be  able  to  lift  up  their  heads.  Such 
servants,  in  ancient  times,  were  Elijah,  Micha,  Zerubbabel,  Josiah, 
and  those  disciples  of  the  Lord  who  went  out  "  two  and  two;"  in 
later  times.  Master  John  Hus,  Jerome  of  Prague  and  others." 

In  1596  a  second  and  cheajDer  edition  of  the  Kralitz  Bible 
was  published,  in  one  quarto  volume.  The  title  reads  as 
follows : 

Biblj  Swata,  to  gest,  Kniha,  w  niz  se  wssecka  Pjsma  Swata 
Stareho  y  Noweho  Zakona  Zdrzugj;  w  nowe  wytissiena  a  wydana. 
Leta  Pane  MDXCVI. 

"  The  Holy  Bible,  that  is,  the  Book  in  which  all  the  Holy 
Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  are  contained :  printed 
and  published  anew  in  the  year  of  the  Lord  1596." 

The  title-page  is  highly  ornamented.  At  the  top  appears 
the  name  Jehovah  in  Hebrew  characters ;  at  the  bottom  Christ 
is  represented  in  a  triumphal  chariot,  leading  captive  death 
and  hell ;  on  the  left  side  Moses  with  the  tables  of  the  law,  on 
the  right,  Aaron  as  high-priest ;  within  these  devices  an  oval 
encircling  the  title  which,  with  the  exception  of  the  two  words 
to  gest,  is  printed  in  red  letters. 

On  the  reverse  side  of  the  page  we  find  the  following  pas- 
sages of  Scripture  : 

"And  Abraham  saith  unto  them :  They  have  Moses  and  the 
prophets;  let  them  hear  them."     (Luke  16  :  29.) 

"And  he  said  unto  him.  If  they  hear  not  Moses  and  the  pro- 
phets, neither  will  they  be  persuaded,  though  one  rose  from  the 
dead."     (Luke  16  :  31.) 

"And  he  said  unto  them.  These  are  the  words  which  I  spake 
unto  you,  while  I  was  yet  with  you,  that  all  things  must  be  ful- 
filled which  were  written  in  the  law  of  Moses,  and  in  the  prophets, 
and  in  the  psalms,  concerning  me."     (Luke  24 :  44.) 

"  Search  the  Scriptures ;  for  in  them  ye  think  ye  have  eternal 
life:  and  they  are  they  which  testify  of  me."     (John  5 :  39.) 

On  the  next  page  follows  the  preface  addressed  to  the  minis- 
ters of  the  Unity  ;  the  second  preface  is  omitted  ;  but  a  com- 


430  THE    HISTORY    OF 

plete  Table  of  all  the  Books  of  the  Bible  is  given.  The  six 
divisions  of  the  first  edition  are  kept  up,  there  being,  at  the 
beginning  of  every  new  part,  an  ornamented  title  in  red. 
There  are  eleven  hundred  and  forty  pages  and  each  page  has 
two  columns ;  on  the  margins  are  references  to  parallel  pas- 
sages ;  between  the  columns  appear  the  numbers  of  the  verses, 
which  are  not,  as  in  the  first  edition,  distinguished  by  a  new 
line  but  by  the  sign  |.  The  annotations  are  omitted.  At  the 
end  of  the  book  we  find,  first,  a  list  of  the  passages  of  the  Old 
Testament  cited  in  the  New  by  Christ  and  the  Apostles ; 
second,  an  alphabetical  Register  of  Hebrew  and  Chaldee 
proper  names,  with  their  signification  in  Bohemian ;  third,  a 
Table  of  the  Pericopes  appointed  for  the  ecclesiastical  year. 

The  sixth  volume  of  the  first  edition,  that  is,  the  New  Tes- 
tament, revised  by  Zacharias  Ariston,  was  republished  in  1601 ; 
and  a  new  edition  of  the  entire  work,  on  the  plan  of  the  second 
edition  and  again  without  the  commentary,  appeared  in  a  folio 
volume  in  1613. 

The  Kralitz  Bible  is  not  only  the  first  Bohemian  version 
rendered  from  the  original,  but  also  the  first  which  divided 
the  chapters  into  verses  and  separated  the  apocryphal  from  the 
canonical  books.  As  a  translation,  it  forms  a  master-piece ; 
its  style  is  pure,  idiomatic  and  beautiful,  a  standard  even  at 
the  present  day. 

With  regard  to  this  point  there  is  but  one  voice. 

Gindely  says :  "As  long  as  the  Bohemian  tongue  will  be 
spoken,  there  can  never  die  the  memory  of  this  great  work. 
It  is  the  type  of  the  development  which  the  Bohemian  lan- 
guage reached  in  the  sixteenth  century." ^^  ''God,"  writes 
Comenius,  "  has  laid  such  a  blessing  on  this  work,  that  we 
have  the  writings  of  the  prophets  and  apostles  translated  into 
our  own  language  in  a  style  as  beautiful  as  that  found  in  any 
other  European  version."  ^^  When  the  work  first  appeared,  a 
Roman  Catholic  Bishop  openly  expressed  his  profound  admira- 


ls Gindely,  II.  p.  309. 
'3  Comenii  Hist.  |  117. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  431 

t'on.     At  a  later  time,  in  1668,  the  Jesuits  of  Prague  published 
an  Orthographical  Tract,  in  which  occurs  the  following  passage : 

"  Here  is  given  an  excellent  method  of  writing  and  printing 
the  Bohemian  language  correctly,  drawn  from  that  Bohemian 
Bible  which  is  divided  into  several  parts,  furnished  with  marginal 
annotations,  and  highly  esteemed  among  Protestants.  It  is  true 
that  this  Bible,  on  account  of  its  heretical  errors,  is  not  to  be  read 
or  kept  by  Catholics ;  nevertheless  because,  according  to  the  unan- 
imous testimony  of  all  scholars,  it  presents  the  Bohemian  tongue 
in  words  more  idiomatic,  beautiful  and  chaste  than  other  books, 
its  style  deserves  to  be  praised  above  all  measure."  " 

And  yet  the  Kralitz  Bible,  more  than  any  other  work  of  the 
Brethren,  was  sought  out  and  destroyed  in  the  time  of  the 
Anti-Reformation.  Thousands  of  copies  perished  ;  but  few 
remain  at  the  present  day.'^  In  1722  the  third  edition  was 
reprinted,  in  a  handsome  volume,  at  Halle,  for  the  descendants 
of  the  exiled  Bohemians ;  and  again  at  Brieg,  in  Silesia,  in 
1745.  This  latter  reprint,  however,  says  Malin,  "was  so  in- 
ferior that  none  but  the  poorest  people  would  purchase  it." 
The  New  Testament  was  frequently  republished,  between  the 
years  1709  and  1752,  at  Halle,  Zittau,  Lauban,  Brieg  and 
Berlin  ;  but  for  a  period  of  two  hundred  and  sixty  years, 
neither  the  Old  nor  the  New  Testament  appeared  in  Bohemia. 
Mere  extracts  from  the  latter  were  issued  at  Prague,  in  1861 
and  the  follovying  years.  In  1873,  however,  the  "Amos  Com- 
enius  Association,"  of  that  city,  began  the  republication,  in 
beautiful  style,  of  the  entire  New  Testament,  with  the  original 
annotations.  This  work  was  completed  in  1875.  It  forms  a 
splendid  quarto  volume  of  eight  hundred  and  ninety-two 
pages.  Moreover  the  Kralitz  version  has  furnished,  word 
for  word,  the  text  of  the  Bohemian  Bible  published  by  the 
British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society. 

"  Kleich's  Preface  to  the  N.  T.  of  1720,  cited  by  Eisner  in  his  Versuch, 
etc.,  pp.  36,  37,  Note. 

^^  There  is  a  well-preserved  copy  of  the  first  edition,  in  six  vols.,  in  the 
Archives  at  Herrnhut ;  another  in  the  Bohemian  Museum  at  Prague.  The 
Malin  Library,  No.  100,  contains  the  third  volume,  1582,  of  the  first  edition; 
a  complete  copy,  No.  350,  of  the  second  edition,  of  1596,  probably  the  only 
one  in  the  U.  S.;  and  a  complete  copy,  No.  36,  of  the  third  edition  of  1613. 


432  THE    HISTORY    OF 


CHAPTER  XLI. 

Further  History  of  the  Brethren^  Church  in  Bohemia 
and  Moravia.     A.  D.  1594-1607. 


Deatlk  of  Bishops  Zacharias,  Aeneas  and  Jessen. — Synod  of  1594. — New 
Bishops. — Members  of  the  Council. — Enactments  of  the  Synod. — Its 
Convocation  in  1598. — Doctrine  of  the  Lord's  Supper  discussed  by 
Turnovius. — Death  of  Ephraim. — New  Bishops. — Charles  von  Zerotin. 
— His  Home  and  Career. — Accused  of  trencon  and  heresy. — His  Ac- 
quittal.— Plots  against  the  Unity. — Renewal  of  the  Edict  of  St. 
James. — The  Brethren  lose  Jungbunzlau. — Wenzel  Budowa. — His 
Speech  at  the  Diet. — New  Reactionary  Measures. 

Death  was  reaping  a  harvest  among  the  leaders  of  the 
Unity.  In  1590,  after  a  faithful  service  of  thirty-eight  years, 
Bishop  Zacharias,  the  President  of  the  Council,  finished  his 
course;^  in  1594,  on  the  fifth  of  February,  his  successor, 
Bishop  John  Aeneas,  was  called  to  rest.  At  New  Year, 
while  on  the  road  from  Kauuic  to  Eibenschiitz,  he  was  at- 
tacked and  robbed  by  a  party  of  marauding  soldiers.  The 
shock  brought  on  an  illness  of  which  he  died,  aged  fifty-six 
years.  In  him  the  Unity  lost  one  of  its  most  illustrious  rep- 
resentatives. A  scholar,  the  Kralitz  Bible  the  splendid 
memorial  of  his  fame — he  led  a  life  exemplary  through  its 
piety  and  showed  himself  to  be  "  a  prudent  watchman  over 
the  household  of  God."^ 

•  He  died  at  Slezan,  on  Wednesday  previous  to  the  fourth  Sunday  in 
Lent,  not  quite  sixty-eight  years  old.  Daniel  Boreas  preached  the  funeral 
sermon,  on  2  Tim.  4 :  6-8.     Todtenbuch,  p.  84. 

*  Todtenbuch,  p.  87. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  433 

A  few  months  later,  ou  tlie  twenty-foiirtli  of  May,  Bisliop 
Paul  Jesseu  followed  him  into  eternity.  He,  too,  was  a 
learned  man,  mighty  in  word  and  deed,  of  keen  understand- 
ing, never  at  a  loss  for  an  answer,  and  very  eloquent.  But 
God  had  given  him  a  thorn  in  the  flesh,  so  that  he  was  often 
hindered  in  his  public  ministrations.'^ 

In  order  to  fill  the  vacancies  thus  created  the  Synod  met  at 
Prerau  and  elected  to  the  episcopacy  Jacob  Narcissus  and  John 
Nemcansky,  one  of  the  translators  of  the  Kralitz  Bible.  They 
were  consecrated  on  the  fourteenth  of  July,  1594,  by  Turnovius 
and  Ephraim,  the  only  surviving  bishops.*  jSTarcissus  was 
eloquent  and  sagacious ;  Nemcansky,  distinguished  for  his  learn- 
ing, his  conscientiousness,  his  humility  before  God  and  man.^ 

The  Synod  constituted  Turnovius  Ecclesiastical  Judge  for 
the  Polish  churches  and  President  of  the  Council ;  Ephraim 
Ecclesiastical  Judge  for  Bohemia  and  Moravia;  Narcissus, 
histoi-ian ;  and  Nemcausky,  archivist.  Associated  with  these 
Bishops  in  the  Council  were  the  following  Assistant  Bishops ; 
Jacob  the  Great;  John  Slavon — elected  in  1572,  died  in  1600, 
at  Jungbunzlau,  a  pious,  diligent  and  exemplary  man,  but 
an  enemy  of  learning  and  bitterly  opposed  to  the  marriage  of 
priests ;  Luke  Andronik — elected  in  1572,  died  in  Poland, 
in  1595,  surnamed  Smelaus,  a  man  of  very  small  stature, 
zealous  in  the  work  of  God ;  Paul  Sperat — died  at  Straznic, 
in  1601,  an  earnest  laborer  in  the  Lord's  vineyard  ;  Samuel 
Susicky — a  distinguished  scholar,  subsequently  elevated  to  the 
episcopacy;  John  Popel ;  Zacharias  Ariston — elected  in  1592, 
eventually  a  leading  bishop  ;  John  Albin ;  Jacob  Alpheus ; 
Matthias  Ryba ;  and  Andrew  Kolsky.^ 


'  Todtenbuch,  p.  88.  Jessen  was  ordained  to  tlie  priesthood  at  Austerlitz, 
in  1576,  and  elected  to  the  Council  in  1584.  He  died  at  Bezauchow  and 
was  buried  at  Drewohostic.  The  thorn  in  the  flesh,  of  which  the  Todten- 
buch speaks,  was  probably  some  chronic  and  painful  disease. 

*  Jaffet's  S.  G.,  I.  p.  22,  etc.,  and  II.  p.  38,  E.'s  Z.,  p.  435. 

^  Narcissus  was  ordained  to  the  priesthood  in  1574;  Nemcansky  in  1584, 
and  elected  to  the  Council  in  1589.  Kegenvolscius,  p.  320 ;  Todtenbuch,  p.  91. 

«  Todtenbuch,  pp.  94,  89,  96,  92,  101.     A  number  of  the  above  names  are 
not  mentioned  in  the  Todtenbucli. 
28 


434  THE    HISTORY    OF 

Subjects  of  iniportauce  discussed  at  the  Synod  Avere :  the 
publication  of  a  Concordance,  the  revision  of  the  Kralitz 
Bible,  and  the  introduction,  in  public  worship,  of  instrumen- 
tal music.  Such  music  Avas  permitted,  but  moderation  in  the 
use  of  it  was  strongly  recommended/ 

At  a  later  convocation,  Avhich  took  place  at  Jungbunzlau 
on  the  third  of  June,  1598,  the  doctrine  of  the  Lord's  Supper 
received  attention.  Turuovius  introduced  this  topic  and 
earnestly  contended  for  the  tenet  of  the  fathers :  that  the 
Lord's  body  is  present  sacrameutally  and  spiritually,  but  that 
all  further  explanations  are  to  be  avoided.  From  this  point 
of  view,  he  said,  the  Brethren  occupied  a  middle  ground  be- 
tween the  Lutherans  and  the  Calvinists.  He  added,  in  words 
that  have  the  true  ring :  "  The  Unity  is  not  an  old  woman. 
It  has  grown  strong,  perfected  its  doctrines,  and  reached  that 
point  in  its  apprehension  and  explanation  of  the  truths  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures  which  renders  it  unnecessary  that  it  should 
be  learning  of  other  churches,  but  rather  gives  it  the  right 
to  be  their  teacher."^ 

The  principle  urged  by  Turnovius  Avas  ancAv  accepted  ;  and 
he  received  permission  to  publish  an  elaborate  Avork,  Avhich  he 
had  prepared,  on  the  Lord's  Supper.  Gindely  asserts  that, 
six  years  later,  in  1604,  the  Synod  forsook  the  old  position, 
formally  adopted  the  Calvinistic  doctrine  and  engrafted  it 
upon  the  Brethren's  Church.^  This  Ave  deem  to  be  an  incor- 
rect view  of  the  case.  That  a  majority  of  the  Synod  declared 
in  favor  of  the  Reformed  dogma,  is  true ;  but  that  Bishop 
Ariston  protested  against  this  declaration,  that  the  tenet  of  the 
fathers  was  not  condemned,  and  that  the  definition  of  the 
Lord's  Supper  as  set  forth  in  the  Confessions  Avas  not  changed, 
all  this  is  equally  true.  The  course  pursued  by  the  majority 
formed  one  of  those  doctrinal  fluctuations  which  occasionally 
took  place  among  the  Brethren,  but  Avhich,  as  Turuovius  Avell 


"<  Deki-ete  d.  B.  U.,  p.  260,  etc.,  cited  by  Czerwenka,  II.  pp.  504,  505. 
8  Gindely,  II.  pp.  328,  329,  based  upon  the  Dekrete  d.  B.  U. 
"  Gindely,  II.  pp.  344,  345. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  435 

said  in  his  address  at  the  Synod  of  1598,  affected  individuals, 
not  the  Unity  as  such. 

On  the  seventeenth  Sunday  after  Trinity,  1598,  Bishop 
John  Nemcansky  died  at  Drewohostic,  after  having  filled  the 
episcopal  office  for  but  four  years.  An  election  was  held  at 
the  Synod  of  1599,  which  convened  again  at  Jungbunzlau, 
and  Samuel  Susicky  and  Zacharias  Ariston  were  chosen. 
They  received  consecration  at  the  hands  of  Turnovius,  Eph- 
raim  and  Narcissus,  on  the  sixth  of  July,  this  day  being  fixed 
upon  in  memory  of  the  martyrdom  of  John  Hus.'"  Four 
weeks  later,  Susicky  died;  on  the  ninth  Sunday  after  Trinity ; 
and  in  the  following  year,  1600,  John  Ephraim  passed  away, 
at  Prague,  on  the  twenty-first  Sunday  after  Trinity.  Both 
these  Bishops  were  buried  in  Augusta's  grave,  at  Jungbunzlau. 

Ephraim  was  a  learned  scholar,  amiable  and  fatherly  in 
his  intercourse  with  men  of  every  rank,  but  timid  and  apt 
to  borrow  trouble.  The  exercise  of  discipline  invariably 
caused  him  a  struggle.  On  such  occasions  he  would  seclude 
himself,  and  spend  hours  in  mourning  and  weeping,  as  though 
he  were  to  do  penance  instead  of  imposing  it.  Of  this  tender- 
heartedness the  guilty  often  took  advantage." 

The  new  vacancies  in  the  episcopate  were  filled,  in  1601,  by 
the  election  of  John  Lanetius  and  Bartholomew  Nemcansky, 
who  was  a  brother  of  the  deceased  Bishop  of  the  same  name. 
They  were  consecrated,  on  the  fifth  of  May,  by  Turnovius, 
Narcissus  and  Ariston.^^ 

About  this  time  Baron  Charles  von  Zerotin  became  prom- 
inent. He  was  born  at  Brandeis  on  the  Adler,  on  the  four- 
teenth of  September,  1564.  His  father  was  John  von  Zero- 
tin,  through  whose  liberality  the  Kralitz  Bible  was  published 
and  who  died  on  the  twenty-fifth  of  February,  1587  ;  his 
mother,  Marianna  von  Zerotin,  belonged  to  the  ancient  house 
of  Bozkowic.     After  having  been    carefully  trained    in    the 

'»  Jaffet's  S.  G.,  I.  p.  22,  etc.,  II.  pp.  38,  etc.,  E.'s  Z.,  p.  437. 

1'  Todtenbuch,  p.  94. 

'2  Jaffet's  S.  G.,  I.  p.  22,  etc.,  and  II.  p.  38  etc.,  R.'s  Z.,  p.  437. 


436  THE    HISTORY    OF 

schools  of  the  Brethren,  he  completed  his  studies  at  the  Uni- 
versities of  Basle  and  Geneva.  A  tour  through  France, 
England,  the  Netherlands  and  Germany,  brought  him  into 
connection  with  many  distinguished  soldiers,  statesmen  and 
theologians.  Henry  of  Navarre  excited  his  deepest  admira- 
tion and  the  war  which  he  was  carrying  on  against  the  Cath- 
olics filled  him  with  enthusiam.  He  looked  upon  this  Prince 
as  the  champion  of  the  true  faith  and  joined  his  banner. 

Zerotin's  military  career  was  brilliant ;  but  his  ideals  were 
shattered.  Out  of  heart,  the  sacrifices  which  he  had  made  for 
the  cause  scarcely  appreciated,  he  returned  to  Moravia  in  the 
same  year  in  which  Henry  abjured  the  Protestant  religion 
(July,  1593).  There,  in  the  service  of  his  king,  his  coun- 
try, and  his  God,  he  hoped  to  find  a  sphere  of  usefulness. 
Accomplished,  an  eloquent  speaker,  a  graceful  writer,  a  sol- 
dier, a  statesman,  and  an  earnest  Christian,  attached  with  his 
whole  heart  to  the  Church  of  the  Brethren — he  seemed  or- 
dained to  accomplish  great  things.  His  exalted  rank  was 
sustained  by  immense  wealth.  He  owned  eight  estates  in 
Moravia  and  one  in  Bohemia.     His  revenues  Avere  princely.^^ 

In  order  to  give  an  idea  of  the  style  in  which  the  barons  of 
the  Unity  lived,  we  will  briefly  describe  Zerotin's  home.  It 
was  not  exceptional  in  its  magnificence,  but  a  sample  of  the 
seats  of  the  higher  aristocracy  throughout  Bohemia  and 
Moravia. 

The  domain  on  which  he  resided  lay  to  the  west  of  Briinn 
and  was  called  Namiest.  It  embraced  an  area  of  more  than 
twenty-five  square  miles ;  its  chief  town,  bearing  the  same 
name  as  the  estate,  was  situated  on  the  Oslava,  at  the  foot  of 
a  hill  crowned  with  massive  rocks  that  were  overtopped  by 
two  crags.  On  these  crags,  between  which  was  constructed  a 
draw-bridge,  towered  the  stately  home  of  Zerotin.  The  one 
was  covered  with  the  dwellings  of  his  officials ;  from  the  other, 
which  beetled  over  the  valley  of  the  Oslava,  rose  the  Castle. 

^^  Chlumecky  aptly  calls  Zerotin,  "  both  a  Maecenas  and  a  scholar."  His 
estates  were  the  following :  Namiest,  Kralitz,  Rositz,  Struty,  Loninitz, 
Drewohostitz,  Prerau,  Turnitz,  and  Brandeis  on  the  Adler. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  437 

Round  about  it  stood  the  houses  of  his  retainers  and  domestics. 
The  sides  of  the  hill  presented  a  park  of  pines,  beeches  and 
very  old  oaks.  This  park  was  stocked  with  deer.  A  flight 
of  broad  marble  steps,  with  statues  on  either  hand,  led  to  a 
splendid  portal  opening  into  the  court-yard,  in  the  middle 
of  which  appeared  a  fountain  representing  Neptune  sur- 
rounded by  dolphins.  The  Castle  was  three  stories  high, 
built  in  the  romanesque  style,  and  contained  nearly  one  hun- 
dred apartments. 

Its  establishment  and  all  its  appointments  were  regal  in 
their  character.  The  Baron  was  surrounded  by  a  court.  To 
it  belonged  scholars  and  artists  whom  he  had  invited  to  make 
his  house  their  home;  gentlemen  of  the  chamber,  all  of  noble 
birth ;  pages  waiting  on  him  or  the  Baroness,  and  represent- 
ing some  of  the  most  ancient  families  of  Moravia ;  the  masters 
and  teachers  of  these  pages ;  secretaries ;  equerries ;  masters 
of  the  chase ;  and  last,  but  by  no  means  least,  the  chaplain, 
who  was  a  priest  of  the  Unity.  The  retinue  of  servants  was 
very  large.  It  consisted  of  valets,  lackeys,  haiducks,  grooms, 
stable-boys,  huntsmen,  barbers,  watchmen  and  couriers ;  the 
culinary  department  was  in  charge  of  a  kitchen-master  with 
numerous  cooks  and  bakers  under  him  ;  in  addition,  there  were 
household  tailors,  shoemakers,  saddlers  and  other  tradesmen. 

The  Castle  was  rarely  without  guests.  Among  these  the 
bishops  and  ministers  of  the  Unity  were  ever  welcome. 
They  exercised  a  great  influence  in  the  family ;  the  chaplain 
was  the  Baron's  confidential  adviser;  religion  gave  tone  to 
the  whole  house.  Every  morning  and  evening  the  hymns  of 
the  Brethren  swelled,  in  sweet  harmony,  through  its  halls, 
and  from  the  Kralitz  Bible  were  read  aloud  the  words  of 
eternal  life.  It  was  a  home,  says  Chlumecky,  in  which  "  pre- 
vailed abundance  without  extravagance,  hilarity  without 
excess,  piety  without  sanctimoniousness."  ^^ 

On  his  return  from  France  Zerotin  took  part  in  a  campaign 
against  the  Turks.  While  thus  engaged  he  was  appointed 
Assessor  of  the  kSupreme  Court  of  Moravia.     In  this  position, 

"  Chlumecky's  Zerotin,  pp.  141-146. 


438  THE    HISTORY    OF 

no  less  than  in  the  Diet,  he  distinguished  himself  by  his 
liberal  course  and  soon  stood  at  the  head  of  a  party  that  con- 
tended for  religious  freedom  and  civil  rights.  In  all  his 
efTorts  he  was  supported  by  his  cousin,  Frederick  von  Zerotin, 
the  Governor  of  Moravia. 

After  Frederick's  death  (May  the  thirtieth,  1598),  the 
Romish  reaction  assumed  formidable  proportions  and  began 
to  single  out  Zerotin  as  a  shining  mark  for  its  arrows.  His 
ruin  would  lead  to  the  destruction  of  the  Brethren's  Church, 
So  argued  the  Catholic  leaders,  with  whom  his  personal 
enemies  made  common  cause.  About  the  beginning  of  the 
year  1600,  he  was  formally  charged  with  treason  and  heresy. 
The  trial  took  place  at  Prague  and  resulted  in  his  triumph- 
ant acquittal.  The  reactionists  were  baffled;  his  personal 
enemies  covered  with  confusion.  They  succeeded,  however, 
in  driving  him  from  his  seat  on  the  bench. 

At  this  time  the  chief  advisers  of  the  Emperor  were  the 
notorious  Melchior  Khlesel,^^  Zbynek  von  Duba,  Archbishop 
of  Prague,  Albert  von  Lobkowitz,  the  Chancellor,  Joroslaw 
von  Martinic,  John  Menzel,  the  imperial  Secretary,  and  three 
Jesuits,  George  Scherer,  William  Lamorraain  and  Jacob  Ger- 
anus,  the  Rector  of  the  College.  These  men  ceased  not  to 
plot  against  the  Unity  and  Protestantism  in  general.  Their 
designs  in  relation  to  Zerotin  had  failed,  but  a  conspiracy 
involving  the  destruction  of  the  Brethren  in  a  body  might 
be  more  successful.  For  months  the  capital  was  full  of  rumors. 
A  grand  stroke,  it  was  whispered,  had  been  concocted.  Prague 
would  soon  see  terrible  things.  For  such  dark  sayings  there 
was  cause.  On  the  second  of  September,  1 602,  heralds  issued 
from  the  gates  of  the  Hradschin,  came  down  into  the  city  and 
with  the  blast  of  trumpets  published,  from  street  to  street,  a 
decree  renewing  the  Edict  of  St.  James. 


1^  Khlesel  was  the  son  of  a  baker,  who  was  a  Lutheran.  Through  the 
influence  of  the  Jesuit  Scherer  he  became  a  pervert  to  the  Romish  faith 
and  entered  the  service  of  the  Catholic  Church,  in  which  he  rose  to  be 
Bishop  of  Vienna  and  subsequently  a  Cardinal.  He  was  the  bitter  and  un- 
compromising foe  of  Protestantism  in  every  shape  and  form. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH. 


439 


The  infamy  of  this  measure  was  surpassed  only  by  its  bold- 
faced assurance.  A  Romish  persecution  was  ordered  in  a 
Protestant  country!  Of  the  nobility  scarcely  one-tenth,  of 
the  people  less  than  one-tenth,  belonged  to  the  Catholic 
Church .^^  And  yet  this  insignificant  minority  meant  to 
coerce  the  conscience  of  a  nation. 

At  first  Prague  and  all  Bohemia  stood  aghast.  Although 
the  Picards  only  were  mentioned  in  the  edict,  no  one  doubted 
that  it  was  aimed  at  the  Protestants  as  a  body.  But  the  con- 
sternation soon  subsided.  The  magistrates  of  the  capital  re- 
ported to  the  Chancellor  that  it  was  impossible  to  carry  out 
their  instructions.  A  burlesque  of  the  decree  appeared, 
ostensibly  issued  in  heaven  by  God.  This  parody,  probably 
from  the  pen  of  a  member  of  the  Unity,  met  with  an  immense 
sale.  It  was  followed  by  a  hymn  in  memory  of  Hus  and  the 
reprint  of  a  satirical  production  published  at  the  time  of  the 
Council  of  Trent."  Men  laughed  over  these  travesties,  and 
yet  failed  not  to  realize  that  they  were  signs  of  a  grave  crisis. 

The  Brethren  of  Prague  deemed  it  prudent  to  omit  their 
public  worship  and  meet  in  secret;  those  at  Jungbunzlau 
suffered  an  irreparable  loss.  This  town,  in  1597,  had  bought 
its  freedom  of  Bohuslaw  Hasseustein  and  thus  become  a  royal 
city.  It  constituted  the  most  flourishing  seat  of  the  Unity  in 
all  Bohemia.  In  addition  to  Mount  Carmel,  with  its  ancient 
chapel,  parsonage  and  school,  was  the  beautiful  church  built 
by  Krajek,  in  1555.  The  membership  was  large  and  pros- 
perous. Here  synods  were  often  held,  on  which  occasions 
Jungbunzlau  was  thronged  with  bishops  and  ministers.  It 
formed  the  centre  of  sacred  memories  reaching  back  to  the 
earliest  time  of  the  Brethren  and  around  many  a  familiar  spot 
clustered  hallowed  associations  of  a  later  age. 

In  this  venerable  precinct  appeared  two  imperial  commis- 
sioners, and  on  the  eleventh  of  November,  1602,  closed  the 


'^  Gindeiy's  Eudoif  11.  u.  seine  Zeit,  I.  p.  179, 

"  Czerwenka,  II.  pp.  509,  510.     Sixtus   Palma,  the  publisher,  was   im- 
prisoned and  eventuallj'  banished. 


440  THE    HISTORY    OF 

chapel  and  church ;  on  the  twenty-third  of  December,  the 
parsonage  and  school.  Several  mouths  later  these  buildings, 
together  with  the  land  belonging  to  them,  were  confiscated  by 
the  Emperor  and,  in  1606,  sold  to  the  town,  which  endowed  a 
hospital  with  the  entire  property.  A  similar  fate  befell  the 
parish  at  Moldauteinitz. 

The  perils  threatening  the  Unity  awakened  a  new  champion 
in  its  defence. 

Wenzel  Budowec  von  Budowa,  born  about  the  year  1547, 
after  spending  twelve  years  in  foreign  countries,  partly  at 
universities  and  partly  on  travels,  and  acquiring  a  number 
of  languages,  had  been  associated,  in  the  reign  of  Maximilian, 
with  Baron  David  Ungnad  in  an  imperial  embassy  to  Con- 
stantinople. In  that  city  he  passed  four  years  and  mastered 
both  the  Arabic  and  Turkish  tongues. ^^  He  returned  to  Bo- 
hemia rich  in  experience,  progressive  in  his  views,  strong  in 
his  determination  to  secure  religious  liberty  for  his  Church 
and  countrymen. 

At  the  Diet  that  met  at  Prague,  in  January,  1603,  he  be- 
came, by  common  consent,  the  leader  of  the  Protestant  party. 
It  was  proposed  to  withhold  supplies  from  the  Emperor  until 
he  had  revoked  his  decree.  But  Budowa  delivered  a  brilliant 
speech,  in  which,  after  showing  that  the  edict  affected  all 
Protestants  alike,  he  urged  measures  that  would  be  strictly 
legal.  Money  for  the  war  against  the  Turks  should  be 
unconditionally  voted,  but  at  the  same  time  a  petition  should 
be  presented  to  the  Emperor  asking  him  to  protect  his  subjects 
against  an  edict  which  had  originated  through  the  evil 
counsels  of  his  advisers  and  their  ignorance  of  the  constitu- 
tional law  of  Bohemia.  This  suggestion  was  adopted.  But 
when  the  clique  behind  Rudolph's  throne  perceived  that  the 
Protestant  states  meant  to  employ  legal  and  not,  as  they  had 
hoped,   revolutionary  measures,  they   induced    him    to   pro- 

'^  While  at  Constantinople  he  studied  the  Mohammedan  religion  and  re- 
futed its  claims  in  a  work  which  he  entitled  "Antialkoran."  This  work 
was  by  many  so  entirely  misunderstood  that  he  was  accused  of  having 
embraced  the  Moliammedan  faitli. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  441 

rogue  the  Diet  before  the  petition  could  be  signed  and  to  call 
Budowa  to  an  account  for  his  speech. 

Budowa  pledged  his  word  to  appear  whenever  cited.  In 
the  following  month  the  citation  took  place.  He  repaired  to 
Prague  and  deposited  in  the  Chancellor's  office  the  petition 
of  the  Diet,  a  German  translation  of  the  Bohemian  Con- 
fession, and  a  paper  of  his  own  proving  by  incontrovertible 
arguments  that  the  states  had  the  law  on  their  side.  When 
these  papers  were  presented  to  Rudolph  he  was  so  deeply- 
impressed  that  lie  quashed  further  proceedings  against  Bu- 
dowa and  sent  him  a  message  saying,  that  he  desired,  above 
all  things,  to  maintain  friendly  relations  with  the  Protestants. 

But  his  advisers  were  not  satisfied.  With  a  high  hand 
they  carried  out  measures  still  more  reactionary  in  their  char- 
acter. A  second  decree  appeared,  ordering  a  strict  observ- 
ance of  the  first,  especially  in  royal  cities ;  a  Catholic  Synod 
was  held  (September  the  twenty-eighth,  1605),  the  first  since 
the  rehabilitation  of  the  arch-bishopric;  every  priest,  pro- 
fessor, student,  physician,  teacher,  bookseller  and  printer  was 
required  to  sign  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  ecclesiastical 
authorities ;  and  a  strict  censorship  of  the  press  was  established. 

Such  measures  could  not  but  defeat  themselves.  They 
cemented  the  bond  between  the  Brethren  and  Lutherans. 
They  roused  up  both  these  parties.  They  formed  the  step- 
ping stone  to  religious  liberty. 


442  THE    HISTORY    OP 


CHAPTER  XLII. 

The  Polish  Branch  of  the  Church  to  the  General  Synod  of 
Thorn.     A.  D.  1581-1595. 


Opposition  to  tlie  Sendomirian  Confederation. — Gerike  and  Enoch. — Synod 
of  Posen. — General  Synod  of  Wladislaw. — Gerike  and  the  Jesuits. — 
Death  of  King  Steplien. — Election  of  Sigismund  tlie  Third. — His 
bigoted  Policy  and  its  Results. — Appeal  to  the  Diet. — Breach  and 
Reconciliation  between  Gliczner  and  Turnovius. — The  General  Synod 
of  Thorn  and  its  Enactments. — Gerike  excommunicated. — Results  of 
the  Synod. 

The  union  among  the  Protestants  of  Poland  began  to  totter. 
This  was  owing  to  the  baneful  influences  w'hich  proceeded 
from  Posen.  In  that  city  were  two  Lutheran  churches;  the 
one  German,  in  charge  of  Paul  Gerike;  the  other  Polish,  with 
John  Enoch,  a  renegade  from  the  Brethren  whose  discipline 
he  could  not  brook,  as  its  minister.  Upon  both  these  men 
had  fallen  Morgenstern's  mantle  of  intolerance.  In  language 
as  bitter  as  that  which  had  come  from  his  lips  they  preached 
against  the  Consensus  Sendomiriensis  and  denounced  the  fel- 
lowship of  the  Lutherans  with  the  Unity.  Such  a  course  was 
suicidal.  The  encroachments  of  the  Roman  Catholics  could 
be  successfully  resisted  only  by  an  unbroken  phalanx.  This 
the  Protestant  leaders  fully  realized,  and  in  order  to  restore 
harmony,  convoked  at  Posen  a  joint  Synod  of  the  Brethren 
and  the  Lutherans.  It  met  on  the  fourteenth  of  February, 
1582.  Three  bishops  of  the  Unity,  thirty  of  its  priests,  two 
Lutheran  superintendents  and  twenty  ministers  took  part  in 
its  deliberations.     The   Consensus  was  anew  ratified;  while 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH.  443 

Gerike  and  Euocli  were  rebuked  and  admonished  to  desist 
from  their  injurious  course.  In  the  following  year,  at  a  Gen- 
eral Synod  held  at  AVladislaw,  on  the  ninth  of  June,  a  still 
more  formal  agreement  was  entered  into  by  all  the  three  Pro- 
testant Churches,  that  the  confederation  of  Sendomir  should 
be  maintained.  In  order  to  give  to  it  more  authority  the 
publication  of  the  Consensus,  in  Latin  and  Polish,  was  re- 
solved upon.  Several  senators,  many  magnates  and  about 
seventy  clerical  representatives  of  the  Brethren's,  the  Lutheran 
and  the  Reformed  Confessions  composed  the  membership  of 
this  Synod.^ 

These  convocations,  however,  did  not  heal  the  breach  at 
Posen.  Enoch  grew  more  tractable  and,  after  a  time,  re- 
signed his- charge;  but  his  successor,  Andrew  Luperian,  the 
son-in-law  of  Morgenstern,  showed  himself  to  be  a  bitter  foe 
of  union,  and  Gerike,  smarting  under  the  reproof  which  he 
had  received,  became  more  violent  than  before.  Not  satisfied 
with  personally  declining  to  recognize  the  Brethren,  he  for- 
bade his  parishioners  to  visit  their  church,  and  uublushingly 
proclaimed  from  his  pulpit,  that  an  alliance  between  the 
Lutherans  and  Jesuits  would  be  preferable  to  the  Seudomir- 
ian  confederation.  The  Jesuits  were  not  slow  to  profit  by 
these  dissensions.  They  flattered  Gerike's  vanity,  assuring 
him  that  he  was  the  only  true  Lutheran  in  all  Poland ;  they 
praised  his  zeal ;  tliey  incited  him  to  still  more  vehement  de- 
nunciations; and  then  contrasted  the  quarrels  of  the  Protest- 
ants with  the  peace  and  unity  prevailing  among  Catholics. 
The  result  Avas,  that  not  a  few  Protestants  of  Posen  were 
triumphantly  led  back,  by  the  cunning  Fathers,  to  the  bosom 
of  the  mother-church. 

Gerike  and  his  associate  ministers  at  Posen  were  not  alone 
in  their  opposition  to  the  Consensus;  a  similar  tendency  ex- 
isted among  the  German  Lutheran  churches  of  Lithuania. 
This  was  plainly  seen  in  the  so-called  Concordia  Vilnensis 
which  they  issued  (1583),  and  became  still  more  evident  from 

'  Lukaszewicz,  pji.  99  and  100 ;  Krasiuski,  p.  79,  etc. 


444  THE    HISTOEY    OF 

the  fact  that  they  declined  to  send  delegates  to  the  General 
Synods.  But  they  did  not,  like  Gerike,  openly  attack  the 
confederation ;  and  it  was  supported  by  the  Polish  Lutheran 
churches  of  Lithuania. 

In  1586  King  Stephen  died,  at  Grodno,  after  a  brief 
illness.  This  event  was  a  severe  blow  to  the  Protestant 
cause.  He  had  remained  true  to  the  principle  laid  down  at 
the  beginning  of  his  reign.  Catholic  though  he  was,  he  had 
not  interfered  with  the  religious  beliefs  of  his  subjects.  His 
successor,  Sigismund  the  Third,  elected  on  the  nineteenth  of 
August,  1587,  pursued  a  different  course.  The  only  son  of 
John  the  Third,  of  Sweden,  a  Protestant  monarch,  and  the 
grandson  of  the  illustrious  Gustavus  Vasa,  he  nevertheless, 
through  the  influence  of  his  mother,  became  a  bigoted  Pom- 
anist.^  The  sway  exercised  over  him  by  the  Jesuits  was 
absohite.  He  was  a  mere  tool  in  their  hands.  Without  the 
advice  of  Bernhard  Golynski,  one  of  their  order  and  his  private 
confessor,  he  did  nothing,  whether  in  matters  of  religion  or 
of  the  state. 

Of  the  nefarious  counsels  which  he  thus  received,  his  reign 
began  to  give  evidence.  An  open  persecution  would  have 
been  premature.  Other  ways  were,  therefore,  suggested.  The 
most  notable  showed  the  astuteness  of  the  Fathers.  By  all 
the  means  within  his  reach  he  commenced  favoring  the  Cath- 
olics. To  them  alone  he  granted  the  starosties  which  were 
at  his   disposal ;  ^    they  were  invested  with  the  highest  and 

2  His  mother  was  the  sister  of  Bigismund  Augustus,  of  Poland.  Sigis- 
mund the  Third  was  born  June  the  twentieth,  1566.  The  Archduke 
Maximilian  of  Austria  disputed  his  election  and  supported,  by  the  force  of 
arms,  his  own  claims,  until  he  was  taken  prisoner  and  forced  to  renounce 
the  crown.  After  the  death  of  Sigismund's  father  (1592)  he  became  King 
of  Sweden  also,  but  Avas  deposed  in  1604  and  his  uncle,  Charles  the  Ninth, 
whom  he  had  appointed  Kegent,  ascended  the  Swedish  throne. 

*  Krasinski,  II.  p.  93,  Note,  says :  "  The  kings  of  Poland  possessed  a  great 
number  of  domains  known  under  the  name  of  Starosties,  which  they  were 
obliged  to  distribute  to  nobles,  who  held  tliem  for  life.  These  estates  were 
converted  into  powerful  instruments  of  seduction  in  the  hands  of  Sigismund 
the  Third,  wlio  with  them  rewai-ded  tliose  who  deserted  from  Protestant- 
ism, or  tlie  Greek  Church,  and  became  converts  to  Komanism." 


THE    ^rORAVIAX    CHURCM.  -145 

most  lucrative  offices;  if  recent  perverts  from  the  Evangelical 
faith,  he  heaped  riches  and  distinctions  upon  them ;  honors 
and  emoluments  were  held  out  to  noblemen  as  inducements  to 
deny  their  religion;  vacancies  in  the  Senate,  which  at  the 
beginning  of  his  reign  had  been  an  almost  wholly  Protestant 
body,  were  filled  with  Romanists  until  but  two  Protestant 
members  remained ;  to  the  complaints  which  came  from  the 
Evangelical  party  in  all  sections  of  his  kingdom,  he  turned  a 
deaf  ear. 

The  ultimate  result  of  the  Jesuitical  policy  thus  inaugu- 
rated was  the  ruin  of  Poland  ;  its  immediate  consequences 
were  heavy  losses  inflicted  on  Protestantism.  Many  of  its 
adherents  fell  away — magnates  and  inferior  nobles,  citizens 
and  peasants ;  many  domains  on  which  its  churches  and 
schools  had  been  a  shining  light,  grew  dark  with  Romish 
superstition  and  intolerance.  At  the  same  time  the  Jesuits 
themselves  were  indefatigable  in  their  efforts.  From  the 
pulpit,  with  all  the  eloquence  of  which  they  were  masters, 
they  appealed  to  the  Poles  to  return  to  the  Catholic  Church  ; 
through  the  press  they  sent  forth  a  stream  of  polemical 
writings.  The  Archbishop  of  Gnesen,  the  Bishop  of  Cujavia 
and  the  Bishop  of  Posen  lent  their  powerful  aid.  Svnods 
were  held  in  order  to  promote  the  authority  of  Rome ;  at 
Kalish  a  second  Jesuit  College  was  founded.  Even  violent 
measures  were  resorted  to.  At  Cracow  a  mob,  instigated  by 
the  Jesuits  and  led  by  the  students  of  the  University,  burned 
the  Protestant  church  (1591);  at  Posen,  two  years  later,  the 
pupils  of  the  Jesuit  schools  attempted  to  destroy  the  Breth- 
ren's church,  but  were  obliged  to  desist  when  they  found  the 
populace  unwilling  to  join  in  the  outrage.  Sigismund  himself, 
on  his  way  to  Sweden,  seized  the  principal  churches  of  Thorn 
and  Elbing  and  gave  them  to  the  Catholics.  It  was  high 
time  for  the  Protestants  to  bestir  themselves. 

The  Brethren  took  the  initiative.  Bishop  Turnovius  pro- 
ceeded to  Warsaw,  in  May,  1593,  and  appealed  to  the  Diet. 
He  was  in  the  noon-tide  of  his  influence  and  popularity, 
respected  both  by  nobles  and  the  common  people  for  his  learn- 


446  THE    HISTORY    OF 

ing,  eloquence  and  zeal."*  His  appeal  was  supported  by 
many  magnates ;  and  in  spite  of  the  efforts  of  its  Catholic 
members  the  Diet  passed  a  severe  law  against  all  disturbers 
of  the  public  peace.  For  a  time  the  Protestants  remained 
unmolested. 

But  discord  continued  to  throw  their  own  ranks  into  con- 
fusion. Gerike  inveighed,  as  vehemently  as  ever,  against  the 
Consensus;  Erasmus  Gliczner,  excited  by  the  remonstrances 
of  Lutheran  divines  in  Germany,  began  to  waver.  In  1594 
he  published,  at  Dantzic,  a  Polish  version  of  the  Augustana, 
Avith  a  preface  criticising  the  Confessions  both  of  the  Brethren 
and  the  Reformed  and  making  no  allusion  whatever  to  the 
Sendomirian  confederation.  This  unwarranted  proceeding 
was  highly  resented  by  Turnovius,  who  wrote  his  celebrated 
"  Defence  of  the  Consensus  Sendomii'iensisr  An  open  breach 
took  place.  It  would  have  led  to  grave  consequences,  if  the 
two  leaders  had  not  been  reconciled,  through  the  exertions  of 
Count  Andrew  Leszcynski  and  other  magnates,  at  the  Diet  of 
Cracow,  in  the  following  year.^ 

On  the  same  occasion  it  was  agreed  to  convoke  another 
General  Synod.  Invitations  were  sent  to  all  parts  of  the 
kingdom. 

The  response  was  prompt  and  enthusiastic.^  From  Great 
and  Little  Poland,  from  Lithuania,  Polish  Prussia,  Red  and 

*  Turnovius  spoke  Polish,  Bohemian  and  German  with  great  fluency, 
was  master  of  the  Latin,  Greek  and  Hebrew,  a  poet  of  no  mean  rank,  a  pro- 
ficient in  music,  an  astronomer  and  a  historian. 

^  A  written  compact,  containing  nine  points,  was  signed  by  Gliczner  and 
Turnovius,  as  also  by  several  witnesses.  This  compact  is  given  by  Luk- 
aszewicz,  pp.  106  and  107  ;  Jablonski  in  Con.  Send.,  pp.  240  and  241 ; 
Salig  Hist.  Aug.  Conf.,  p.  787.  Tlie  full  title  of  Turnovius'  work  was:  "  De- 
fence of  the  Sendomirian  Consensus  and  of  the  evangelical  confessions 
contained  therein,  against  that  improper  edition  of  the  Augsburg  Confes- 
sion which  annuls  this  Consensus.     In  the  year  1594." 

*  Full  accounts  of  the  Synod  are  found  in  Krasinski,  II.  chap.  -3 ,  Fischer, 
II.  pp.  39-82;  Lukaszewicz,  i^p.  107-134,  whose  principal  sources  are  Dan- 
iel Mikolajewski's  official  report  as  clerical  secretary  and  a  MS.  History 
of  the  Synod  by  Turnovius.  This  History,  translated  from  the  Polish 
into  German,  is  found  in  full  in  Fischer,  II.  Anhang,  No.  2,  p.  405,  etc. 


THE    JIORAVIAN    CHURCH.  447 

White  Russia,  from  Volhynia,  Podolia  and  the  Ukraine,  a 
large  number  of  nobles  flocked  to  Thorn,  the  place  of  meeting. 
They  were  joined  by  more  than  seventy  clerical  delegates. 
The  Brethren,  the  Lutherans  and  the  Reformed  were  all 
fully  represented.  After  a  solemn  service  of  praise  and 
prayer  in  the  church  of  St.  Mary,  the  Synod  was  opened  on 
the  twenty-first  of  August,  1595.  Stanislaus  Orzelski,  Starost 
of  Radziejow,  a  man  of  learning  and  influence,  was  chosen  lay 
president;  Andrew  Rzeczycki,  Chamberlain  of  Lublin,  his 
assistant;  Bishop  Turuovius,  Erasmus  Gliczner  and  Francis 
Jezierski,  the  Superintendent  of  the  Reformed  churches  in 
Little  Poland,  clerical  presidents.  The  sessions  were  held  in 
the  aula  of  the  gymnasium ;  every  morning,  early  at  six 
o'clock,  a  synodical  sermon  was  preached  in  the  church. 
Several  attempts  were  made  by  representatives  of  the  King, 
of  the  Bishop  of  Cujavia,  and  of  three  palatinates,  to  break 
up  the  Synod  ;  but  it  did  not  allow  itself  to  be  intimidated 
and,  declaring  its  convocation  to  be  in  accordance  w'ith  con- 
stitutional law,  proceeded  to  the  important  business  for  which 
it  had  been  called. 

This  business  comprised  the  Consensus  Sendomiriensis,  the 
discipline,  church-government,  and  the  persecutions  of  the 
Jesuits.  In  relation  to  the  last  of  these  points  a  deputation  of 
twelve  magnates  was  appointed  to  lay  before  the  King  the 
grievances  of  his  Protestant  subjects ;  with  regard  to  the  other 
points,  eighteen  enactments  were  adopted.  The  first  treated 
of  the  Consensus  and  was  formulated  as  follows  : 

"Our  evangelical  Consensus,  adopted  at  Seudomir  in  1570,  ex- 
plained by  the  Consignatio  of  Posen  in  the  same  year,  revised 
and  ratified  by  the  General  Synods  of  Cracow,  Petrikau  and 
Wladislaw — as  this  is  set  forth  in  the  conies  printed,  in  Latin 
and  Polish,  at  Thorn,  in  1592 — we  unanimously  re-adopt  and  re- 
affirm at  this  our  General  Synod  of  Thorn :  we  protest  against 
the  course  of  our  opponents  who,  by  word  of  mouth  and  in  their 
writings,  have  ventured  to  cast  into  our  teeth  that  we  are  not 
united  and  that  our  Consensus  is  spurious :  and  we  testify,  that 
we  faithfully  hold  to  and  foster  this  true  Consensus,  and  accord- 
ing to  its  principles  are  united  in  holy  harmony." 

The  remaining  enactments  related  to  the  obligatory  char- 


448  THE    HISTORY    OF 

acter  of  the  Consensus,  the  discipline,  schools,  the  duty  of 
patrons,  the  goverumentof  the  churches,  and  the  importance  of 
observing  prayer  and  fast  days  in  view  of  the  dangers  threat- 
ening the  Polish  Protestants/  On  the  twenty-sixth  of  August 
the  Synod  adjourned  with  praise  and  thanksgiving  to  God. 

Its  proceedings  in  relation  to  Paul  Gerike  had  been  sum- 
mary. Inasmuch  as  he  had  refused  to  accept  the  Consensus, 
had  continued  to  protest  against  the  confederation,  and,  at  last, 
secretly  left  Thorn,  he  had  been  excommunicated.  And  now, 
in  September,  a  commission  proceeded  to  Poseu  in  order  to 
carry  out  this  sentence.  The  elders  of  his  church  begged  that 
time  might  be  given  him  for  reflection.  Accordingly  the 
commission  retired ;  but  came  again  in  December,  when  the 
same  request  was  made.  In  January  of  the  following  year 
several  nobles  arrived  with  the  determination  of  putting  an 
end  to  such  evasions.  They  sent  for  Erasmus  Gliczner,  who 
convened  the  Polish  congregation  and  deposed  Luperian ;  but 
when  he  attempted  to  depose  Gerike,  the  German  congrega- 
tion rose  in  a  body  and  threatened  him  with  death.  He 
barely  escaped  from  their  hands.  Thus  Gerike,  defiant  to 
the  last,  braved  the  whole  Synod.  Soon  after,  however,  he 
resigned  of  his  own  accord  and  went  to  Breslau.  His  place  was 
filled  with  a  minister  favorable  to  the  Consensus  and  the  con- 
troversies between  the  Lutherans  and  Brethren  came  to  an  end. 

The  -deputation  appointed  to  lay  before  Sigismund  the 
grievances  of  the  Protestants,  effected  nothing.  Although  it 
comprised  magnates  of  the  highest  rank,  he  refused  to  grant 
them  an  audience.  Nevertheless  the  Synod  of  Thorn  served 
to  awaken  among  the  Protestants  the  consciousness  of  strength, 
and  to  convince  the  Catholics  that  the  reaction  which  they 
were  pushing  forward,  had  been  but  partially  successful. 
Many  Lutheran  divines  of  Germany  blamed  Gliczner  for  the 
course  which  he  was  pursuing;  but  he  remained  faithful 
to  the  confederation. 

'  The  enactments  were  printed'at  Thorn  in  1596,  with  the  title:  Acta 
et  conclusiones  Synodi  Generalis  Toruniensis  A.  D.  1595  ruenbe  Augusto. 
Fischer,  II.  Anhang,  No.  1,  p.  395,  etc.,  gives  them  in  full. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  449 


CHAPTEE  XLIII. 

Negotiations  with  the  Greek  Church  and  further  History  of  the 
Polish  Branch  of  the  Unity.     A.  D.  1595-1607. 


The  Greek  Church  in  Poland. — Its  Union  with  the  Roman  Catholic. — 
Protest  of  a  Majority  of  the  Adherents  of  the  Greek  Faith. — Prince 
Ostrogski's  Overtures  to  the  Synod  of  Thorn. — The  Yilna  Conference. — 
Bishop  Turnovius  its  Leader. — His  Articles. — First  Meeting  of  the 
Conference. — Second  Meeting. — Doctrinal  Articles. — Projected  Union 
of  Greeks  and  Protestants  fails. — Political  Confederation  of  Vilna. — 
Withdrawal  of  the  Lutherans  from  the  Sendomirian  Confederation. — 
Civil  War  in  Poland. 

The  Polish  dominions  contained  many  followers  of  the 
Greek  Church.  These  Sigisraund  the  Third  determined  to 
unite  with  the  Church  of  Rome.  His  first  step  in  this  direc- 
tion was  unsuccessful ;  after  a  time,  however,  by  the  aid  of 
Possevinns,  a  wily  Jesuit,  four  Greek  bishops,  and  finally  the 
Metropolitan  of  KiefF  himself,  who  had  been  deposed  by  the 
Patriarch  of  Constantinople,  were  induced  to  favor  the  project. 
A  Greek  Synod  held  in  1 594,  at  Brest,  in  Lithuania,  resolved 
on  union  with  Rome  and  sent  delegates  to  Clement  the  Eighth. 
These  delegates,  in  the  name  of  their  constituents,  swore 
allegiance  to'  the  papal  see.^      At  a  subsequent   Synod   the 

^  At  the  Council  of  Florence,  in  1438,  the  Emperor  John  Paleologus 
placed  the  Eastern  Church  under  the  papal  see,  but  the  great  majority  of 
the  clergy  and  members  of  that  Church  refused  to  acknowledge  the  Pope. 
Of  the  project  of  uniting  the  National  Bohemian  Church  with  the  Greek  we 
have  given  an  account.  In  the  second  half  of  the  sixteenth  century  the 
divines  of  Tubingen  carried  on  a  correspondence  with  the  Patriarch  of  Con- 
stantinople and  sent  him  a  Greek  version  of  the  Augsburg  Confession. 
Sources  for  the  negotiations  set  forth  in  this  chapter  are:  Krasinski,  II. 
chap.  6 ;  Lukaszewicz,  pp.  134-144 ;  Fischer,  II.  p.  91,  etc. ;  Eegenvolscius, 
Lib.  quartus,  Cap  III,  p.  478,  etc. 
29 


450  'IHE    HISTORY    OF 

articles  of  agreement  were  signed  and  all  opponents  of  the 
union  excommunicated  (1596). 

But  this  measure  unchurched  a  majority  of  the  adherents 
of  the  Greek  faith.  The  union  did  not  meet  with  general 
favor.  Prince  Constantine  Ostrogski,  Palatine  of  Kieff,  fol- 
lowed by  the  greater  part  of  the  magnates  and  inferior  nobles 
of  that  persuasion,  protested  against  the  acts  of  the  Synod 
of  Brest.  A  large  and  influential  convocation  was  held  at 
which  the  Bishops  who  had  brought  about  the  union  were, 
in  their  turn,  excommunicated.  Thus  occurred  a  schism  in 
the  Greek  Church  of  Poland,  nmch  to  the  King's  displeasure 
who  persecuted  the  schismatic  Greeks,  as  he  chose  to  call  them, 
and  the  Protestants  alike. 

In  view  of  such  circumstances  Prince  Ostrogski  made 
overtures  to  the  Synod  of  Thorn,  proposing  a  political  and 
relig-ious  confederation  between  the  Greek  and  Protestant 
bodies.  The  Synod  favored  this  project  and  agreed  with  his 
commissioner  that  representatives  of  both  parties  should  meet 
and  arrange  the  details.  More  than  three  years  passed  by 
before  such  a  meeting  took  place.  At  last,  in  the  beginning 
of  1 599,  Count  Andrew  Leszcynski,  a  distinguished  noble  ot 
the  Brethren's  Unity,  sought  an  interview  with  Prince  Os- 
trogski and  Count  Radziwill.  These  three  magnates  deter- 
mined on  Vilna  as  the  place,  and  the  month  of  May  as  the 
time,  for  the  proposed  council.  In  it  were  to  be  represented 
the  Brethren's  Unity,  the  Lutheran  and  Reformed  Churches, 
and  the  Greek  persuasion. 

On  the  thirtieth  of  April  Bishop  Turnovius,  although  he 
had  but  just  recovered  from  a  severe  illness,  left  Ostrorog  and 
proceeded  to  Radziejow.  There  he  was  joined  by  Daniel 
Mikolajewski,  the  Reformed  superintendent,  and  at  Elbing 
by  Erasmus  Gliczner.  From  that  town  the  three  traveled  in 
company,  by  way  of  Konigsberg,  to  Vilna.  They  arrived  on 
the  fourteenth  of  May  after  having,  on  the  previous  evening, 
entered  into  a  formal  compact  to  maintain  unanimity,  as  the 
common  representatives  of  the  Consensus  Sendomiriensis,  in 
their  negotiations  with  the  Greek  divines.     This  compact  was 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCPI.  451 

suggested  by  Turnovius,  who,  true  to  the  principles  of  his 
Church  which  never  lost  an  opportunity  of  promoting  unity 
among  Christians,  was  the  soul  of  the  undertaking.  He  also 
drew  up,  as  the  basis  of  the  negotiations,  twelve  articles,  which 
were  approved  by  Gliczuer  and  Mikolajewski  and  laid  before 
Ostrogski.  To  the  Greek  clergy  was  sent  au  extract  of  the 
articles,  in  substance  as  follows  : 

The  Evangelical  Divines  desire  to  ash  the  Greek  Divines : 

1.  Whether,  in  their  judgment,  the  pure  Word  of  God  as  con- 
tained in  the  Old  and  New  Testament,  is  sufficient  for  salvation  ? 

2.  Whether  they  give  credence,  in  all  things,  to  the  old 
teachers  (Church-fathers),  on  account  of  their  reputation,  even 
though  these  teachers  may  not,  in  some  particulars,  agree  with 
the  AVord  of  God  ? 

3.  Whether,  in  case  anything  should  be  found  in  their  doctrine 
and  worship  contrary  to  the  Word  of  God  and  the  teaching  of 
the  Apostles,  they  would  deem  it  their  duty  to  introduce  a  change 
in  accordance  with  the  Divine  Word  ? 

4.  Whether  they  are  ready  to  recognize  as  fellow  servants  ot 
God  and  brethren,  those  who  order  their  worship  and  all  their 
other  religious  affairs  according  to  the  Divine  Word  in  its  purity 
and  who  look  upon  the  adversary  of  the  Lord  Christ  and  of  His 
Gospel  as  Antichrist  ? 

5.  Whether,  following  the  precepts  of  the  Lord  Christ,  they 
will  unite  in  love,  and  for  mutual  advice  and  assistance,  over 
against  Antichrist  and  his  servants,  with  those  who  deem  the  pure 
Word  of  God  to  be  sufficient  for  salvation,  implicitly  submit  to 
its  rule  and  doctrine,  accept  the  Lord  Christ  as  their  Shepherd 
and  the  only  Head  of  the  Church,  administer  the  sacraments 
according  to  His  instruction,  acknowledge  the  seven  oldest 
CEcumenical  Councils,  and  recognize  those  holy  Church-fathers 
whose  writings  agree  with  the  Word  of  God,  as  men  given  by 
Him  for  the  building  up  of  His  Church  and  instruction  in  divine 
things  ? 

Although  Leszcynski  and  Radziwill  had  not  yet  arrived,  a 
preliminary  consultation  took  place  on  the  twenty-fourth  of 
May,  in  the  palace  of  Ostrogski,  The  Greek  Church  was 
represented  by  Luke,  the  Metropolitan  of  Bialogrod,  Isaac, 
Abbot  of  Dubin,  and  the  Archdeacon  Gideon.  The  salutation 
which  Isaac  gave  the  Protestant  divines  augured  ill  success  to 
the  negotiations.  Extending  his  hand  to  Turnovius,  he  said : 
"  I  greet  you,  although   the  Scriptures   forbid  us  to  greet 


452  THE    HISTORY   OF 

heretics."  With  that  gentle  dignity  which  characterized  him 
the  Bishop  expressed  his  surprise  that  a  stranger,  who  had 
never  before  seen  him  and  his  companions,  should  take  for 
granted  that  they  were  heretics. 

When  all  were  seated  Ostrogski  opened  the  proceedings 
with  an  addi-ess  in  which  he  gave  utterance  to  the  hope  that 
a  mutual  understanding  would  be  reached.  "  If  God  the 
Lord,"  he  said  in  conclusion,  "  would  permit  a  union  between 
our  Greek  and  your  Evangelical  Church,  I  would  be  ready 
to-morrow  to  leave  this  world  with  joy."  Gliczner  replied, 
that  the  Polish  Protestants  were  prepared  to  come  to  such  an 
understanding  and  even,  if  this  should  prove  possible,  to  effect 
a  union  with  the  Eastern  Church.  Before  he  could  say  any- 
thing more  the  Metropolitan  interrupted  him,  exclaiming : 
"  Vain  are  your  expectations  that  we  will  relinquish  our  faith 
and  accept  yours !  You  must  give  up  your  religion  and  unite 
with  us.  There  is  no  other  way."  This  roused  Prince 
Ostrogski.  He  rebuked  Luke  and  turning  to  the  Protestants, 
said :  "  If  our  clergy  decline  a  union,  let  the  devil  take 
them  !  AVe  will  maintain  peace  and  exercise  mutual  love 
without  them." 

Turnovius  was  the  peace-maker.  In  courteous  language 
he  showed  :  that  errors  had  crept  into  the  Greek  Church,  but 
that  nevertheless,  in  many  points,  it  agreed  with  the  Protestant, 
notably  in  not  acknowledging  the  Romish  Antichrist,  but 
Jesus  Christ  alone,  as  the  Head  of  the  Church ;  and  that  a 
closer  fellowship  was  possible.     He  continued  on  this  wise  : 

"  Through  the  persecutions  of  our  enemies,  the  followers  of 
Antichrist,  God  incites  us  to  engage  in  these  mutual  deliberations. 
I  deem  this  to  be  an  auspicious  day,  because  He  permits  me  to 
come  hither  with  my  brethren,  in  order  to  commune  and  negotiate 
with  members  of  the  Eastern  Church  in  relation  to  things  which 
tend  to  a  mutual  understanding  and  produce  brotherly  love.  I 
therefore  declare,  in  my  own  name  and  that  of  my  brethren,  that 
we  are  ready  to  unite  not  only  with  you  in  the  kingdom  of 
Poland,  but  also  with  those  who  live  in  Moscow,  and  even  in 
Greece,  so  that  we  may  come,  upon  the  basis  of  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures, to  an  agreement  in  all  articles  of  faith  and  offices  of  worship. 
Should  you  point  out  to  us  any  article  in  our  doctrine  not  in 
harmony  with  the  Word  of  God,  we  are  prepared  to  reject  it. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH.  453 

The  same  thing  we  hope  of  you  :  that  should  we  find  in  your 
faith  any  tenets  not  in  accordance  with,  or  contrary  to,  the  Divine 
Word,  you  will  lay  them  aside  and  giving  honor  to  the  truth,  will 
in  the  truth  unite  with  us.  As  to  the  mode  and  manner  in 
which  this  can  be  brought  about,  you  must,  I  presume,  apply  to 
him  who  has  the  rule  over  you,  the  Patriarch  of  Constantinople, 
and  hence  can  not,  at  this  time,  consummate  a  union  with  us. 
But  by  the  aid  of  God,  you  and  we  can,  as  soon  as  more  repre- 
sentatives of  both  sides  will  be  present,  begin  to  prepare  and  lay 
the  foundation  for  this  holy  undertaking.  We  will  be  very  glad, 
therefore,  to  hear  in  what  way  you  mean  to  receive  these  our ' 
brotherly  overtures,  and  what  your  views  are  with  regard  to  the 
proposed  union."  ^ 

Mikolajewski  spoke  in  the  same  conciliatory  strain.  Both 
addresses  were  well  received.  Ostrogski  thanked  the  two 
divines  for  what  they  had  said ;  Isaac  and  Gideon  expressed 
their  gratitude  to  God  that  He  had  afforded  them  this  oppor- 
tunity to  be  witnesses  of  the  love  existing  between  Greek  and 
Protestant  believers,  by  which  Christ's  disciples,  according  to 
His  own  words,  were  known.  At  considerable  length  Isaac 
proceeded  to  show  in  what  particulars  the  Eastern  Church 
agreed  with  the  Protestant,  but  added,  that  the  Greek  clergy 
had  no  authority  to  consummate  a  union  except  by  permission 
of  the  Patriarchs  of  Constantinople  and  Alexandria,  who, 
however,  he  was  convinced,  would  not  withhold  their  consent. 
At  the  close  of  the  conference  the  divines  pledged  each  other 
their  right  hands  in  token  of  amity  and  fellowship.  While 
thus  fraternizing  one  of  the  Greeks  said :  "  Would  to  God, 
honored  sirs,  that  for  the  sake  of  good  order,  you  would  sub- 
mit to  the  authority  of  our  Patriarchs ! " 

"What!"  exclaimed  Ostrogski,  "they  refuse  obedience  to 
the  Pope,  with  his  supreme  authority,  and  do  you  expect 
them  to  be  subordinate  to  the  Patriarchs,  with  their  inferior 
authority  ?  " 

On  the  twenty-eighth  of  May  the  negotiations  were  resumed, 
seven  nobles  of  the  Evangelical  and  Greek  faith,  ten  Evan- 
gelical and  ten  Greek  clergymen  being  present.^     There  were 

^  The  above  part  of  Turnovius'  address  is  given  in  full  by  Lukaszewicz. 
^  Of  the  Protestant  clergymen  several,  besides  Turnoyius,  were  connected 
with  the  Brethren. 


454  THE    HISTORY    OF 

read  the  following  articles  in  whicli  the  Protestant  Church 
agreed  with  the  Eastern  : 

We  believe  and  confess  in  common  : 

1 .  That  the  Holy  Scriptures  of  the  Prophets  and  Apostles  are 
the  source  of  truth  and  of  that  doctrine  which  saves. 

2.  That  God,  in  His  being,  is  one,  but  triune  in  person. 

3.  That  the  three  persons  of  the  Godhead  are  different,  but 
one  in  substance,  according  to  the  Nicene  Creed. 

4.  That  the  Apostolic  /Symbolum  contains  the  essence  of  true 
worship  and  of  a  true  confession  of  faith. 

5.  That  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God,  is  the  true  God, 
begotten  of  the  Father  before  all  worlds,  in  a  way  inexpressible, 
and  true  man,  born  of  the  Virgin  Mary  for  our  redemption. 

6.  That  this  Christ,  in  that  by  His  death  He  offered  Himself  to 
God  the  Father  for  us,  has  made  an  all-sufficient  atonement  for 
our  sins. 

7.  That  God  is  neither  the  cause  nor  the  author  of  sin. 

8.  That  all  men  are  conceived  and  born  in  original  sin. 

9.  That  all  those  who  repent  and  are  truly  converted,  receive 
the  forgiveness  of  sin. 

10.  That  baptized  believers  must  do  good  works. 

11.  That  Christ  Himself  is  the  one  only  Head  of  His  Church, 
both  of  the  visible  and  the  invisible. 

12.  That  in  the  Church  of  God  the  office  of  the  ministry  is 
necessary  for  the  dispensation  of  the  Word  and  the  sacraments. 

13.  That  the  clergy  are  not  forbidden  to  marry. 

14.  That  infants  are  to  be  baptized. 

15.  That  the  Lord's  Supper  is  to  be  administered  under  both 
kinds  to  all  believers. 

16.  That  the  Holy  Scriptures  know  nothing  of  purgatory. 

17.  That  Christ  having  bodily  ascended  into  heaven  now  sits 
at  the  right  hand  of  the  Father,  from  whence  He  will  come  to 
judge  the  quick  and  the  dead. 

18.  That  as  the  bliss  of  believers  is  everlasting,  so  the  punish- 
ment of  the  damned  is  without  end. 

After  these  articles  had  been  read  Bishop  Turnovius  pro- 
posed, that  such  doctrinal  points  as  the  two  Churches  did  not 
hold  in  common  should  be  discussed  at  annual  Synods  to  be 
convened  alternately  in  Greek  and  Protestant  parishes.  But 
the  fraternal  sentiments  expressed  by  the  Greek  divines  at  the 
first  conference  had  strangely  changed.  They  manifested  no 
inclination  to  take  up  religious  questions ;  and,  at  last,  in  spite 
of  the  urgency  of  Ostrogski,  declined  all  further  negotiations 
until  they  h;i(l  heard  from  their  Patriarchs.     It  was  with  no 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH.  455 

little  difficulty  that  a  promise  was  exacted  from  them  to  take, 
meanwhile,  no  steps  in  oj)p()sition  to  a  union.  On  the  sixth 
of  June  the  Protestant  divines  wrote  to  the  Patriarchs,  after 
Bishop  Turnovius,  on  the  fourth,  htid  sent  a  lettei-  of  his  own 
to  the  Patriarch  of  Constantinople. 

The  nobles  present  at  the  conference  now  proceeded  to 
oro-anize  a  political  confederation.  Having  for  its  object  the 
maintenance  of  the  act  of  1573,  which  had  never  been 
repealed  and  guaranteed  religious  liberty,  this  confederation 
was  not  revolutionary  but  legal.  In  order  to  give  it  efficiency, 
a  large  number  of  so-called  Provisors  were  chosen.  It  be- 
came their  duty  to  defend,  by  ev^ery  constitutioaal  means,  the 
religious  liberty  of  the  nation,  and  in  case  of  necessity,  to 
repel  force  by  force.  The  articles  of  agreement  were  subse- 
quently signed  by  several  hundred  noblemen.  For  a  time  the 
Catholics  were  overawed  and  the  persecution  of  Protestants 
and  Greeks  ceased. 

There  exists  no  little  uncertainty  with  regard  to  the  character 
of  the  answers  sent  by  the  Patriarchs  to  the  letters  of  the 
Evangelical  divines,  except  that  both  prelates  declined  to 
permit  a  union.^     Hence  the  negotiations  were  never  resumed. 

Far  more  unfortunate  was  the  experience  which  the  Sendo- 
mirian  confederation  made.  On  the  twenty-sixth  of  January, 
1603,  Erasmus  Gliczner  died  at  Brodnica,  or  Strassburg,  in 
West  Prussia.  Although  he  had  several  times  vacillated,  and, 
subsequently  to  the  conference  at  Vilna,  written  a  paper 
retracting  his  adhesion  to  the  Consensus,  yet  in  general  he  had 
been  its  main  stay  among  the  Lutherans  and,  on  his  death-bed, 
had  torn  that  paper  to  pieces  and  urged  his  brethren  to  uphold 


*  Friese  says,  that  tlie  answer  of  the  Patriarch  of  Constantinople  was 
intercepted  by  the  Jesuits,  but  that  the  reply  of  the  Patriarch  of  Alexander 
readied  its  destination ;  of  tlie  contents  he  says  nothing.  Eegenvolscius 
relates  that,  out  of  fear  for  the  Catholics,  the  answer  of  the  Patriarch  of 
Constantinople,  sent  by  the  Abbot  Cyrill,  was  communicated  only  to  certain 
individuals  and  not  made  public.  A  short  letter  from  this  Patriarch  to 
Turnovius  is  given  in  Eegenvolscius,  p.  497,  but  it  merely  refers  him  to  the 
reply  sent  by  the  Abbot.  The  letters  of  Turnovius  and  the  Protestant 
divines  are  found  in  the  same  work,  pp.  491  and  495. 


456  THE    HISTORY    f)F 

the  confederation.  His  admonitions  were  not  heeded.  The 
Lutherans  withdrew  from  it  and  declined  to  send  delegates  to 
the  Synods. 

In  1606,  owing  to  a  general  dissatisfaction  with  the  king's 
religious  and  civil  policy,  disturbances  broke  out  all  over 
Poland  and  eventually  ripened  into  a  civil  war.  This  war, 
whatever  advantages  it,  at  first,  seemed  to  confer  upon  the 
Protestants,  in  the  end  brought  them  nothing  but  disasters. 
At  the  beginning  of  the  century  they  had  again  been  out- 
stripped, in  point  of  numbers,  by  the  Catholics;  and  now,  in 
its  first  decades,  the  llomish  reaction  reached  its  height. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  457 


CHAPTEH  XLTY. 

The  Bohemian  Charter.     A.  D.  1608-1609. 


Matthias  declared  Head  of  the  House  of  Hapsburg. — Confederacy  against 
Rudolph. — Tiie  Bohemian  Diet. — Protestant  States  determined  to 
secure  Religious  Liberty. — Envoys  of  Matthias  in  the  Diet. — Zerotin's 
Speech. — Pi-omises  of  Rudolph. — Pacification  with  Matthias. — Diet  of 
1609. — Prorogued. — Independent  Meeting  of  the  States. — Diet  Re- 
opened.— States  present  Draft  of  a  Charter. — Directors  appointed. — 
Troops  raised. — Rudolph  signs  the  Charter. — Its  Provisions. — Agree- 
ment between  Catholics  and  Protestants. — Thanksgiving  Festival. — 
Agreement  between  the  Unity  and  the  other  Protestants. — Election  of 
Consistory  and  of  a  Defenders.— Their  Instructions. 

The  striking  figure  in  which  the  Prophet  foretold  the 
downfall  of  Israelis  line  of  kings  may  be  applied  to  the 
Emperor  Rudolph :  he  sowed  the  wind  and  reaped  the  whirl- 
wind. It  swept  over  all  his  dominions.  Hungary,  under  the 
leadership  of  Stephen  Boeskay,  broke  out  into  open  revolt 
and  made  common  cause  with  the  Turks,  its  ancient  enemies 
(1604).  Rudolph's  own  brothers  and  nephews  met  at  Lintz 
and  subsequently  at  Vienna  (April,  1606),  declared  him  unfit 
to  govern,  and  constituted  the  Archduke  Matthias  the  head 
of  their  House.  Matthias,  after  having  concluded  peace,  in 
the  Emperor's  name,  both  with  Boeskay  and  the  Turks, 
(1606)  induced  Hungary  and  Austria  to  unite  in  a  confederacy 
against  the  Emperor  (1608).  Moravia,  bleeding  at  many 
wounds,  prepared  to  shake  off  his  yoke.  So  great  was  the 
crisis  that  it  brought  Charles  von  Zerotin  forth  from  his 
retirement.  At  Rositz  he  consulted  with  the  Hungarian  and 
Austrian  leaders ;  at  Eibenschiitz  a  Diet  convened,  of  which 
he    was    the    moving   spirit.       Berka,   whom    Rudolph    liad 


458  THE    HISTORY    OF 

appointed  Governor,  was  deposed  and  a  provisional  govern- 
ment instituted ;  Moravia  joined  the  confederacy  and  recog- 
nized Matthias  as  its  sovereign  (April,  1608). 

The  Archduke  had  gathered  an  army  and  now  advanced 
into  Bohemia.  Rudolph  was  overwhelmed  with  fear.  He 
would  have  fled,  if  the  ministers  of  the  crown  had  not,  almost 
by  force,  prevented  him.  His  effort  to  convene  representa- 
tives of  all  his  dominions  in  a  General  Diet,  had  proved  a 
failure ;  his  negotiations  with  his  brother  had  been  equally 
unsuccessful.  But  now,  on  the  twenty-third  of  May,  the 
Bohemian  Diet  met.  For  the  first  time  in  many  years  he 
opened  it  in  person.  A  man  prematurely  aged,  with  a 
shriveled  face,  bleached  hair,  a  bent  back  and  wavering  step, 
tottered  into  the  chamber.  This  was  the  Emperor.^  He 
greeted  the  Diet  and,  soon  after,  pleading  weakness,  retired. 
The  states  were  moved  with  pity.  But  pity  could  not  induce 
them  to  relinquish  the  great  purpose  they  had  in  view.  They 
were  determined  to  secure  religious  liberty.  That  they  took 
advantage  of  his  unfortunate  position,  is  certain ;  that  their 
past  experiences  justified  them  in  adopting  this  course,  no 
candid  mind  will  deny.  Budowa  drew  up  twenty-five 
articles,  setting  forth  the  grievances  of  the  Protestants, 
demanding  absolute  religious  liberty  for  all  estates  and  condi- 
tions of  the  kingdom,  and  claiming,  in  every  other  respect, 
the  same  rights  for  Protestants  as  for  Catholics. 

Meantime  Matthias  had  advanced  to  within  ten  miles  of 
Prague,  and  his  envoys,  led  by  Zerotin,  appeared  in  that  city. 

^  Rudolph  had  not  yet  reached  the  age  of  fifty-six  years.  Many  of  the 
nobles  had  not  seen  him  for  years.  He  had  become  more  and  more  inert 
and  morose.  His  mind  was  imjiaired.  Haunted  by  the  idea  that  he  was 
to  be  assassinated  by  a  monk,  he  secluded  himself,  so  that  the  highest 
officials  and  his  own  brothers  were  refused  an  audience.  Pliilip  Lang,  his 
favorite  servant,  exercised  an  unbounded  influence  in  the  palace  and  secured 
enormous  bribes.  No  one  could  see  the  Emperor  except  through  liis  inter- 
vention. 

Authorities  for  this  chapter  are:  Gindely,  II.  Viertes  Bucli;  Gindely's 
Majestiitsbrief;  Gindely's  Rudolf,  II,  Part  I,  chapters  5,  6  and  7;  Czer- 
wenka,II,  chapter  14 ;  Chlumecky,  chapters  7-13. 


THE    MORAVIAX    CHURCH.  459 

On  the  twenty-fifth  of  May  they  were  admitted  to  the  Diet. 
In  an  eloquent  speech  Zerotin  urged  the  states  to  join  the 
confederacy,  bring  about  Kudolph's  abdication  and  elect 
Matthias  as  his  successor.  Partly  out  of  pity  for  their 
monarch,  but  chiefly  because  they  resented  the  interference  of 
the  Archduke,  they  declined  these  overtures.  The  envoys  left 
Prague ;  and  on  the  twenty-eighth  the  Protestant  states,  in  a 
body,  presented  Budowa's  articles  to  the  Emperor.  Overawed 
by  this  demonstration  and  the  determined  bearing  of  the 
nobles  he  promised  to  remove  all  grievances  and  prevent 
persecution  in  every  form,  but  begged  that  the  question  of 
religious  liberty  might  be  deferred  to  the  next  Diet.  He 
gave  a  written  pledge  that  this  question  should,  at  that  Diet, 
be  taken  up  first  of  all  and  finally  settled.  The  states  con- 
sented to  wait,  although  not  without  reluctance. 

By  this  time  Matthias  and  his  army  were  almost  before  the 
walls  of  Prague.  The  Emperor  sent  a  commission  to  treat 
with  his  brother.  This  effort  proved  successful.  A  pacifica- 
tion was  concluded  at  Liebeu  (June  the  twenty-fifth),  on  the 
following  terms:  Eudolph  acknowledged  Matthias  as  his 
successor  to  the  Bohemian  throne  and  ceded  to  him  Hungary, 
Austria  and  Moravia;  Matthias  promised  to  withdraw  his 
army  and  engage  in  no  further  hostile  demonstrations  against 
Rudolph.  This  compact  was  carried  out  at  once.  The  Hun- 
garian regalia  were  sent,  with  great  pomp,  to  the  Archduke, 
who  thereupon  retired  with  his  troops ;  the  Protestant  and 
Catholic  nobles  in  attendance  went  back  to  their  domains.  At 
Stierbohol  the  former  had  secretly  entered  into  an  agreement  to 
stand  up  for  religious  liberty  at  all  hazards.  In  bringing  about 
this  agreement  Zerotin  had  again  been  active.  On  his  return  to 
Moravia  the  Diet  appointed  him  Governor  of  that  margraviate. 

Through  the  advice  of  such  intolerant  councilors  as  Slawata,^ 

^  Count  William  von  Slawata  was  born  and  educated  within  the  pale  of 
the  Brethren's  Church.  In  order  to  gain  the  hand  of  a  Catholic  heiress  he 
embraced  the  Romish  faith.  He  wrote  very  complete  and  valuable 
Memoirs,  which  have  been  published  in  the  Third  Part  of  the  Monumenta 
Historise  Bohemica,  edited  by  Gindely,  Prague,  18G4-1870. 


460  THE    HISTORY    OF 

Lobkowitz,  Martinic,  and  Adam  von  Sternberg,  Rudolph 
became  unfaithful  to  his  pledge.  In  spite  of  the  near  meeting 
of  what  promised  to  be  the  most  momentous  Diet  of  his  reign 
he  issued  three  decrees  interfering  anew  with  the  religious 
beliefs  of  his  subjects.  A  course  so  infatuated  did  not  promise 
harmony,  but  made  the  Evangelical  states  all  the  more 
determined  to  gain  their  end. 

The  Diet  opened  on  the  twenty-eighth  of  January,  1609. 
Budowa,  Stephen  von  Sternberg  and  Matthias  von  Thurn 
were  the  leaders  on  the  Protestant  side.  Five  times  the  states 
renewed  their  demand  for  religious  liberty;  five  times  the 
Emperor,  incited  by  the  Archbishop,  the  Jesuits  and  the 
head-strong  among  his  own  councilors,  declined  to  grant  their 
demand.  Was  this  that  settlement  of  the  religious  question 
which  he  had  solemnly  promised  when  his  brother's  army 
was  menacing  his  capital?  But  he  had  still  another  stroke  in 
reserve.  On  the  thirty-first  of  March  the  Diet  was  prorogued. 
This  perfidious  measure  roused  Budowa  to  action.  Calling  to 
the  Protestant  members  as  they  were  dispersing  he  begged 
them  to  meet  the  next  morning.  They  came  and  enthusi- 
astically adopted  a  written  declaration,  which  he  had  drawn 
up,  that  the  course  of  the  Government  obliged  the  Evangelical 
states  to  convene,  on  their  own  responsibility,  on  the  coming 
fourth  of  May,  in  order  to  take  measures  for  the  defence  of 
their  religion,  their  country,  their  families  and  king.  Mean- 
time envoys  were  to  be  sent  to  Matthias,  to  the  Electors  of 
Saxony,  Brandenburg  and  the  Palatinate,  to  the  Duke  of 
Brunswick  and  the  Silesiau  and  Lusatian  Diets,  in  order  to 
ask  for  their  intervention. 

Toward  the  end  of  April  the  nobles,  accompanied  by 
numerous  retainers,  hastened  to  Prague.  On  the  appointed 
day  they  repaired  to  the  Hradschin.  Their  first  act  was, 
once  more  to  approach  Rudolph  with  protestations  of  loyalty 
and  the  earnest  petition  that  he  would  reopen  the  Diet. 
These  overtures  were  harshly  rejected.  Even  the  use  of  a 
hall  was  refused.  Then  they  took  their  holy  cause  into  their 
own  keeping.      Standing  in  the  court-yard  of  the  Castle  they 


THE    MOKAVIAjX    CHURCH.  461 

solemnly  swore,  with  bared  heads  and  right  hands  lifted  up 
to  heaven,  that  they  would  gain  religious  liberty  at  any  cost 
and  be  true  to  each  other  whatever  might  betide.  This  done, 
they  marched,  in  closed  ranks,  to  the  Council  House  of  the 
Neustadt,  paying  no  attention  to  the  royal  officer  who  ordered 
them  to  disperse,  and  took  possession  of  that  building. 

On  the  next  morning  (May  the  sixth),  these  fearless 
defenders  of  their  faith  met  again.  Before  the  deliberations 
opened  they  all,  at  Budowa's  suggestion,  fell  on  their  knees 
and  sang  a  hymn  beginning,  "  Send  us.  Lord,  Thy  Holy 
Spirit."  Its  solemn  strains  reached  the  multitude  without 
which  instantly  grew  still,  and  many  a  murmured  intercession 
mingled  with  the  hymn.  After  the  singing  a  prayer  was 
offered.  The  subsequent  meetings  were  opened  and  closed  in 
the  same  way.  And  when  a  memorial  had  been  prepared 
and  six  nobles  were  sent  to  present  it  to  Rudolph,  the  rest 
remained  in  the  Council  House  calling  upon  the  Lord  to  turn 
the  king's  heart  and  prosper  their  undertaking. 

Rudolph  was  disposed  to  yield.  The  memorial,  the  repre- 
sentations of  the  Saxon  ambassadors,  the  reply  of  the  powers 
to  whom  the  states  had  appealed  and  who  all,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  Matthias,  promised  their  aid,  could  not  but  impress 
him.  Hence  he  reopened  the  Diet  (May  the  twenty-fifth). 
But  the  Archduke  Leopold,  Bishop  of  Passau,  who,  soon 
after,  arrived  in  Prague,  and  the  persistent  obstinacy  of  his 
own  councilors,  wiped  out  such  impressions.  On  the  fifth  of 
June,  in  answer  to  the  petition  of  the  Diet,  he  once  moi-e 
declined  to  grant  religious  liberty.  The  Evangelical  states 
immediately  appointed  a  committee  to  take  measures  for  their 
defence  j  while  the  Catholic  states  made  common  cause  with 
them,  in  spite  of  the  protest  of  the  imperial  councilors.  In  a 
few  days  the  report  of  the  committee  was  ready.  This  report 
embodied  an  address  to  the  Emperor;  the  draft  of  a  charter; 
and  an  appeal  to  the  public.  The  address  declined  all  further 
negotiations  with  the  imperial  councilors  and  announced  the 
intention  of  the  states  to  elect  Directors  and  arm  themselves. 
Rudolph  now  tried,  in  various  ways,  to  compromise.     But 


462  THE    HISTORY    OF 

the  states  remained  firm.  Their  draft  of  a  charter  was  their 
ultimatum.  They  appointed  thirty  Directors,  and  while 
Prague  raised  four  thousand  five  hundred  men,  the  nobles 
hastened  to  their  domains  to  levy  additional  troops.  The 
Emperor  was  forced  to  yield.  After  negotiating,  for  several 
days,  with  the  Directors,  who  manfully  maintained  the 
demands  of  their  constituents,  he  signed  the  charter,  iu  the 
evening  of  Thursday,  the  ninth  of  July.  It  became  Lobko- 
witz's  duty,  as  Chancellor,  to  countersign  it.  But  he  refused; 
saying  that  his  conscience  forbade  him.  Hence  Adam  von 
Sternberg,  the  Burggrave  of  Prague,  attached  his  signature.^ 

Upon  the  basis  of  the  Bohemian  Confession  of  1575  the 
charter  granted  absolute  religious  liberty  throughout  the 
kingdom;  the  University  and  the  "Lower  Consistory  of 
Prague,"  ^  were  given  over  to  the  Protestants ;  they  received 
permission  to  erect  churches  and  establish  schools ;  the  Diet 
was  empowered  to  elect  Defenders ;  and  all  edicts,  whatever 
their  origin  or  form,  against  the  Protestants,  were  forever 
rescinded.  In  the  draft  presented  by  the  Diet  the  word 
"  Evangelical "  was  used  to  designate  the  Protestant  party ; 
in  the  charter  itself  this  party  was  designated  as  "all  those 
three  estates  of  our  Bohemian  kingdom  that  receive  the  body 
and  blood  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  under  both  kinds."  This 
was  the  only  change  which  Rudolph  made.  It  embraced 
under  the  common  name  of  "  Utraquists,"  the  Unitas  Fratrum, 
the  Lutherans,  the  Reformed,  and  the  remnant  of  Old  Utra- 
quists, who,  however,  were  soon  lost  among  the  other  denomi- 
nations.^ 


^  John  Menzel,  tlie  royal  Secretary,  also  declined  signing,  and  Panl 
Michna,  a  foreigner,  recently  appointed  Secretary  of  the  Chancellor's  office, 
signed  in  his  place. 

*  These  words  of  the  charter  do  not  imply  inferiority,  but  relate  to  the 
seat  of  the  old  Utraquist  Consistory,  in  the  lower  part  of  the  city;  whereas 
tlie  Catholic  Consistory  had  its  seat  on  the  Hradschin  Hill. 

*  The  charter  was  written  in  Boheniiau.  Ferdinand  the  Second  destroyed 
the  original ;  but  there  is  a  copy,  beautifully  engrossed  on  jjarchment,  in  the 
library  of  Zittau,  in  Saxony,  together  witii  an  affidavit  of  tlie' burgomaster 
and  coimcil  of  the  Neusladt  of  Prague,  setting  forth  that  this  transcript  is 


THE    MORAVIAN'    CHURCH,  463 

In  accordance  Avith  this  charter,  the  same  clay  on  which  it 
was  signed,  the  Protestant  Directors  and  the  Catholic  states 
concluded  an  "  Agreement,"  providing  for  amicable  relations 
between  the  two  Churches,  especially  in  towns  and  villages 
where  both  were  represented.  To  this  important  document 
Lobkowitz,  Slawata  and  Martinic  refused  to  attach  their 
signatures.  On  the  twelfth  of  July  the  charter  was  delivered 
to  the  Directors  and  carried,  in  solemn  procession,  through 
the  streets,  which  were  thronged  with  a  jubilant  multitude, 
to  the  Altstadt,  where  psalms  of  praise  were  chanted  in  the 
church  of  the  Holy  Cross.  In  the  same  edifice,  three  days 
later,  a  solemn  thanksgiving  service  took  place.  But  the 
festival  was  not  confined  to  that  sanctuary.  The  entire  city 
was  alive  with  joy.  Bells  rang  out  a  glad  peal ;  inscriptions 
adorned  houses  and  gates ;  the  people  sang  and  shouted  and 
congratulated  each  other ;  while  the  keynote  of  all  such  mani- 
festations was,  Te  Deum  laudamus!  Amidst  this  jubilee,  in 
which  many  Catholics  joined,  the  Jesuits  appointed  a  forty 
hours'  devotion,  "  that  the  Romish  faith  might  be  gra- 
ciously preserved  from  the  scandalous  undertakings  of  the 
heretics." 

On  the  twenty-second  of  July,  of  the  same  year,  the  Diet 
reassembled.  Its  most  important  duty  was,  to  regulate  the 
internal  affairs  of  the  Evangelical  Church  and  especially  the 
relation  of  the  Brethren  to  their  fellow  Protestants.     After 


true  and  correct.  It  is,  without  doubt,  that  copy  which  was  preserved  in 
the  archives  of  the  Protestant  Consistory  and  was  brought  to  Zittau  in  the 
Anti-Reformation.  John  Borott,  Pastor  of  the  Bohemian  cliurch  at  that 
place,  publislied  it  in  1803,  togetlier  witli  a  German  translation  and  im- 
portant notes  (Der  von  Rudolpli  dem  Zweiten  ertlaeilte  Majestatsbrief,  etc., 
Gorliz,  bei  C.  G.  Anton,  1803).  Gindely  gives  the  charter  in  full,  II.  pp. 
445-454 ;  also  Pesclieck,  I.  p.  159,  etc. ;  in  the  English  translation  of 
Pescheck's  work  it  is  found  in  Vol.  I.  pp.  167-177.  The  charter  and  the 
Agreement  of  the  Protestants  and  Catholics  were  recorded  in  the  National 
Register's  office;  the  original  documents,  inclosed  in  a  silver  case,  were 
deposited  in  the  Castle  of  Carlstein,  on  the  Moldau,  about  seventeen  miles 
below  Prague.  In  this  Castle  all  the  official  documents  of  the  kingdom 
were  preserved. 


4G4  THE    HISTORY    OF 

protracted  consultations  a  document  was  })repared  embracing, 
in  substance,  the  following  points : 

All  parties,  namely,  the  Brethren,  the  Lutherans,  the  Reformed 
and  those  priests  who  have  been  ordained  by  the  Archbishop 
but  have  joined  the  Protestants,  accept  the  Bohemian  Confession 
of  1575;  the  name  by  which  they  are  to  be  known  in  common 
is,  "  Utraquist  Christians ;"  a  pious  and  learned  priest  is  to  be 
elected  Administrator  of  the  Consistory ;  next  to  him  in  rank  is 
to  stand  a  Bishop  of  the  Unity ;  the  other  members  of  the  Con- 
sistory are  to  be  three  professors  of  the  University,  and  seven 
priests,  of  whom  two  are  to  belong  to  the  Brethren  ;  the  Con- 
sistory directs  and  superintends  the  Bohemian  Evangelical 
Church ;  the  Administrator,  with  the  assistance  of  the  other 
members,  ordains  its  priests,  but  priests  of  the  Brethren  are  to  be 
ordained  "according  to  the  mode  and  order  in  use  among  them," 
although  "  the  said  Administrator  is  also  to  lay  his  hands  upon 
them  ;"  such  priests  are  to  be  installed  by  the  Bishops  of  the 
Unity  and  the  Administrator  shall  not  hinder  these  Bishops  in 
any  way,  but  every  one  shall  abide  by  his  own  order,  ceremonies 
and  rites ;  priests  ordained  in  foreign  countries  and  wishing  to 
serve  a  Bohemian  parish  must  apply  to  the  Consistory  and 
accept  the  Bohemian  Confession." 

When  this  paper  had  been  agreed  upon,  there  was  held,  in 
the  Thein  church,  a  solemn  service  in  the  course  of  Avhich  a 
sermon  was  preached  and,  at  the  close,  the  Te  Deum  chanted. 
From  the  church  the  congregation  proceeded  to  the  Carollnum, 

^  Czerwenka,  II.  p.  578,  is  guilty  of  a  strange  inaccuracy.  He  says  tliat 
tlie  priests  of  the  Brethren  were  thereafter  ordained  by  the  Administrator. 
This  is  simply  absurd,  as  the  Ratio  Disciplin(B,  adopted  a  few  years  later, 
shows.  The  document,  which  Czerwenka  had  before  him,  reads :  "  Like- 
wise those  persons  of  his  (the  Administrator)  own  order,  or  belonging  to  his 
own  party,  desiring  to  enter  the  priestly  office  among  those  called  the 
United  Brethren,  being  found  fit  and  wortliy  by  tliem,  and  willing  to  con- 
form to  the  doctrine  contained  in  this  Confession,  shall  be  examined, 
ordained  and  consecrated,  according  to  the  mode  and  order  in  use  among 
them;  and  tlie  said  Administrator  is  also  to  lay  his  hands  upon  tliem" 
(Pescheck,  I.  p.  202).  Moreover,  this  passage  not  only  refutes  Czerwenka, 
but  also  refers,  in  our  judgment,  merely  to  such  candidates  for  the  priest- 
hood as  came  from  the  Administrator's  "own  party,"  that  is,  from  the 
Lutheran  and  Reformed  Churches,  and  not  to  such  as  were  born  and  bred 
in  the  Unity,  who  were  ordained  without  tlie  aid  of  the  Administrator. 
The  entire  document  is  given  by  Pescheck,  I.  p.  197-203,  and  by  Skala,  I. 
p.  249,  etc. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  465 

where  the  document  was  signed  by  the  representatives  of  the 
Diet,  on  the  one  part,  and  the  Bishops  and  priests  of  the 
Brethren,  on  the  other.  Tliere  were  present  many  nobles, 
citizens,  and  clergy,  to  the  number  of  five  hundred  from  all 
parts  of  the  country.  This  important  act  was  consummated 
on  the  twenty-eighth  of  September,  1609. 

While  the  Unitas  Fratruni  cordially  united  with  its  fellow 
Protestants  in  the  way  which  has  now  been  set  forth,  it  had 
no  thought  of  relinquishing  its  own  confession,  constitution, 
peculiarities,  or  orders.  This  is  evident  from  its  subsequent 
history.  In  accordance  with  its  enlarged  views,  such  a  posi- 
tion was  consistent.  The  Brethren  could  form  an  integral 
part  of  the  Evangelical  Church  of  Bohemia  and  yet  maintain 
all  that  was  their  own. 

On  the  sixth  of  October  the  election  of  the  Consistory  and 
Defenders  took  place. 

Elias  Sud  von  Semanin,  incumbent  of  the  Thein  church, 
was  chosen  Administrator  of  the  Consistory  and  Matthias 
Cyrus  the  episcopal  representative  of  the  Unity.''  Its  other 
two  representatives  were  John  Cyrill  and  John  Corvin.  The 
Consistory  received  minute  instructions,  setting  forth  its  duties 
and  privileges,  as  also  the  ritual  and  ceremonies  which  it  was 
to  regulate.^ 

Twenty-four  Defenders  were  next  elected — eight  barons, 
eight  knights  and  eight  citizens.  About  one-third  of  these 
Defenders  belonged  to  the  Unity.  Budowa  was  prominent. 
They,  too,  received  instructions  carefully  formulated.^  It 
was  their  duty  to  look  after  the  Consistory  and  University ,^ 
and  to  guard  against  any  infringement  of  the  Bohemian  Con- 
fession, of  the  union  of  the  Protestants,  of  the  charter  and  the 
Agreement  with  the  Catholics. 

Not  until  all  these  affairs  had  been  settled  did  the  states 
disband  their  army.     Rudolph  gave  them  a  written  amnesty. 


'  He  was,  however,  not  consecrated  to  the  episcopacy  until  1611. 
*  Instructions  in  full  given  by  Pescheck,  I.  pp.  204-223. 
''  Instructions  to  the  Defenders,  Pescheck,  I.  pp.  223-233. 
30 


466  THE    HISTORY   OF 

This  amnesty  Ijobkowitz,  Slawata  and  Martinic  again  refused 
to  sign.  In  the  next  session  of  the  Diet  Budowa  called  thera 
to  an  account.  They  excused  themselves  by  saying,  that  their 
declination  was  a  matter  of  conscience.  A  fiery  speech,  in 
which  he  denounced  them  as  enemies  of  liberty  and  peace, 
constituted  Budowa's  reply.  This  jar  was  the  first  sign 
portending  a  short-lived  existence  of  religious  liberty. 

On  the  twenty-third  of  February,  1610,  the  Diet  adjourned. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  467 


CHAPTER  XLY. 

The  Unitas  Fratrum  as  a  legally  recognized  Church  in  Bohemia. 
Its  further  History  in  Poland.     A.  D.  1610-1620. 


Rapid  Development  of  Protestantism. — Churches,  Schools  and  the  Uni- 
versity.— Number  of  Protestants. — Rudolph's  Conspiracy  and  Resigna- 
tion.— His  Death. — Matthias  succeeds  him. — Progress  of  the  Unity. — 
Proposed  Endowments. — Death  of  Bishops  Ariston,  Turnovius,  Bar- 
tholomew Nemcansky  and  Narcissus.  —  Consecration  of  Cruciger, 
Rybinius,  Gertich,  Koneczny,  Cyrus,  Erastus  and  John  Turnovius. — 
Zerotin  as  Governor  of  Moravia. — State  of  the  Brethren  in  Poland. — 
Effort  to  renew  the  Sendomirian  Confederation. — Ostrorog. — Printing 
Press  and  Endowment. — Synod  of  Zerawic. — The  Ratio  Disciplinae. — 
John  Amos  Comenius. — Death  of  Bishop  Cyrus  and  Consecration  of 
Cyrill. — Dispute  about  the  Bethlehem  Chapel. 

The  Bohemian  charter  was  the  fruit  produced  by  the  labors 
and  conflicts  and  intercessions  of  two  centuries.  It  repre- 
sented the  dying  testimony  of  John  Hus,  the  battle-cry  of  tlie 
Taborites,  the  sufferings  of  Gregory  and  all  his  fellow  con- 
fessors, the  prayers  in  which  the  Brethren  had  been  instant, 
their  endurance  amid.st  persecutions,  the  holy  work  which  one 
generation  had  transmitted  to  the  next,  the  trust  and  hopes  of 
other  Protestants,  the  longing  of  a  nation  to  serve  God  as 
conscience  dictated.  And  now  that  such  aspirations  had  been 
fulfilled,  a  joyous  development  began  in  the  religious  life  of 
the  kingdom.  In  Prague,  in  other  cities,  in  nearly  every  town 
and  village,  there  were  churches  in  which  was  preached  the 
free  grace  of  Christ,  justification  by  faith,  all  the  counsel  of 
God.  Before  long  twenty-two  places  of  Protestant  worship 
could  be  counted  in  the  capital,  while  nearly  five  hundred 


468  THE    HISTORY    OF 

Evangelical  clergymen,  each  in  charge  of  a  parish,  were  labor- 
ing throughout  the  kingdom.^  Protestants  and  Catholics 
lived  at  peace.  The  "Agreement"  was  faithfully  observed. 
"  One  could  often  find,"  says  Pelzel,  a  Roman  Catholic  his- 
torian, "in  one  and  the  same  Bohemian  village,  two  or  three 
parishes,  ministers  and  teachers,  representing  as  many  different 
confessions,  but  all  maintaining  amicable  relations."^ 

Bohemia  had  always  been  noted  for  its  schools ;  now  they 
began  to  flourish  and  increase  in  an  unprecedented  degree. 
There  was  not  a  market-town  without  at  least  one  school, 
while  larger  towns  had  several.  In  Prague  there  were  sixteen, 
besides  two  gymnasia.  Paul  Stransky,  a  celebrated  Professor 
of  the  University,  testifies  that  the  Bohemian  schools  were,  at 
that  time,  the  best  in  Europe.  They  were  parish  schools,  each 
in  charge  commonly  of  two  teachers,  sometimes  of  five  or  six. 
No  one  was  employed  as  an  instructor  unless  he  had  attained 
to  the  degree  of  a  Bachelor  of  Arts ;  in  a  majority  of  cases  the 
teachers  had  reached  the  degree  of  Masters.  The  result  was 
that  men  could  be  found  in  the  ordinary  walks  of  life,  familiar 
with  Virgil,  Ovid  and  Horace,  even  with  Homer  and  Ana- 
creon,  and  able  to  compose  Latin  and  Greek  verses.^ 

However  unsuccessful  Rudolph's  reign  proved  to  be  in 
other  respects,  it  was  a  golden  age  for  Bohemian  learning  and 
literature.  Prague  could  boast  of  celebrities  like  Tycho  Brahe, 
the  astronomer,  John  Kepler,  the  mathematician,  John  Jessen, 
the  physiologist  and  anatomist,  all  drawn  to  that  city  through 
the  Emperor's  munificence.  The  University  enjoyed  his 
special  favor.  It  had  fallen  into  decay,  but  began  to  revive 
under  his  fosterino;  care. 


I  Perscheck,  I.  p.  239  and  Czerwenka,  IT.  p.  594,  who  gives  the  names  of 
the  churches  in  Prague. 

^  Pelzel,  II.  p.  653. 

3  Pelzel,  II.  p.  678,  who  is  our  authority  for  all  that  we  have  said  with 
regard  to  schools.  Their  superior  character,  as  set  forth  by  tliis  author  and 
by  Stransky,  must  be  understood  in  a  relative  sense.  It  is  well  known  that 
the  system  of  education,  in  that  age,  was  open,  in  many  respects,  to  severe 
criticism  and  induced  Comenius  to  devise  his  better  method. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH,  469 

Sucli  a  restoration  was  zealously  pushed  forward  by  the 
Protestant  Consistory  and  Defenders,  as  soon  as  the  University 
passed  into  their  hands.  Its  resources  were  developed ;  its 
ancient  fame  was  restored.  Budowa  took  a  deep  interest  in 
this  seat  of  learning.  The  Professors  were  distinguished  for 
their  thorough  scholarship  and  enlightened  understanding. 
Besides  Jessen  and  Stransky,  some  of  the  most  celebrated  were 
B  ichaczius,  Nigellus,  Simon  Skala,  Campanns  and  Troilus. 

That  the  general  revival  of  learning  throughout  the  kingdom 
was  a  direct  result  of  Protestantism,  Pelzel  acknowledges. 
"  The  most  remarkable  feature  of  the  case,"  he  says,  "  is  the 
fact,  that  the  Protestants  of  Bohemia,  who  always  tried  to 
enlighten  the  people,  brought  this  about.  Nearly  all  the 
learned  men  of  this  period  belonged  to  their  Church."  * 

The  rapid  increase  of  the  membership  of  the  Evangelical 
Church,  was  another  consequence  of  religious  liberty.  Bohe- 
mia became,  even  more  completely  than  prior  to  the  granting 
of  the  charter,  a  Protestant  country.  We  may  give  statistics 
which  are  at  least  approximately  correct.  The  total  popula- 
tion amounted  to  about  three  million.  Of  this  number  per- 
haps two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  were  Catholics,  and 
about  two  million  seven  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  Pro- 
testants. It  is  important,  in  order  to  gain  a  correct  insight 
into  the  character  of  the  Anti-Reformation,  to  remember  these 
sta,tistics.^ 

Rudolph  bitterly  repented  of  his  course,  both  in  its  relation 
to  Matthias  and  the  Protestants.  He  hated  his  brother  and 
bewailed  his  own  weakness  in  granting  the  charter.  The 
Archduke  Leopold  encouraged  such  sentiments.  They  plotted 
together  and,  at  last,  formed  a  conspiracy  to  deprive  Matthias 
of  the  succession,  transfer  it  to  Leopold  and  crush  Protest- 
antism. Several  Catholic  nobles,  among  them  Slawata  and 
Martinic,  were  privy  to  tliis  plot.     In  order  to  carry  it  out 

*  Pelzel,  II.  p.  679. 

*  These  statistics  are  based  upon  the  information  derived  from  Gindely 
and  elsewhere  given,  that  the  Catholics  constituted  less  than  one-tenth  of 
the  population.     Vide  p.  439. 


470  THE    HISTORY    OF 

the  Archduke,  under  pretense  of  defending  his  diocese  of 
Passau,  raised  an  army  of  twelve  thousand  men — the  scum 
and  refuse  of  various  nations.  Led  by  General  Ram6e  these 
troops  advanced  into  Bohemia,  plundering,  burning  and 
murdering  wherever  they  came.  In  February,  of  1611,  they 
appeared  before  Prague,  effected  an  entrance  through  Leopold's 
connivance,  and  began  a  terrible  carnage,  until  they  were  driven 
beyond  the  walls  by  the  infuriated  citizens,  whom  Count 
Thurn  supported  with  a  small  body  of  men.  Soon  after  an 
army  raised  by  the  states  came  to  the  rescue.  Into  its  hands 
fell  Francis  Tennagel,  Leopold's  councilor,  who  disclosed  the 
entire  conspiracy.  The  states  immediately  sent  for  Matthias. 
He  arrived  on  the  twenty-fourth  of  March,  at  the  head  of  his 
troops ;  "■  the  army  of  Passau,"  as  Leopold's  men  were  called, 
fled  in  hot  haste.  Three  days  later  the  states  petitioned 
Matthias  to  assume  the  government,  and  constrained  Rudolph 
to  convene  the  Diet.  On  the  eleventh  of  April  the  latter 
resiirned  the  crown  of  Bohemia,  with  which  the  former  was 
invested  on  the  twenty-third  of  May,  after  having  promised 
to  issue  a  new  charter.  Meanwhile  he  sanctioned  the  rights 
and  privileges  granted  by  his  brother. 

Thus  Rudolph  lost  all  his  possessions.  An  archduchy,  a 
dukedom,  two  margraviates  and  two  kingdoms  slipped  from 
his  grasp ;  nothing  remained  but  the  empty  dignity  of  a 
German  Emperor.  For  nine  months  he  brooded  over  his 
fall,  his  wrongs  and  the  best  means  of  regaining  his  domin- 
ions; until  on  the  twentieth  of  January,  1612,  death  thought 
his  unhappy  career  to  a  close.^ 

The  Brethren  were  not  behind  their  fellow  Protestants  in 
utilizing  the  privileges  of  the  charter.     Their  parishes  pros- 

8  In  the  hope  of  retrieving  his  losses  Rudolph  began  negotiations  with 
the  Protestant  Union— organized,  in  1608,  by  a  number  of  princes  for 
mutual  protection  and  in  order  to  aid  the  Evangelical  party  irrespective  of 
doctrinal  differences — and  would,  no  doubt,  have  joined  it  if  death  had  not 
overtaken  him.  The  Hist.  Persecutionum,  cap.  XLI,  gives  a  strange  and 
wholly  unhistoric  account  of  his  intention  to  found  an  "  Order  of  Peace  " 
(Ordo  Pacis);  the  favorable  view  which  it  takes  of  his  character  and  reign 
is  equally  incorrect. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  471 

pered  and  were  multiplied.  Prague,  in  particular,  offered 
them  a  field  from  which  they  gathered  rich  harvests.  The 
venerable  Bethlehem  Chapel  which  had  long  been  closed,  was 
formally  reopened  and  given  to  them,  because  "  their  Unity 
was,  so  to  say,  the  legitimate  daughter  of  Hus ;"  ^  and  when 
this  edifice  became  too  small  for  their  membership,  they  began, 
in  1614,  to  build  the  church  of  Simon  and  Judah,  which  was 
finished  in  1618.  At  Jungbunzlau  their  parish  and  school 
were  reorganized ;  at  Brandeis  on  the  Adler  Charles  von 
Zerotin  erected  for  them  the  church  of  John  the  Baptist.  He 
conferred  upon  the  membership  in  that  town  so  many  other 
benefits,  that  it  came  to  be  known  as  "  the  Brethren's  promised 
land."  To  the  work  of  education  they  devoted  themselves 
with  new  zeal.     Their  schools  ranked  first.^ 

In  Moravia,  too,  the  Unity  flourished.  Zerotin  conceived 
the  idea  of  endowing  it  with  funds  and  estates ;  Baron  Rosen- 
berg was  ready  to  carry  out  a  similar  project  in  Bohemia. 
The  titles  to  such  property  were  to  be  vested  in  the  bishops. 
But  these  discountenanced  the  entire  scheme ;  "  partly,"  says 
Comenius,  "  because  such  endowments  could  not  be  concealed, 
and  if  known,  would  create  envy  ;  partly  because,  looking  at 
older  examples  (in  the  Catholic  Church),  they  remembered 
that  they  too  were  human  and  might  make  an  improper  use 
of  such  gifts ;  but  chiefly  because  of  the  interdict  of  God 
{inferdidum  Dei),  Did  not  the  Apostles  choose  rather  to  be 
dispensers  of  the  divine  word  than  to  serve  tables?  (Acts  6.) 
Hence  like  the  Apostles  they  preferred  rather  to  distribute 
heavenly  treasures,  than  to  take  care  of  earthly  riches." 
While,  therefore,  single  churches,  as  we  have  elsewhere  said, 
owned  property,  the  Unity  as  such,  in  Bohemia  and  Moravia, 
was  not  endowed.^ 

'  Hist.  Persecutionum,  cap.  XL.  3. 

*  Czerwenka,  II.  p.  587. 

*  The  above  extract  is  taken  from  Comenius'  Paraenesis  ad  Ecclesias 
nominatim  Anglicanam,  §§  75  and  76,  p.  125.  What  he  means  by  the 
interdict  of  God,  is  hard  to  say.  Plitt  imagines  that  the  question  whether 
endowments  should  be  received,  was  referred  to  the  decision  of  the  Lord  by 
the  lot.     This  we  deem,  in  the  highest  degree,  improbable. 


472  THE    HISTORY    OF 

The  important  work  which  the  Synods  carried  on,  did  not 
flag  in  this  period.  They  met  frequently,  regulated  the 
schools,  provided  for  the  observance  of  the  discipline,  elected 
bishops,  and  in  every  other  way,  promoted  the  best  interests 
of  the  Church. 

The  episcopate,  by  reason  of  death,  was  subjected  to  many 
changes.  Neither  Ariston  nor  Turnovius  lived  to  enjoy  the 
benefits  of  the  charter.  The  former  died  of  consumption,  on 
the  eighth  of  February,  1606,  at  Eibenschiitz.  He  was  a 
faithful  servant  of  Jesus  Christ,  a  prominent  leader  of  the 
Unity,  an  ardent  promoter  of  learning,  enlightened,  eloquent 
and  zealous.^"  His  place  was  filled  by  John  Cruciger,  elected, 
in  the  same  year,  at  the  Synod  of  Jaromir,  and  consecrated  a 
few  days  after  St.  Mark's  Day,  by  Narcissus,  Nemcansky  and 
Lanetius." 

At#  Ostrorog,  two  years  later,  on  the  twenty-second  of 
March,  1608,  Turnovius  at  the  age  of  sixty-four  years  finished 
his  illustrious  career.  One  of  his  last  projects  was  the  pub- 
lication of  a  Polish  Bible  on  the  model  of  that  of  Kralitz. 
This  project  was  taken  up  by  a  Synod  of  the  Brethren  and 
Reformed,  which  intrusted  the  work  to  John  Turnovius,  his 
nephew,   and   Daniel    Mikolajewski  (1603).      It  was,  how- 


The  second  number,  which  has  just  come  to  hand,  of  Joseph  Miiller's 
Historical  Reports,  gives  an  insight  into  the  many  donations  made  to,  and 
the  many  privileges  conferred  upon,  single  churches.  Miiller  found  in  the 
Staatsarchiv  of  Posen,  to  which  a  part  of  the  archives  of  Lissa  have 
recently  been  transferred,  forty-seven  original  deeds  and  other  documents. 
The  deeds  convey  gardens,  building  lots,  fields  and  houses ;  the  other  documents 
grant  privileges  of  various  kinds  to  the  membership.  One  of  these  papers, 
given  by  Baron  Adam  von  Krajek,  emancipates  John  Aeneas,  subsequently 
the  celebrated  Bishop,  releasing  "  him  from  vassalage  and  serfdom,  in  order 
that  he  may  with  a  good  will  serve  the  Lord  and  His  Church  in  personal 
freedom."  These  forty-seven  documents  evidently  form  only  a  small  part 
of  the  entire  number  of  similar  papers  issued  for  the  benefit  of  the  Brethren. 

^°  Todtenbuch,  pp.  101  and  102.  He  was  ordained  a  deacon  in  1578,  and 
a  priest  in  1587.  With  this  record  and  that  of  a  few  additional  but  unim- 
portant names,  the  invaluable  necrology  found  in  the  Todtenbuch,  comes  to 
an  end. 

"  Jafiet's  S.  G.,  p.  39,  2,  R.'s  Z.,  p.  438. 


THE   MORAVIAN   CHURCH.  473 

ever,  subsequently  relinquished ;  for  what  reason,  does  not 
appear.  ^^ 

Jacob  Narcissus  now  became  President  of  the  Council,  and 
in  the  same  year  in  which  Turnovius  died,  consecrated,  with 
the  assistance  of  Nemcansky  and  Lanetius,  at  the  Synod  of 
Leipuik,  Matthias  Rybinius  or  Rybinski  and  Martin  Gratian 
Gertich  to  the  episcopacy. 

Rybinius  came  of  a  ministerial  family.  His  father,  a 
Bohemian  by  birth,  served  the  Unity  for  more  than  thirty 
years  at  Lobsenia,  Barcin,  and  other  Polish  parishes.  He 
had  his  son  carefully  educated  in  the  schools  of  the  Brethren 
and  then  sent  him  to  the  Universities  of  Breslau  and  Heidel- 
berg. As  a  scholar  Rybinius  ranked  high.  His  Polish 
metrical  version  of  the  Psalms,  adapted  to  the  French  tunes, 
gave  him  a  wide  reputation.^^ 

Gertich  was  born  on  the  eleventh  of  November,  1568,  at 
Lassowice,  in  Poland.  His  parents  were  Germans,  He  was 
educated  at  Lissa,  and,  through  the  munificence  of  Count 
Leszcynski,  at  the  Universities  of  Wittenberg,  Leipzig,  Basle 
and  Heidelberg.  After  he  had  finished  his  studies  he  became 
the  chaplain  of  his  patron  and  subsequently  served  Baron 
Schdneich,  at  Carolath,  in  Silesia,  in  the  same  capacity.  At 
a  later  time  he  was  appointed  pastor  of  the  church  at  Lissa, 
and  on  Rybinius'  death  took  up  his  residence  at  Ostrorog, 
where  he  remained  until  that  ancient  seat  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  Jesuits.  Eloquent  and  learned,  of  a  dignified  bearing 
but  gentle  in  his  ways,  he  exercised  great  influence,  especially 
upon  young  ministers,  with  whom  he  kept  up  a  diligent 
correspondence.^*  Both  Rybinius  and  Gertich  superintended 
the  Polish  churches. 

'^  Jablonski's  Con.  Send.,  §  103,  p.  121. 

1^  Compare  p.  411  of  this  History.  Rybinius  was  ordained  to  the  priesthood 
1589.    His  biography  is  given  by  Fischer,  II.  p.  183  and  Regenvolscius,  p.  388. 

"  Fischer  II.  p.  182 ;  Regenvolcius,  p.  388.  Gertich  took  part  in  the 
negotiations  with  the  Greek  divines  at  Vilna,  in  1599.  On  that  occasion 
he  wrote  a  polemical  account  of  the  public  disputation  in  which  he,  Daniel 
Mikolajewski  and  Martin  Janitius  engaged  with  the  celebrated  Jesuit 
Martin  Smiglecki,  in  the  presence  of  four  thousand  hearers. 


474  THE    HISTORY    OF 

Id  1609  Bartholomew  Nemeausky,  one  of  the  Bohemian 
Bishops,  died  at  Jungbimzlau.  The  vacancy  thus  created  was 
filled,  in  the  same  year,  by  the  election  of  Matthias  Koneczuy, 
who  received  consecration  at  the  hands  of  Narcissus,  Lanetius 
and  Cruciger.  The  new  Bishop  was  a  learned  scholar  and 
fruitful  Avriter,  distinguished  for  his  ornate  Bohemian  style. 
Among  his  works,  some  of  which  are  still  extant,  the  most 
celebrated  were :  A  Manual  for  family  worship  ;  the  Theatrum 
Divinum,  or  Contemplation  of  the  works  of  God's  creation  ;  a 
Treatise  on  Christian  Duty ;  and  Truth  Triumphant,  a  polem- 
ical writing  directed  against  Sturm.^^ 

Two  years  later,  in  1611,  Jacob  Narcissus,  the  President  of 
the  Council,  passed  away  at  Brandeis  on  the  Adler,  in  the 
sixty-third  year  of  his  age.  Thereupon  Bishop  John  Lanetius 
was  appointed  President,  and  proceeded,  with  the  assistance 
of  Gertich  and  Koneczuy,  to  consecrate  to  the  episcopacy 
Matthias  Cyrus,  the  assessor  of  the  Protestant  Consistory. 
Cyrus  was  a  learned  and  eloquent  preacher,  of  grave  deport- 
ment, a  general  favorite  among  the  nobility. 

In  the  following  year  (1612)  Bishop  Rybinius  was  taken 
ill.  He  visited  Poseu  in  the  hope  of  being  benefited  by  its 
celebrated  physicians,  but  died  May  the  twentieth,  aged  only 
forty-six  years,  at  the  house  of  his  friend  Henry  Girk,  one  of 
the  elders  of  the  Brethren's  Church  in  that  city. 

In  October  the  Synod  met  at  Ostrorog  and  elected  for  the 
Bohemian  Province,  Gregory  Erastus,  and  for  the  Polish,  John 
Turnovius,  who  were  consecrated  by  Lanetius,  Koneczuy  and 
Cyrus.^^  Erastus  was  a  godly  and  learned  man,  who  deserved 
well  of  the  Church,  and  accomplished  much  good,  especially 
by  the  extensive  correspondence  which  he  carried  on.  John 
Turnovius,  the  son  of  a  minister  of  the  same  name  and  the 

'"  Regenvolscius,  p.  321. 

^^  The  last  bishop  mentioned  by  Jaffet  in  his  important  rscord,  is  Cru- 
ciger ;  those  that  follow  Cruciger  are  given  according  to  the  complete  list 
of  Regenvolscius,  pp.  315-323  ;  the  list  furnished  by  Gindely,  in  his  Quellen, 
p.  450,  etc.;  and  John  Plitt's  MS.  Treatise  Vom  Bischofthum  der  B.  U.  in 
alter  und  neuer  Zeit,  1835,  Herrnhut  Arcliives. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  475 

nephew  of  Bishop  Simon  Theophikis  Turnovius,  was  educated 
at  the  gymnasia  of  Glogau  and  Breslau,  and  the  Universities 
of  Strasburg,  Basle  and  Geneva.  After  his  graduation  he 
served  various  parishes  in  his  native  country,  and  in  1608, 
received  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  from  the  University 
of  Marburg.  Subsequently  he  became  Rector  of  the  school  at 
Thorn.  He  was  an  eloquent  speaker  and  a  poet  whose  trans- 
lations of  German  songs  and  hymns,  published  in  1605,  as 
also  his  Centuriae  Carminma,  issued  in  1606,  gave  him  a  dis- 
tinguished name.''' 

While  so  many  of  the  Bishops  whom  he  had  been  accus- 
tomed to  entertain  at  Namiest  were  passing  away,  Charles  von 
Zerotin  faithfully  discharged  his  -duties  as  Governor  of  Mora- 
via. It  was  his  earnest  purpose  on  the  one  hand,  to  be  true 
to  Matthias,  and  on  the  other,  to  further  the  welfare  of  the 
margraviate.  The  most  important  project  which  he  devised 
was  its  consolidation  with  Bohemia,  Silesia,  Lusatia,  Hungary 
and  Austria  into  one  empire.  In  this  way  the  interests  of 
each  country  would  become  the  interests  of  all,  the  element  of 
absolutism  disappear  and  both  civil  and  religious  liberty  be 
developed.  This  was  a  statesman-like  plan.  Had  it  Ijeen 
carried  out  Austria  would  have  grown  great  and  free,  a  centre 
of  liberal  influences  and  enlightened  power ;  not  that  hot-bed 
of  bigotry  and  intolerance  of  which  history  sadly  tells.  But 
the  project  failed.  Nor  was  this  all.  Prompted  by  Cardinal 
Khlesel  and  forgetting  what  he  owed  Zerotin,  Matthias  began 
to  withdraw  his  favor.  Hence  the  Governor's  personal  influ- 
ence rapidly  waned,  while  that  of  the  reactionary  faction  was 
in  the  ascendency.  These  considerations  induced  him  in  1615, 
to  resign  and  retire  to  private  life.  But  he  remained  loyal  to 
the  House  of  Hapsburg  and  faithful  to  Matthias,  in  spite  of 
his  ingratitude.  On  more  than  one  occasion  he  mediated  be- 
tween this  monarch  and  the  states. 

Through  Zerotin's   retirement  a  prominent    figure    disap- 
peared from  the  arena  of  European  politics.     "His  name," 

"  Fischer,  II.  p.  183 ;  Regenvolscius,  p.  389.     Gertich  wrote  also  Funeral 
Discourses,  Theological  Disputations,  and  a  work  on  Predestination. 


476  THE    HISTORY    OF 

says  Chlumecky,  "  was  honored  in  Germany,  France,  Italy 
and  England ;  Protestant  leaders  throughout  Europe  looked 
upon  him  as  a  tower  of  strength  for  the  pure  faith  ;  even  the 
Catholics,  although  they  called  him  'the  worst  of  heretics,' 
were  constrained  to  acknowledge  his  love  of  justice,  his  modera- 
tion, his  great  talents."  '^ 

After  the  Synod  of  Thorn,  until  the  year  1605,  the  Polish 
Protestants  enjoyed  comparative  peace.  But  the  civil  war  in 
which  many  of  them  took  part,  as  also  the  treatment  which 
the  Catholics  received  at  the  hands  of  the  Swedish  invaders, 
in  1604,  brought  on  as  soon  as  the  din  of  war  had  ceased  a 
new  and  more  decided  reaction. 

The  Jesuits  again  put  themselves  at  its  head.  They  em- 
ployed the  same  means  as  before ;  but  open  violence  became 
more  common.  At  Posen  the  Lutheran  church  was  set  on  fire 
and  that  of  the  Brethren  torn  to  the  ground  (1616).  In  the 
brief  period  of  fifteen  years,  from  1606  to  1620,  the  Protes- 
tants lost  two-thirds  of  their  places  of  worship.  Among  them 
were  not  a  few  belonging  to  the  Brethren. ^^  Such  distressing 
experiences  induced  them,  at  the  Synod  of  Belz  in  1613,  to 
unite  with  the  Reformed  in  overtures  to  the  Lutherans  for  a 
renewal  of  the  Sendomirian  Confederation.  But  these  over- 
tures were  rejected.^ 

The  wounds  which  the  Unity  received  in  Poland  were  many, 
yet  not  fatal.  It  still  constituted  an  active  Church,  was  sup- 
ported by  powerful  magnates,  and  carried  on  the  work  of  the 
Gospel  with  zeal  and  success. 

Ostrorog  continued  to  be  its  chief  seat.  In  that  large  and 
flourishing  parish  were  found  :  a  Theological  School  in  which, 
under  the  eyes  of  the  Bishops,  young  men  were  trained  for  the 
ministry  and  from  which  the  most  promising  were  sent  to  for- 
eign universities  f-    the  archives  of  the  Polish  Province ;  and 

'*  Chlumecky's  Zerotin,  p.  857. 
'^  Lukaszewicz,  p.  146. 
^o  Jablonski's  Con.  Send.,  §  106,  p.  123. 

^^  This  school  probably  ranked  with  the  seminaries  at  Jungbiinzlau, 
Prerau  and  Eibenschiitz.     Compare  p.  418. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  477 

a  valuable  library,  originally  presented  by  the  Ostrorog  family 
and  increased  through  subsequent  gifts. 

In  1605  Turnovius  had  received  from  the  Bohemian  Bishops 
a  printing  press,  which  was  at  work  throughout  this  whole 
period,  sending  forth  many  important  writings  in  Polish,  Bohe- 
mian, German  and  Latin.  There  existed,  moreover,  an  endow- 
ment of  sixty  thousand  Polish  florins,  created,  in  part,  through 
legacies,  and  in  part,  through  collections.  This  fund  was  in- 
vested at  Thorn  and  the  interest  was  applied  to  the  payment 
of  provincial  expenses.^^ 

Toward  the  end  of  April,  1616,  the  Synod  met  at  Zerawic, 
on  the  Moravian-Hungarian  frontier,  and  was  attended  by  all 
the  Bishops  and  Assistant  Bishops  and  a  large  number  of 
ministers  from  every  part  of  the  Unity.^^  This  convocation 
proved  to  be  the  last  prior  to  the  Anti-Reformation.  As 
though  anticipating  that  tempest,  the  assembled  fathers  set  up 
a  memorial  which  no  storm  has  been  able  to  sweep  away. 

In  the  course  of  the  negotiations  between  the  Brethren  and 
their  fellow  Protestants,  at  the  Diet  of  1609,  the  former  were 
asked  to  explain  in  what  their  peculiarities  consisted.  There- 
upon the  Bishops  produced  a  document,  setting  forth  the  con- 
stitution, ministry,  ritual  and  discipline  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum. 
Although  the  importance  of  these  principles  was  recognized, 
they  could  not,  in  the  very  nature  of  the  case,  be  generally 
adopted.  Hence  the  Brethren  were  told  to  retain  their  own 
form  of  discipline  and  order,  "until  Providence  should  offer 
something  more  perfect,  which  might  be  alike  suitable  to  all."  ^* 

The  Synod  took  up  the  document  presented  on  that  occasion. 
It  was  revised,  amended  and  amplified ;  and  then  formally 
adopted  as  "a  recognized  code  of  laws"  for  the  Unitas  Fra- 


"  Lukaszewicz,  Polish  ed.,  pp.  405-410.  This  endowment  was  of  pre- 
cisely the  same  character  as  the  so-called  Sustentation  Funds  in  the  various 
Provinces  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum  at  the  present  day.  Why  the  Bishops 
permitted  it  to  be  created  in  the  Polish  Province,  while  forbidding  endow- 
ments in  the  Moravian  and  Bohemian,  we  can  not  tell. 

«  Plitt,  Sect.  79. 

"  Ratio  Disciplinse,  ed.  1702,  Prsefatio,  p.  5 ;  Seifferth's  Church  Constitu- 
tion, Preface,  pp.  96  and  97. 


478  THE    HISTORY    OF 

trum.  All  the  Bishops  and  Assistant  Bishops  attached  their 
signatures.  The  object  which  the  Synod  had  in  view,  is  thus 
defined  :  "  That  not  only  a  more  certain  account  of  this  matter 
might  be  left  to  posterity,  but  also  that  the  obligation  of  every 
individual  to  a  careful  observance  of  the  regulations  in  mutual 
charity,  might  be  more  binding."  ^^ 

Such  a  purpose  was  fulfilled.  It  may  well  be  said,  that 
Jesus  Christ,  the  Divine  Head  of  His  Church,  who  has  led 
the  Unitas  Fratrum  in  all  periods  of  its  history,  in  ways  that 
have  been  wonderful  and  sometimes  almost  miraculous,  him- 
self prompted  the  drawing  up  of  this  statute-book.  It  guided 
the  Brethren  in  their  exile  and  made  them  faithful  to  the 
usages  of  their  fathers ;  it  perpetuated  the  memory  of  their 
Unity  as  a  living  Church,  even  when  they  had  almost  ceased 
to  exist ;  it  formed  the  standard  according  to  which  their  de- 
scendants reorganized  at  Herrnhut,  in  Saxony. 

The  Ratio  Disciplince  contains  seven  chapters.  In  the  first 
"is  exhibited  the  order  of  the  whole  Unity  in  general;"  that 
is,  "the  Essential,  Auxiliary  and  Accidental  Things  of  Chris- 
tianity ;"  ^^  the  classes  of  the  membership ;  the  lay  officers  of 
the  Church  ;  and  the  three  orders  of  its  ministry.  The  second 
chapter  treats  of  Synods  and  the  rite  of  ordination ;  the  third 
of  the  preaching  of  the  Word,  the  administration  of  the  sacra- 
ments, confirmation,  festivals  and  fasts ;  the  fourth  of  "  the 


'^  Ibid.  The  original  document  was  written  in  Bohemian.  Sixteen 
years  later,  the  Synod  of  Lissa,  in  1632,  resolved  to  publish  a  Latin  version 
and  supply  it  with  a  preface.  This  was  done  in  the  following  year.  The 
work  appeared  at  Lissa  and  received  the  following  title:  Katio  Disciplinse 
Ordinisque  Ecclesiastici  in  Unitate  Fratrum  Bohemorum.  Whether  this 
edition  is  extant,  we  do  not  know.  But  in  the  same  year  a  German  trans- 
lation was  published  with  the  title :  Kirchen  Ordnung,  wie  sie  in  der  ver- 
einigten  Bohmischen  Briiderschafft  gehalten  wird.  Gedruckt  zur  Pol- 
nischen  Lissaw  Im  Jahr  1633.  Of  this  edition  there  is  a  copy  in  the  Malin 
Library,  No.  769.  In  1660,  Amos  Comenius  republished  the  Latin  edition 
at  Amsterdam  (Malin  Lib.,  No.  806) ;  in  1702,  Buddieus  brought  out  a  third 
edition  at  Halle ;  and  in  1866  Bishop  Seifferth  a  fourth  in  London,  adding 
an  English  translation  and  valuable  notes.  Seifferth's  work  is  entitled; 
Church  Constitution  of  the  Bohemian  and  Moravian  Brethren. 

^^  Compare  p.  201  of  this  History. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH.  479 

domestic  order  of  the  ministers,"  in  other  words,  their  mode 
of  living  in  the  parsonages  ;  the  fifth  of  "  the  domestic  order 
of  the  hearers,"  that  is,  the  regulations  which  are  to  govern 
families;  the  sixth  of  official  visits  on  the  part  of  the  bishops 
and  their  assistants ;  and  the  seventh  of  the  discipline. 

At  the  same  Synod  which  adopted  this  document  there  was 
ordained  on  the  twenty-seventh  of  April,  to  the  priesthood  of 
the  Unity,  a  man  whose  career  shed  lustre  upon  the  last  period 
of  its  history,  whose  fame  filled  Europe  and  reached  other  con- 
tinents, who  with  one  hand  laid  upon  the  remnant  of  the 
Brethren  God's  protecting  benediction,  and  with  the  other 
pointed,  like  a  seer,  to  a  better  time,  a  new  epoch,  a  glorious  re- 
newal of  the  Church  of  his  fathers.  His  name  was  John 
Amos  Comenius,  or  Komensky.  He  was  born  on  the  twenty- 
eighth  of  March,  1592,  at  Niwnitz,  a  market-town  near  Ungar- 
ish-Brod,  on  the  domain  of  Ostran,  in  Moravia.^  His  parents, 
Martin  and  Anna  Komensky,  who  were  wealthy  members  of 
the  Brethren's  Church,  both  died  when  he  was  a  child ;  the 
former  in  1602,  the  latter  probably  in  1604.  A  tradition, 
which  can  not,  however,  be  substantiated,  says  that  his  father 
was  a  miller.  The  guardians  to  whose  care  he  had  been  left, 
neo-lected  him.  He  was  sent  to  the  Brethren's  schools  at 
Ungarish-Brod  and  Straznic.  In  1611  he  entered  the  Theo- 
logical Institute  at  Herboru,  in  Nassau ;  and  on  the  nineteenth 
of  June,  1613,  the  University  at  Heidelberg.  After  having 
completed  his  studies  he  traveled  to  Holland  and  probably  to 
England.  On  his  return  to  Moravia  he  was  appointed, 
through  the  influence  of  Charles  von  Zerotin,  Rector  of  the 
school  at  Pre  ran.  There  he  began  to  examine  into  the  system 
of  education  then  in  vogue  and  devise  new  methods.  One  of 
his  first  literary  works  was  a  treatise  on  grammar,  published 
in  1616.  Two  years  after  the  Synod  of  Zerawic  he  was  ap- 
pointed pastor  of  the  flourishing  parish  at  Fulneck  and  Rector 

^'  Ostran  was  the  property  of  the  Kunowic  family  and  formed,  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  a  chief  seat  of  the  Brethren,  where  they  had  a  press  on 
which  Blahoslav's  works  were  printed.  The  owners  of  the  domain  were 
members  of  the  Unity. 


480  THE    HISTORY   OF 

of  its  school.  The  house  in  which  he  lived  and  taught  stood 
on  the  slope  of  a  hill  overlooking  the  town  and  crowned  with 
a  stately  castle.^ 

On  the  fourteenth  of  March,  1618,  Bishop  Cyrus  died  at 
Prague  and  was  buried  in  the  Bethlehem  Chapel.  The  vacancy 
thus  created  in  the  Consistory  was  filled  by  the  appointment 
of  John  Cyrill,  who  received  consecration  to  the  episcopacy  at 
the  hands  of  Lanetius  and  his  associate  Bishops.^^ 

Cyrus  had  been  the  preacher  in  the  Bethlehem  Chapel.  The 
calling  of  a  successor  gave  rise  to  an  acrimonious  dispute — one 
of  the  signs  of  the  coming  revolution — between  the  Faculty 
of  the  University  and  the  Roman  Catholic  burgomaster  of  the 
Altstadt,  in  whom  was  conjointly  vested  the  right  of  appoint- 
ment. At  last  the  Faculty  appealed  to  the  Defenders  to  de- 
signate the  incumbent.  The  Defenders  appointed  Bishop 
Cyrill.^" 

28  This  building  remained  until  recent  times.  It  was  a  massive  structure 
of  stone,  two  stories  high,  with  an  arched  door,  to  the  left  of  which  were 
two  windows,  and  seven  windows  in  the  second  story.  We  visited  Fulneck 
in  1879  and  found  that  this  venerable  edifice  had  been  torn  down  and  a 
sort  of  tenement  house  erected  on  its  site,  owned  by  a  manufacturer,  named 
Gerlich,  who  has  a  garden  near  by ;  but  there  exists  a  correct  picture  of  the 
original  building.  Connected  with  the  house  is  a  chapel,  which,  no  doubt, 
occupies  the  site  of  the  Brethren's  chapel  in  the  time  of  Comenius.  From 
this  spot  one  has  a  full  view  of  the  Fulneck  square,  surrounded  by  ancient 
and  quaint  buildings;  and  from  the  park  of  the  castle,  on  the  top  of  the 
hill,  opens  a  beautiful  prospect  of  the  entire  Kuhldndl,  where  are  Zauchten- 
thal  and  many  other  villages,  once  flourishing  parishes  of  the  Brethren. 

The  principal  sources  for  the  life  of  Comenius  are :  Criegern's  Comenius 
als  Theolog ;  Palacky's  Comenius ;  Benham's  Comenius ;  Lissa's  Jubelfeier ; 
etc.  It  was  formerly  common  to  designate  Komna  as  his  birthplace.  Later 
researches  have  shown  this  to  be  incorrect.  Equally  mistaken,  as  Zerotin's 
letters  to  Comenius  show,  is  the  idea  of  Adelung,  Eisner,  Croeger,  and 
others,  that  he  adopted  the  name  Komensky  after  he  had  been  exiled,  in 
order  to  hide  his  true  name.  He  received  the  name  of  Komensky  from  his 
father,  whose  ancestors  came  from  Komna.     Comenius  is  its  Latin  form. 

■•''*  putt's  MS.  Vom  Bischofsthum. 

^  Gindely's  30-jahr.  Krieg;  I.  pp.  265  and  266. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  481 


CHAPTER  XLYI. 
The  Bohemian  Revolution.     A.  D.  1617-1620. 


Confidence  of  the  Protestants  in  the  Charter. — The  Jesuits  determined  to 
counteract  its  Blessings. — Prehide  to  the  Revolution. — Matthias  ignores 
the  Eights  of  the  Evangelical  Party. — Diet  of  1615. — Unjust  Enact- 
ment regarding  Germans. — The  Emperor  refuses  to  interpose  in  Favor 
of  the  Protestants. — He  chooses  Ferdinand  as  his  Successor. — Charac- 
ter of  this  Prince. — Diet  of  1617. — Ferdinand  King  of  Bohemia. — His 
Public  and  Secret  Oaths. — Regents  appointed. — The  Grievances  of  the 
Evangelical  Party. — A  Protestant  Convention. — The  Emperor  forbids 
such  Meetings. — In  spite  of  this  Prohibition  a  second  Convention  takes 
place. — Count  Thurn. — His  conspiracy  to  put  the  Regents  to  Death. — 
The  Twenty-third  of  May  and  its  Outrage. — A  Provisional  Govern- 
ment.—Apologies. — War  breaks  out. — Death  of  Matthias. — The  Bohe- 
mians refuse  to  acknowledge  Ferdinand  and  elect  Frederick  of  the 
P^atinate. — Battle  of  the  White  Mountain. — Flight  of  Frederick. — 
The  Protestant  Party  powerless. 

In  the  history  of  Christendom  there  are  few  events  more 
mournful  than  those  which  we  are  now  about  to  set  forth. 
From  the  pinnacle  of  prosperity  Bohemia  and  Moravia  were 
plunged  into  the  depths  of  adversity:  when  the  Unitas  Fra- 
trum,  after  a  century  and  a  half  of  oppression,  had  at  last 
secured  a  legal  existence  and  flourished  like  a  cedar  of  Lebanon^ 
it  was  cut  down.  And  yet  of  Him,  in  whose  sight  the  nations 
are  as  a  drop  of  a  bucket  and  counted  as  the  small  dust  of  the 
balance,  and  who  leads  His  Church  and  every  part  there- 
of on  ways  that  are  not  known,  it  must,  in  this  instance 
also,  be  said,  that  while  "clouds  and  darkness  are  round 
about  Him,  righteousness  and  judgment  are  the  habitation 
of  His  throne." 
31 


482  THE    HISTORY    OF 

That  Rome  never  yields,  was  a  truth  which  the  Bohemian 
Protestants  failed  to  recognize  amidst  the  joyous  growth  of 
their  cause.  They  had  implicit  faith  in  the  Charter.  They 
rejoiced  in  the  amicable  relations  brought  about  by  the  "Agree- 
ment" with  the  Catholics.  They  cheerfully  acknowledged  all 
their  rights,  and  for  themselves  asked  nothing  more  than  the 
same  recognition.  But  this  happy  state  of  affairs  constituted, 
in  the  estimation  of  the  Jesuits,  an  intolerable  offense.  Never 
had  they  lost  sight  of  their  nefarious  purpose.  The  Evangeli- 
cal party  must  be  destroyed  at  all  hazards.  Towards  this 
end  they  now  moved,  sometimes  with  open  violence,  and  again 
with  every  artifice  of  which  they  were  masters.  All  the  dis- 
sensions between  Protestants  and  Catholics  which  broke  out, 
they  instigated.  All  the  oppressive  measures  under  which 
Evangelical  parishes  began  to  suffer,  they  advised.  All  the 
blood  that  was  shed  and  all  the  frightful  cruelties  of  the  Anti- 
Reformation,  they  were  responsible  for.  The  war  that  con- 
vulsed Europe  for  thirty  years,  was  their  work.  Had  there 
been  no  Jesuits,  Bohemia  and  Moravia  would,  this  day,  stand 
foremost  among  the  Protestant  powers  of  the  world.  At  the 
same  time,  when  the  "Agreement "  had  once  been  broken,  the 
course  of  the  Evangelical  party  was  not  blameless.  "  But," 
says  a  cotemporaneous  writer,  "  where  ours  failed  once,  the 
other  side  committed  themselves  ten-fold."^ 

There  was  a  prelude  to  the  Bohemian  Revolution.  As 
early  as  1611  complaints  began  to  reach  the  Defenders  that 
the  Catholics  were  growing  unfriendly.  The  Defenders 
appealed  to  Matthias,  but  without  success.  He  had  gained 
the  goal  of  his  ambition.  Now  that  he  was  King  of  Bohemia, 
King  of  Hungary,  and  Emperor  of  Germany,'  he  took  his 
ease ;  gave  himself  up  to  his  amours ;  followed  the  counsels 
of  the  Jesuits,  and  in  particular  of  Peter  Pazman,  a  renegade 

1  Cited  by  Pescheck,  I.  pp.  240.  Authorities  for  this  chapter  are : 
Pescheck  I,  chapters  7,  8  and  9 ;  Czerwenka,  II,  chapter  15  ;  Gindely's  30- 
jdhr.  Krieg,  Vols.  I,  II  and  III ;  and  a  large  number  of  original  pamphlets 
issued  by  both  parties,  and  found  in  the  Malin  Library. 

"  Elected  at  Frankfurt-on-the-Main,  June  the  twenty-fourth,  1612. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  483 

from  the  true  faith ;  allowed  Cardinal  Khlesel  free  sway  as 
his  prime  minister;  and  refused  to  do  justice  to  the  Protestants. 

The  Charter  contained  an  unfortunate  ambiguity.  Ecclesi- 
astical domains  were  not  specified  as  included  in  the  benefits 
of  religious  liberty.  Hence  the  Archbishop  of  Prague  and 
his  clergy,  supported  by  the  Jesuits,  claimed  that  such  estates 
were  under  their  exclusive  control  and  debarred  from  the 
privileges  granted  elsewhere.  That  this  was  not  the  meaning 
of  the  Charter  is  self-evident ;  for  it  had  been  drawn  up  by 
Protestants. 

At  the  Diet  of  1615  the  Evangelical  states  formally  laid 
their  grievances  before  the  Emperor.  But  he  had  no  ear  for 
the  startling  proofs  which  they  unfolded  of  the  violation  of 
the  Charter,  and  would  give  no  promise  to  correct  the  abuses 
which  had  taken  place.  Imbittered  by  this  repulse  they 
adopted  an  unjust  and  ill-advised  enactment.  Thereafter  no 
foreigner  should  be  permitted  to  enjoy  the  rights  of  citizen- 
ship, unless  familiar  with  the  Bohemian  tongue,  which,  after 
the  death  or  resignation  of  the  German  incumbents  and  in- 
structors then  in  office,  was  to  be  exclusively  used  in  public 
worship  and  teaching,  newly-organized  parishes  and  schools 
being  alone  excepted.  Had  not  the  Revolution  caused  this 
enactment  to  be  practically  forgotten,  it  would  have  led  to 
results  different  from  those  which  its  originators  aimed  at  and 
would  have  brought  about  feucls  among  the  Protestants  them- 
selves. This  the  Jesuits  foresaw  and,  therefore,  induced 
Matthias  to  give  it  his  sanction. 

In  the  following  year  (1616)  a  deputation  of  three  nobles 
had  an  interview  with  him  at  Brandeis  and  urged  the  rights 
of  the  Evangelical  party.  His  answer  was,  that  he  could  not 
permit  the  building  of  Protestant  churches  on  ecclesiastical 
domains,  because  the  Charter  did  not  grant  this  privilege ; 
and  that,  having  made  over  all  the  benefices  on  royal  estates 
to  the  Archbishop,  he  could  not  interfere  with  the  acts  of  this 
prelate.  And  yet  Matthias  was  the  monarch,  who,  prior  and 
subsequent  to  his  coronation,  had  solemnly  pledged  himself, 
by  two  formal  documents,  to  maintain  the  rights  and  privi- 


484  THE    HISTORY    OF 

leges  of  the  kingdom  and  especially  its  chartered  religious 
liberty.^ 

Upon  a  prelude  so  ominous  followed  the  events  which 
brought  on  the  Revolution.  The  first  was  the  appointment 
of  a  successor  to  Matthias,  The  Emperor  was  old  and  child- 
less. Into  whose  hands  should  the  sceptre  pass  ?  Who  was 
best  fitted  to  sway  it  to  the  glory  of  the  House  of  Hapsburg 
and  in  the  interests  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  ?  Insti- 
gated by  Peter  Pazman,  and  encouraged  by  his  own  brothers 
who  waived  their  rights,  his  choice  fell  upon  his  cousin,  Fer- 
dinand Archduke  of  Styria,  Carinthia  and  Carniola,  a  son  of 
the  Archduke  Charles  and  grandson  of  Ferdinand  the  First. 
He  was  born  at  Gratz,  on  the  ninth  of  July,  1578,  and  edu- 
cated by  the  Jesuits.  Through  their  influence  he  became  an 
intensely  bigoted  Romanist.  When  but  twenty  years  of  age 
he  vowed  in  the  Chapel  of  the  Virgin  at  Loretto,  that  he 
would  suppress  Protestantism  throughout  his  realm.^  Sternly 
had  he  kept  this  vow.  Not  a  vestige  of  Evangelical  religion 
remained  except  among  the  nobles ;  and  he  was  but  waiting 
for  a  favorable  opportunity  to  force  upon  them  the  choice  be- 
tween the  Catholic  Church  or  exile.  Rather,  so  he  said, 
would  he  take  a  staiF  in  his  hand,  gather  his  family  around 
him,  and  beg  his  bread  from  door  to  door,  than  tolerate  a 
heretic  in  his  dominions.^  At  the  same  time  he  was  a  man 
of  sound  judgment,  fearless  determination  and  great  energy. 

Accompanied  by  this  Prince,  Matthias,  in  the  spring  of 
1617,  unexpectedly  arrived  at  Prague  and  issued  a  proclama- 
tion convening  the  Diet.  It  met  on  the  sixth  of  June.  No 
season  could  have  been  more  inconvenient  for  the  nobles.  The 
harvest  prevented   tlieir  leaving  home.      But  for  this  very 


^  Deductio,  Beylage  No.  LXII,  p.  153,  where  the  document  is  given 
which  he  issued  prior  to  his  coronation,  and  p.  162,  No.  LXIV,  where  is 
found  the  one  published  after  his  coronation. 

*  Lamormain  de  Virtutibus  Ferdinandi,  cited  by  Pescheck,  I,  p.  257. 

^  Pescheck,  I,  258.  In  1629  the  opportunity  for  coercing  his  nobles  pre- 
sented itself  to  Ferdinand.  The  Beylagen  to  the  Deductio  contain  full 
accounts  of  his  previous  persecutions. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH.  485 

reason  Matthias  had  fixed  upon  that  time.^  He  did  not  wish 
to  see  a  large  attendance.  Nor  was  he  disappointed.  Com- 
paratively few  of  the  states  assembled.  To  those  who  were 
present  he  announced  that  he  had  adopted  Ferdinand  as  his 
son,  and  demanded  that  they  should  accept  him  as  their  future 
king.  Of  a  constitutional  election  there  was  not  a  whisper. 
The  Catholics  at  once  acceded  to  this  demand.  Of  the  Prot- 
estants some  indignantly  returned  to  their  estates ;  others  were 
won  over  by  promises  or  threats;  only  a  small  minority, 
among  whom  Thurn,  Schlick,  Budowa,  Fels,  and  William  von 
Lobkowitz  were  prominent,  formed  the  opposition.  These 
men  contended  that  so  important  a  measure  could  not  be  de- 
cided by  a  Bohemian  Diet,  but  must  be  referred  to  a  General 
Diet ;  they  protested  against  accepting  instead  of  electing  a 
king ;  and  when  they  saw  that  Ferdinand's  appointment  was 
inevitable,  they  stipulated  that  he  must  at  least  swear  to 
respect  the  Charter  and  uphold  the  other  privileges  of  the 
kingdom.  On  the  ninth  of  June  the  form  of  an  election  was 
gone  through  with  ;  and  on  the  twenty-ninth,  after  having 
taken  the  prescribed  oath,  he  was  crowned.  Prior  to  this 
public  pledge,  however,  he  had,  accompanied  by  the  Jesuits, 
gone  to  the  sacristy  of  the  Cathedral  and  there  sworn  a  secret 
oath,  that  he  would  never  grant  anything  to  the  heretics 
which  would  be  prejudicial  to  the  Koman  Catholic  Church/ 

What  wonder  that  the  Jesuits  boasted  of  having  won  a  vic- 
tory !  That  the  Komanists  generally  triumphed !  That  the 
Baroness  von  Pernstein,as  soon  as  the  ceremonies  of  the  corona- 
tion were  at  an  end,  turned  to  those  beside  her  and  remarked, 

®  Hist.  Persecutionum,  Cap.  XLII,  1. 

'  This  fact  is  not  only  given  in  the  Hist.  Persecutionum,  Cap.  XLII,  13, 
but  also  substantiated  by  Komish  authority.  In  the  preface  to  a  work  pub- 
lished by  the  Jesuits  in  1618,  at  Malzheim,  in  Alsace,  and  dedicated  to  the 
Archduke  Leopold,  they  admonish  him  to  manifest  the  same  zeal  for  his 
Church  as  his  brother  Ferdinand,  who  although  he  swore,  at  his  coronation, 
to  tolerate  the  heretics  in  Bohemia,  had  nevertheless  previously  bound 
himself  by  an  oath  in  the  sacristy,  never  to  yield  to  them  in  anything  which 
might  run  counter  to  the  interests  of  Eomanism.  Comp.  Pescheck,  I,  p. 
270,  and  Carol!  Memorabilia  Ecc.  Saec.  XVII,  I,  452. 


486  THE    HISTORY    OF 

with  a  malicious  smile,  that  the  time  had  now  come  for  testing 
the  question,  whether  the  Catholics  were  to  rule  the  Protestants, 
or  the  Protestants  the  Catholics  !  The  whole  proceeding  at 
Prague  was  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  the  constitution.  A  mon- 
arch was  forced  upon  Bohemia,  and  the  countries  incorporated 
with  it — Moravia,  Lusatia  and  Silesia — had  no  voice  in  the 
matter. 

In  the  following  December  the  Emperor,  the  new  King, 
and  the  entire  court,  returned  to  Vienna.  This  was  the  next 
event  which  led  to  the  Revolution.  It  would  hardly  have 
occurred  if  Matthias  had  taken  up  his  abode  at  Prague.  His 
absence  required  a  substitute.  But  instead  of  intrusting  the 
kingdom  to  a  governor,  he  appointed  ten  Regents.  Seven  of 
these  were  Catholics  and  only  three  Protestants.  The  Catho- 
lics were  Adam  von  Sternberg,  Waldstein,  Thalemberg, 
Slawata,  Martinic,  Matthias  von  Lobkowitz,  and  Charles  von 
Duba;  the  Protestants,  Janowic,  Krimic,  and  Gersdorf. 
These  latter  soon  perceived  that  they  were  powerless.  Under 
the  arbitrary  rule  of  the  majority  an  unfriendly  treatment  of 
the  adherents  of  the  Evangelical  faith,  and  what  was  worse, 
oppressive  measures  against  them,  met  with  encouragement. 
In  almost  every  particular  were  the  Charter  and  the  "  Agree- 
ment" violated.  Such  violations  did  not  originate  among  the 
people,  but  were  planned  and  dictated  by  the  Jesuits.  It 
was  the  purpose  of  these  archconspirators,  first,  to  deprive  the 
Protestants  of  all  legal  means  of  redress,  and  then  to  provoke 
them  to  illegal  acts  which  would  brand  them  as  rebels  to  whom 
no  mercy  must  be  shown. 

It  is  important  to  set  forth  in  detail  tlie  character  of  such 
machinations. 

Prominent  ecclesiastics  at  Prague  allowed  no  opportunity 
to  pass  without  denouncing  the  Charter  as  a  "  rascally  docu- 
ment," and  invalid,  because  it  had  not  been  sanctioned  by  the 
Pope.  The  Catholics  were  alienated  from  their  Evangelical 
countrymen,  and  encouraged  to  withdraw  even  from  social 
fellowship  with  them;  to  be  present  at  their  marriages  or 
baptisms,  or  funerals,  was  strictly  forbidden.     Marriages  with 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  487 

Protestants  were  aIlo^^'ed  only  in  case  the  Catholic  party  pro- 
mised to  pervert  the  other.  Protestants  were  reviled  in  every 
possible  manner ;  the  wives  of  their  ministers  were  decried  as 
whores  and  the  children  as  bastards;  testimonials  of  their 
having  been  born  in  lawful  wedlock  were  invariably  refused. 
A  Jesuit  at  Prague  said  in  a  sermon,  that  it  was  better  to 
have  the  devil  in  one's  house  than  a  wife  who  was  a  Lutheran  ; 
the  devil  could  be  exorcised,  but  not  Lutheran  wives.  Other 
Jesuits  preached  and  wrote  in  a  similar  strain.  Matthias  von 
Thurn  was  deprived  of  the  governorship  of  Karlstein,  and 
this  office  was  given  to  Martinic.  An  edict  appeared  infringing 
upon  religious  liberty  in  royal  cities ;  and  when  the  Altstadt 
of  Prague  protested,  a  second  and  still  severer  edict  was 
issued,  forbidding  the  publication  of  any  work  which  had  not 
received  the  Chancellor's  approval,  thus  establishing  a  most 
unwarranted  censorship  of  the  press.  The  Evangelical  min- 
•  ister  of  Aussig  was  banished  and  a  Catholic  priest  put  in  his 
place :  this  proceeding  led  to  a  bloody  retaliation  for  which 
the  people  were  severely  punished.  At  Prague  the  elders 
of  the  Protestant  churches  were  prohibited  from  meeting 
without  the  permission  of  the  royal  judges,  who  were  all 
Catholics,  and  without  informing  these  judges  of  the  business 
they  proposed  transacting.  Protestants  were  removed  from 
office  without  cause.  Their  children  lost  the  ridit  of  citizen- 
ship.  On  ecclesiastical  domains  they  were  forced  to  go  to 
the  Romish  confessional,  or  sign  papers  pledging  themselves 
to  obey  the  Romish  Church.  In  many  cases  they  were 
allowed  to  marry  only  on  condition  of  receiving  the  Romish 
sacrament  or  of  turning  Catholics.  Rich  wards  and  orphans, 
or  daughters  at  school  in  convents,  were  inveigled  into  secret 
marriages  with  Catholics.  Children  were  torn  from  the 
arms  of  widowed  mothers  and  given  to  the  Jesuits  to  educate. 
In  some  parishes  church-edifices  were  taken  from  the  Pro- 
testants ;  in  others  they  were  hindered  from  filling  vacant 
pastorships;  in  others  documents  were  wantonly  destroyed, 
and  they  were  deprived  of  the  privileges  which  such  papers 
had  granted ;  in  still  others  they  were  refused  burial  on  eon- 


488  THE    HISTORY    OF 

secrated  ground,  or  their  funeral  services  were  maliciously 
interrupted.  The  Abbot  of  Brauuau  caused  the  Protestant 
church  in  that  town  to  be  torn  to  the  ground ;  and  when 
representatives  of  the  parish  went  to  Prague  to  lodge  com- 
plaint, they  were  cast  into  prison.  Another  Protestant  church, 
situated  on  the  estate  of  Klostergrab,  ^^s^s  closed  by  order  of 
the  Archbishop  to  whom  that  domain  belonged.  A  publica- 
tion appeared  attacking  the  Augsburg  Confession;  another, 
defaming  the  Unitas  Fratrum.^ 

These  were  the  grievances  of  which  the  Protestants  com- 
plained and  which  formed  the  chief  cause  of  the  Revolution. 
It  is  a  long  and  black  list.  No  one  can  go  through  it  without 
deep  indignation.  "A  chaos  existed;  injustice  was  called 
justice ;  breaking  the  laws  of  the  land,  zeal  for  the  Romish 
Church;  clinging  to  chartered  liberty,  a  crime  against  the 
majesty  of  the  King."  ^ 

The  Defenders  failing,  in  spite  of  all  their  efforts,  to  secure 
redress,  called  a  convention.  This  privilege  had  been  granted 
by  the  Diet  of  1609.  In  cases  of  importance  six  Protestant 
delegates  from  each  circuit  of  the  kingdom  were  to  meet  with 
the  Protestant  office-bearers  and  councilors,  for  consultation 
on  the  aifairs  of  their  Church.^" 

The  convention  began  on  the  sixth  of  March,  1618,  and  was 
held  in  the  Carolinum.  A  remonstrance  against  the  violations 
of  the  Charter  was  adopted  and  presented  to  the  Regents. 
These  denied  that  infringements  had  taken  place  and  justified 
what  the  paper  complained  of.  Thereupon  a  petition  to  the 
Emperor  was  drawn  up,  entreating  him  to  exercise  his  authority 
in  the  interests  of  the  Charter ;  and  letters  were  sent  to  the 

*  The  publication  against  the  Brethren  proceeded  from  their  fellow 
Protestants,  and  Count  Schlick,  whose  prejudices  against  the  Unity  were 
never  fully  removed,  was  probably  responsible  for  it ;  but  it  was  written 
under  Romish  influences  and  used  as  a  weapon  by  the  Catholics.  An 
anonymous  reply  appeared.  The  Apologies  and  their  accompanying  docu- 
ments, subsequently  issued  by  the  states,  fully  substantiate  all  the  griev- 
ances adduced  above. 

^  Czerwenka,  II.  p.  605. 

'"  Behemischer  Landtag,  1609,  p.  10. 


THE    MORAVIAN   CHURCH.  489 

Moravian,  Silesian  aud  Lusatian  Diets,  asking  them  to  inter- 
cede with  him  on  behalf  of  his  Protestant  subjects.  After 
having  determined  to  meet  again  on  the  twenty-first  of  May, 
the  convention  adjourned. 

Instead  of  answering  the  petition  Matthias  sent  a  letter  to 
the  Regents.  Its  tone  was  hard  and  menacing.  He  refused 
to  listen  to  any  grievances ;  forbade  the  Defenders  to  call  con- 
ventions ;  declared  that  the  churches  at  Braunau  and  Klos- 
tergrab  had  been  closed  in  accordance  with  his  orders ; 
asserted  that  the  Protestants,  aud  not  the  Catholics,  had 
broken  the  Charter ;  and  added,  that  if  the  states  continued  in 
the  course  upon  which  they  had  entered,  he  would  punish  them 
as  rebels.^^  This  letter  roused  a  feeling  of  intense  bitterness 
throughout  Bohemia.  It  was  officially  communicated  to  those 
Defenders  who  were  at  Prague.'^  They  listened  to  it  in 
silence,  and  after  a  few  days  read  to  the  Regents  a  calm  reply. 
Protestant  conventions,  they  said,  were  sanctioned  by  law ; 
the  Diet  had  provided  for  such  meetings ;  hence  they  were 
constrained  to  decline  interfering  with  the  one  appointed  for 
the  month  of  May.'^ 

When  the  Regents  perceived  that  the  Defenders  were  not 
to  be  intimidated,  they  tried  to  impair  their  influence  by 
alienating  the  royal  cities ;  and  endeavored  to  create  dissen- 
sions among  the  Protestant  clergy.  Both  these  efforts  were 
partially  successful. 

Meantime  the  refusal  of  the  Defenders  to  prohibit  the 
meeting  of  another  convention  had  been  reported  to  Vienna, 
and  on  the  seventeenth  of  April  a  second  letter  arrived, 
reiterating,  although  in  milder  language,  the  imperial  inter- 

"  This  letter  is  given  in  Document  No.  99,  accompanying  the  Andere 
Apologie. 

'^  It  was  commonly  said,  that  the  obnoxious  letter  had  been  written  by 
the  Regents  themselves  and  merely  signed  by  the  Emperor.  This,  how- 
ever, seems  not  to  have  been  the  case.  Cardinal  Khlesel  was  the  author. 
Gindely,  in  his  30-jahr.  Krieg,  I.  p.  258,  adduces  the  testimony  of  Slawata, 
who  says  that  he  had  himself  been  astonished  at  the  severity  of  its  tone. 

'*  Gindely,  30-jahr.  Krieg,  I.  p.  259,  Note,  says,  that  there  can  be  no 
doubt  of  the  legality  of  the  position  maintained  by  the  Defenders. 


490  THE    HISTORY    OF 

diction.  But  they  again  declined  to  interfere.  On  the  eigh- 
teenth of  May  they  adopted  a  formal  paper,  giving  an  account 
of  the  conflict  which  had  broken  out  and  showing  that  their 
course  was  strictly  in  accordance  with  the  Charter  and  the 
enactments  of  the  Diet.  This  document  was  read,  on  Sunday 
the  twentieth,  in  all  the  Protestant  churches  of  Prague. 
Rosacius,  the  incumbent  of  the  church  of  St.  Nicholas  in  the 
Klcinscite,  added  a  fervent  prayer,  that  God  would  bless  the 
Defenders  in  their  arduous  efforts  to  maintain  religious  liberty. 

The  next  morning.  May  the  twenty-first,  the  convention 
met  in  the  Carolmum,  and  was  opened  with  the  singing  of  the 
ninety-first  Psalm,  a  prayer,  and  an  address  by  Rosacius. 
Afterward,  in  accordance  with  a  summons  received  from  the 
Regents,  the  entire  body  of  representatives  proceeded  to  the 
Hradschin,  where  a  third  letter  from  the  Emperor,  dated  May 
the  sixteenth,  was  read  to  them,  which  once  more  forbade  their 
meeting.  They  listened  respectfully,  asked  for  a  copy  of  the 
letter,  and  promised  a  speedy  reply.  In  the  court-yard  of 
the  Castle  they  held  an  impromptu  meeting  and  determined, 
in  spite  of  the  prohibition  of  the  Emperor,  to  assemble  again 
on  the  following  morning.  At  that  sitting  the  Defenders 
were  appointed  to  draft  the  reply  of  the  convention.  The 
further  business  of  the  day  consisted  in  negotiations  with  the 
two  city-councils  of  Prague  which,  through  the  machinations 
of  the  Regents,  had  become  disaffected.  While  these  nego- 
tiations were  going  on  Count  Thurn  appeared  with  the 
intelligence  that  he  had  been  cited  to  Vienna.  Amidst  great 
excitement  the  representatives  swore  to  protect  him. 

■  Thurn's  influence  over  them  was  unfortunate.  He  was  a 
German,  but  owned  domains  in  Bohemia  for  which  country 
he  cherished  an  enthusiastic  love.  No  one  could  doubt  his 
zeal  on  behalf  of  the  Evangelical  cause;  and  yet  by  his 
passionate  disposition,  reckless  plans,  and  headstrong  will,  he 
injured,  instead  of  promoting.  Protestantism.^^ 

"  Schiller  in  his  Geschichte  des  30-jahr.  Kriegs,  Cotta's  ed.  of  1838,  IX. 
p.  75,  characterizes  Thurn  as  follows :  "  He  was  a  hotheaded,  violent  man, 
who  loved  confusion,  because  in  the  midst  of  it  his  talents  shone  forth. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  491 

This  soon  became  evident.  When  the  Defenders  met  in 
order  to  draw  up  a  reply  to  the  Regents,  he  began  to  whisper 
that  the  time  for  peaceful  measures  was  at  end,  that  the  rights 
of  the  Protestants  must  be  maintained  by  force,  that  nothing 
would  be  accomplished  unless  a  "  demonstration  "  took  place. 
Some  of  his  friends  earnestly  dissuaded  him  from  urging  such 
views.  But  in  the  course  of  the  day  he  won  over  Wenzel 
von  Ruppa  and  Colonna  von  Fels.  A  plot  was  formed,  into 
which,  before  the  evening  came,  several  other  representives 
were  drawn,  to  take  the  law  into  their  own  hands  and  put  the 
most  obnoxious  of  the  Regents  to  death. ^^  While  this  plot 
was  known  only  to  the  conspirators,  the  news  spread  that 
decisive  measures  were  impending.  Prague  became  agitated. 
The  streets  were  crowded  with  people.  Every  face  was  grave ; 
every  heart  anxious.  Men  asked  each  other ;  what  is  going 
to  happen  ?  No  one  could  tell.  But  the  conviction  grew  gen- 
eral, that  the  patience  of  the  Evangelical  states  was  exhausted 
and  that  they  would  stop  at  nothing.  The  Regents  were 
warned,  but  took  no  notice  of  the  warning.  Paul  Michna, 
however,  one  of  their  secretaries,  who  had  made  himself  par- 
ticularly unpopular,  became  alarmed  and  fled  to  Vienna. 

Such  was  the  state, of  feeling  when  the  twenty-third  of 
May,  1618,  dawned — a  day  never  to  be  forgotten,  "  the  begin- 
ning and  the  cause  of  all  the  woe  that  followed."  ^^ 


Rash  and  fool-hardy,  he  undertook  things  upon  which  a  man  of  cool  judg- 
ment, whose  blood  flows  calmly,  would  not  venture ;  unconscientious,  when 
the  question  was  whether  his  xiassions  should  be  gratified,  he  played  with 
the  fate  of  thousands,  and  yet  was  subtile  enough  to  entangle  an  entire 
nation  in  liis  leading-strings." 

'»  That  such  a  conspiracy  was  formed,  Gindely,  in  his  30-jahr.  Krieg, 
shows  on  the  authority  of  Skala,  a  Protestant,  and  of  the  reports  of  the 
judicial  examinations  to  which  the  Defenders  and  other  noblemen  were, 
at  a  later  time,  subjected.  It  is  strange  that  Czerwenka,  who  had  the  same 
sources  at  command,  passes  over  the  conspiracy  in  absolute  silence  and 
rather  lets  the  assault  upon  the  Eegents  appear  as  an  unpremeditated  act, 
caused  by  the  excitement  of  the  moment.  Gindely  says,  that  Budowa 
knew  of  and  approved  the  plot. 

^^  These  are  the  words  witli  which  the  Protestant  exiles  bewailed  their  fate 
in  the  time  of  the  Anti-Reformation.     Gindely  30-ja.hr.  Krieg,  I.  p.  235. 


492  THE    HISTORY    OF 

Soon  after  eight  o'clock,  the  members  of  the  convention, 
accompanied  by  their  servants  and  followed  by  a  great  multi- 
tude, proceeded  to  the  Hradschin,  some  on  foot,  others  on 
horseback,  and  still  others  in  splendid  coaches.  Having 
assembled  in  the  Diet-chamber,  the  paper  drawn  up  by  the 
Defenders  was  read  and  adopted.  It  protested  against  any 
attempt  to  hinder  the  calling  of  Protestant  conventions; 
condemned  the  course  of  the  Regents ;  and  closed  with 
the  categorical  question,  whether  they  had  been  concerned 
in  the  composition  of  the  imperial  letter  dated  the  twenty- 
first  of  March.  An  ominous  threat  was  added.  Over 
al^ainst  the  injustice  from  which  they  had  so  long  suffered, 
the  states  would  themselves  take  measures  to  secure  their 
rights.  The  tone  of  the  paper  throughout  was  bold  and 
fearless;  and  the  nobles  who  were  privy  to  the  conspiracy, 
no  longer  attempted  to  conceal  its  purpose.  Count  Schlick 
said  to  the  representatives  of  Schlan :  "  To-day  you  will  see 
and  hear  things  strange  and  terrible,  which  will  not  be  pleas- 
ing to  the  Catholics ;  to-day  the  states  will  sweep  aside  every- 
thing that  stands  in  the  way  of  the  Charter." '''  Just  as  the 
sitting  was  about  to  close  a  messenger  burst  into  the  chamber 
with  the  report,  that  the  Protestant  njembers  of  the  council 
of  the  Altstadt  had  been  imprisoned  in  order  to  prevent  them 
from  sending  deputies  to  the  convention.^^  This  report  was 
false,  but  it  produced  intense  excitement.  The  whole  body 
rose  and  hurried  to  the  office  of  the  Regents. 

This  office  was  situated  in  the  oldest  part  of  the  Castle ;  it 
had  three  windows,  one  looking  toward  the  east,  the  other  two 
toward  the  south.  Its  appointments  were  simple :  a  few  arm- 
chairs, a  tile  stove  and  several  tables,  the  largest  of  which, 
used  as  the  council-table,  stood  in  the  centre. 

Into  this  apartment  pressed  the  members  of  the  convention. 
In   order  to   make   room   for   them,    the  council-table   was 

"  On  the  authority  of  Skala,  as  cited  by  Czerwenka. 

'*  The  two  city-councils  of  Prague  had  convened  very  early  in  the  morn- 
ing ;  that  of  the  Neustadt  resolved  to  send  deputies  to  the  convention,  that 
of  the  Altstadt  declined. 


THE   MORAVIAN   CHURCH.  493 

pushed  against  the  wall ;  but  in  spite  of  this  a  large  number 
were  obliged  to  remain  in  the  corridor.  Only  four  Regents, 
Adam  von  Sternberg,  Martinic,  Slawata,  and  Diepold  von 
Lobkowitz,  and  one  secretary,  Philip  Fabricius  Platter,  were 
present.  On  account  of  the  press  these  officials  gathered  in  a 
corner  near  the  stove.^^ 

The  men  who  thrust  themselves  forward  as  ring-leaders 
were  Thurn,  Schlick,  Ruppa,  Paul  von  Rican,  William  von 
Lobkowitz,  Kaplir,  and  Ulrich  Kinsky.  Rican  opened  the 
interview  by  asking,  on  whose  authority  the  councilors  of  the 
Altstadt  had  been  imprisoned.  The  Regents  disavowed  all 
knowledge  of  such  an  occurrence.  Thereupon  he  read  the 
paper  adopted  by  the  convention  and  urged  them  to  answer 
the  question  with  which  it  closed.  Others  did  the  same. 
But  the  Regents  declined  giving  the  desired  information. 
This  refusal  roused  the  states.  The  interview  became  heated. 
Voices  were  raised  in  loud  anger.  Slawata  and  Martinic  had 
to  bear  its  brunt.  Upon  them  were  heaped  charges,  crimina- 
tions and  invectives.  They  were  responsible  for  the  wrongs 
of  the  Protestants ;  to  their  influence  could  be  traced  every 
violation  of  the  Charter;  Sternberg  and  Lobkowitz  were 
innocent.  Thus  vociferated  the  states  in  great  excitement.  At 
last  there  was  a  lull  in  the  tumult.  Slawata  seized  the  oppor- 
tunity and  began  a  defense  of  his  course.  But  no  sooner  had 
he  ceased  speaking  than  the  storm  began  afresh,  bursting  into 
the  terrific  cry,  that  by  their  crimes  both  he  and  Martinic  had 
forfeited  their  lives.  Pale  with  fright  these  two  Regents 
begged  that  no  violence  might  be  committed  and  earnestly 
appealed  for  protection  to  some  of  their  own  kinsmen,  M-ho 
were  standing  among  the  throng.  But  their  supplications  fell 
upon  deaf  ears.  Rican  drew  forth  and  read  a  second  paper, 
which  pronounced  them  guilty  of  violating  the  Charter  and 
declared  them  to  be  the  enemies  of  the  commonwealth.  In 
response  to  his  question,  as  to  whether  the  states  concurred  in 

'*  Chronik  von  Bohmen,  II.  p.  102.  The  office  of  the  Regents,  including 
its  furniture,  has  been  preserved  intact  to  the  present  day.  Sternberg,  was 
Martinic's  father-in-law ;  of  the  antecedents  of  Fabricius  nothing  is  known. 


494  THE    HISTORY    OF 

this  sentence,  came  a  unanimous  and  vehement  "Aye  !"  And 
now  the  uproar  commenced  anew.  "  Into  the  Black  Tower 
with  them  !"  cried  some ;  "  Out  of  the  window,  according  to 
ancient  Bohemian  usage !"  exclaimed  Ruppa.  This  was  the 
mode  of  execution  which  the  conspirators  had  agreed  upon. 
It  was  carried  out  on  the  instant.  While  several  of  them 
pushed  Sternberg  and  Diepold  von  Lobkowitz  into  an  adjoin- 
ing apartment,  others,  led  by  William  von  Lobkowitz,  seized 
Martinic  and  dragged  him  to  a  window.  He  made  a  desperate 
resista,nce.  But  in  a  moment  he  was  hurled  into  the  moat 
below.  When  the  deed  had  been  done,  a  painful  silence 
ensued  and  consternation  was  seen  in  every  face.  Thuru, 
who  had  laid  hold  of  Slawata,  broke  the  spell.  "Noble 
lords,"  he  cried,  "  here  is  the  other  one !"  Immediately 
Slawata  was  dragged  to  another  window  and  thrown  out; 
Fabricius  was  tossed  after  him.  They  fell,  a  distance  of  fifty- 
six  feet,  upon  a  heap  of  sweepings  and  paper  cuttings.^" 
Slawata's  head  struck  against  the  wall  and  received  a  severe 
wound ;  Martinic  was  slightly  bruised ;  Fabricius  remained 
unhurt.  The  conspirators  crowded  to  the  windows.  What 
was  their  amazement  when  they  saw  that  neither  the  nobles 
nor  the  secretary  had  been  killed  by  the  fall !  They  meant 
to  put  them  to  death.  Pistols  were  hastily  drawn  and  many 
shots  fired.     But  the  bullets  fell  wide  of  their  mark. 

Fabricius  ran  for  his  life,  reached  his  house,  and  fled.  On 
a  farm,  near  Prague,  he  lay  concealed  for  a  few  days,  and 
then  hastened  to  Vienna  in  order  to  inform  the  Emperor  of 
what  had  occurred.^^     Slawata  and  Martinic  were  rescued  by 

""  Upon  the  authority  of  Slawata,  Gindely  in  his  30-jahr.  Krieg,  I.  pp. 
298  and  299,  denies  that  the  fall  of  the  men  was  broken  by  sweepings  and 
cuttings ;  but  Skala  distinctly  asserts  this,  and  as  he  lived  at  Prague,  he 
had  the  best  opportunity  of  ascertaining  the  truth.  Slawata  was  too  seri- 
ously hurt  in  order  to  know  upon  what  he  fell ;  and  his  testimony  is 
furthermore  worthless,  because  he  and  other  Catholics  endeavored  to  spread 
the  idea,  that  a  miracle  had  been  worked  on  behalf  of  the  Regents.  A 
monument  now  marks  the  spot  where  they  fell. 

'1  Fabricius  was  raised  by  the  Emperor  to  the  ranks  of  the  nobility, 
receiving  the  expressive  title  of  Baron  von  Hohenfall. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  495 

their  servants,  who  procured  a  ladder  up  which  they  carried 
them  into  the  adjoining  residence  of  the  Chancellor  von 
Lobkowitz.  At  its  portal  appeared  Thurn,  with  a  body  of 
followers,  and  demanded  that  the  two  Regents  should  be 
delivered  into  his  hands.  But  Polixena,  the  Chancellor's 
wife,  spoke  to  him  in  so  kind  yet  dignified  a  way  that  he 
retired  in  confusion.  In  the  evening  Martinic,  having  cut 
off  his  beard,  blackened  his  face  with  gunpowder,  and  other- 
wise disguised  himself,  fled  from  Prague.  He  reached 
Munich  in  safety,  where  Maximilian  of  Bavaria  welcomed 
him  with  open  arms.  Slawata  remained  at  the  Chancellor's 
house.  He  Avas  too  badly  wounded  to  think  of  escaping ;  but 
his  wife  besought  the  Countess  Thurn  to  help  her  in  saving 
his  life.  The  Countess  promised  to  do  what  she  could, 
adding,  with  a  melancholy  smile,  that  she  had  a  presentiment 
that  the  time  would  soon  come  when  she  would  be  the  sup- 
pliant. Her  exertions  were  not  in  vain.  Thurn  and  his 
compeers  consented  to  spare  Slawata;  but  required  him  to 
sign  a  paper  acknowledging  that  he  had  been  justly  treated 
and  promising  never  to  avenge  himself  on  the  Protestant 
states.^^  After  his  restoration  to  health,  he  was  allowed  to 
retire  to  Teplitz,  whence  he  fled  to  Saxony.  A  golden 
triangle,  richly  ornamented  with  rubies,  and  inclosing  a 
picture  of  the  Virgin  painted  on  enamel,  formed  the  thank- 
oflering  which  the  three  men  conjointly  dedicated  to  her 
shrine  in  the  church  of  Loretto,  at  Prao'ue.^^ 

The  act  of  violence  perpetrated  in  the  ancient  Castle  of  the 
Bohemian  kings  was  a  grave  error  and  an  unjustifiable  out- 
rage; but  the  provocations  which  led  to  it  were  flagrant, 
scandalous  and  inexcusable.  Persistently  had  the  Charter 
been  broken ;  unceasing  had  been  the  insults,  the  annoyances, 
the  injuries,  the  persecutions,  to  which  the  Protestants  were 
exposed;  in  the  most  shameful  manner  had  promises  and 
solemn  pledges  been  disregarded;  with  arrogant  willfulness 
had  all  legal  redress  been  denied.     Was  it  astonishing  that 

^^  This  paper  is  given  in  full  by  Pescheck,  I.  pp.  295  and  296. 
=>'  Schottsky's  Prag.,  II.  p.  241. 


496  THE    HISTORY    OF 

the  patience  of  the  leaders  gave  way  ?  How  intolerable  must 
the  grievances  have  been,  when  a  grand  old  man  like  Budowa 
countenanced  the  act !  Its  perpetrators  were  guilty  ;  but  the 
Regents,  and  especially  the  Jesuits,  no  less  guilty.  For  a 
long  time  these  latter  had  been  trying  to  bring  about,  not  the 
outrage  which  actually  occurred,  but  some  deed  of  violence 
that  would  put  the  Protestants  in  their  power.  Nor  must  it 
be  forgotten,  that  the  states  looked  upon  the  proceeding  as  a 
judicial  execution.  They  believed  that  the  time  had  come  for 
taking  the  law  into  their  own  hands;  they  formally  con- 
demned the  two  Regents  to  death,  and  then  carried  out  the 
sentence.  It  may  be  called  an  early  instance  of  lynch-law. 
No  attempt  was  made  to  excuse  what  they  had  done ;  on  the 
contrary,  they  defended  it  as  the  only  way  open  to  them  in  the 
struggle  for  their  cl.\artered  rights.  That  Slawata  and  Mar- 
tinic  were  enemies  of  the  Bohemian  commonwealth  and,  ac- 
cording to  its  laws,  deserved  death,  can  not  be  gainsaid  ;  that, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  states  were  not  the  administrators  of 
the  law,  that  they  had  no  right  to  proceed  against  these 
Regents,  that  their  grievances,  however  great,  did  not  warrant 
so  cruel  and  wicked  a  thing,  by  which  the  holy  cause  of  reli- 
gion was  stained,  all  this  is  undeniable.  Their  crime  can  be 
extenuated,  but  not  justified. 

The  news  of  what  had  occurred  spread  like  lightning 
through  the  city  and  the  populace  became  eager  for  further 
acts  of  violence.  But  Thurn,  at  the  head  of  a  body  of  armed 
men,  rode  through  the  streets  everywhere  proclaiming  that  the 
Catholics  were  not  to  be  molested,  that  the  states  were  merely 
defending  the  rights  of  the  Protestants,  that  no  disorder 
would  be  permitted.  In  all  churches,  throughout  the  capital 
and  the  country,  the  people  were  told  the  same  thing. 

A  provisional  government,  consisting  of  thirty  Directors, 
was  now  instituted  and  an  army  raised,  of  which  Count  Thurn 
took  the  command.  On  the  thirtieth  of  May  appeared  the 
first  and,  soon  after,  the  second  Apology  of  the  states.^^    These 

"*  Apologia  and  Andere  Apologia.     Pescheck  gives  full  extracts  I.  pp. 

297,  304,  322,  etc. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  497 

Apologies  recited,  and  through  numerous  documents,  proved 
the  injuries  inflicted  upon  the  Protestants.  The  act  perpe- 
trated by  the  states  was  set  forth  as  follows : 

"  For  the  above  mentioned  reasons  we  have  proceeded  against 
two  of  the  Regents,  namely,  William  Slawata  von  Chlum  and 
Kossumberg  and  Jaroslaw  Barzita  von  Martinic,  otherwise  called 
Smeczansky,  as  men  who  perverted  justice  and  destroyed  the 
peace  of  the  country,  in  that  they  did  not  fulfill  the  duties  of 
the  office  in  which  they  were  placed,  but  wickedly  abused  it,  both 
to  the  disparagement  of  the  authority  of  his  imperial  majesty 
our  king  and  sovereign,  and  to  the  destruction  of  the  peace  of 
this  kingdom  of  Bohemia:  we  threw  them  both  out  of  the  window, 
according  to  ancient  usage,  and  after  them  a  secretary,  their  flat- 
terer, who,  among  others,  had  caused  great  distraction  in  the  city 
of  Prague.  But  since  their  lives  have  been  spared,  it  remains 
for  us  to  know  how  to  deal  with  them  ;  either  to  forgive  them 
and  those  whom  they  protect,  or  to  prosecute  in  whatever  way  we 
may  determine,  not  only  them  but  others  also  who  have  violated 
the  Charter  and  the  'Agreement,'  being  their  accomplices,  in 
particular  Paul  Michna,  that  wicked  and  treacherous  man." 

These  Apologies  which,  in  one  sense,  have  the  force  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  issued  by  our  own  country  in  1776, 
excited  general  interest  and  won  for  the  cause  no  little  favor. 
They  were  sent  to  the  Emperor  together  with  a  letter  in  which 
the  states  respectfully  but  firmly  justified  their  course.  Other 
letters  were  written  to  the  Moravian,  Silesian,  Lusatian  and 
Hungarian  Diets,  also  to  tJie  German  Empire,  asking  for  aid. 

Several  decrees,  on  the  part  of  the  Directors,  now  appeared. 
The  first  explained  that  by  the  Charter  religious  liberty  was 
granted  to  all  Bohemians,  including  residents  on  ecclesiastical 
domains ;  the  second  expelled  the  Jesuits  from  Prague  (June 
the  first);  the  third,  issued  after  the  discovery  of  fifty  tuns  of 
gunpowder  stored  in  the  cellars  of  their  Clementinum,  ban- 
ished them  from  Bohemia  forever ;  the  fourth  sent  into  exile 
Archbishop  Lohelius  and  other  dignitaries  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  who  had  made  themselves  particularly  ob- 
noxious. 

The  arrival  of  Fabricius  at  Vienna  caused  a  profound 
sensation.  His  tale  was  so  startling  that  it  almost  transcended 
belief.  Cardinal  Khlesel,  contrary  to  his  custom,  advocated 
32 


498  THE    HISTORY   OF 

mild  measures ;  Ferdinand  urged  the  immediate  crushing  of 
the  rebellion  by  force  of  arms.  The  Emperor  followed  the 
Cardinal's  advice.  In  the  beginning  of  June  he  commis- 
sioned Eusebius  Khan  to  visit  Prague  and  negotiate  with  the 
Protestant  states.  The  old  order  of  things  should  be  restored. 
This  was  the  only  demand  which  Matthias  made.  It  was 
sustained  by  Charles  von  Zerotin,  who  hastened  to  the  capital 
and  strongly  urged  his  Bohemian  compatriots  to  yield.  But 
they  would  not. 

And  now,  for  weeks,  imperial  rescripts  came  from  Vienna 
and  answers  were  sent  back  by  the  Directory  at  Prague.  This 
correspondence  served  but  to  inflame  the  passions  of  both  par- 
ties. Day  by  day  the  hope  of  healing  the  rupture  diminished. 
War  became  imminent.  It  is  true  that  Khlesel  still  en- 
deavored to  prevent  so  great  a  calamity.  But  in  July,  with 
the  connivance  of  Ferdinand,  he  was  seized  and  removed  to 
Tyrol.  Matthias,  whom  illness  confined  to  his  bed,  although 
deeply  wounded  by  this  indignity,  was  unable  to  prevent  it. 
War  broke  out  in  the  following  month.  At  first  it  was  an 
unimportant  conflict;  but  it  spread  and  grew  into  a  thirty 
years'  bloody  struggle  between  Romanism  and  Protestantism. 
In  March  of  1619  the  princes  of  the  Empire  tried  to  effect 
a  reconciliation.  The  attempt  failed ;  and  ou  the  twentieth 
of  the  same  month  Matthias  died. 

Ferdinand  the  Second  was  now  King.  He  too  began  to 
favor  peace.  He  wrote  to  Bohemia,  reappointed  the  Regents, 
promised  to  govern  in  accordance  with  the  pledges  given  at 
his  coronation,  and  added,  that  he  would  do  everything  in  his 
power  to  restore  the  tranquility  of  the  kingdom.  This  would 
have  been  the  time  for  the  Protestants  to  come  to  terms. 
That  they  refused  to  do  so,  was  unfortunate,  and  yet  the 
natural  consequence  of  his  past  course.  Who  Avill  blame  them 
for  declaring  their  utter  want  of  confidence  in  him,  and  their 
solemn  belief  that  even  his  oaths  were  untrustworthy  ?  As 
long  as  Matthias  lived,  they  remained  loyal  and  hoped  for  an 
eventual  understanding.  But  Ferdinand's  accession  to  the 
throne  undermined  their  loyalty  and  blighted  such  hopes.     A 


THE    MORAVIAX    CHURCH.  499 

permanent  breach  between  Bohemia  and  the  House  of  Haps- 
burg  became  inevitable. 

The  Directory  took  immediate  steps  to  prosecute  the  war. 
While  Count  Mansfeld/^  at  the  head  of  one  army,  occupied 
the  attention  of  the  imperialists  under  Count  Bouquoy,  Thurn 
led  another  into  Moravia.  Briinn  gave  him  a  cordial  wel- 
come. The  Protestant  states  joined  the  Ee volution,  organized 
a  provisional  government,  and  banished  the  Jesuits.  Charles 
von  Zerotin  and  other  nobles  protested ;  but  they  were  seized 
and  imprisoned.  Leaving  Briinn,  Thurn  directed  his  march 
toward  Vienna.  On  the  sixth  of  June  he  appeared  before  its' 
walls.  Within  was  Ferdinand,  empty-handed  and  defenceless. 
He  had  neither  money  nor  troops.  His  fate,  the  future  of  his 
House,  the  weal  of  Germany,  the  destiny  of  Europe,  lay  within 
Thurn's  grasp  An  immediate  attack  would  have  resulted  in 
the  fall  of  Vienna,  the  capture  of  the  King,  and  the  triumph  of 
Protestantism.  Instead  of  recognizing  these  momentous  issues, 
Thurn  began  negotiations  with  the  Austrian  states,  and  the 
states  with  Ferdinand.  On  the  eleventh  they  sent  a  deputation 
requiring  him  to  sign  a  paper  which  would  have  rendered  them 
practically  independent.  He  declined.  The  deputies  became 
urgent.  He  remained  firm.  At  last  one  of  their  number,  a 
Baron  von  Obergassing,  seized  a  button  of  his  coat  and,  in  a 
menacing  tone,  exclaimed:  "Ferdinand,  are  you  going  to  sign 
soon  ?"  Instead  of  an  answer  came  a  blast  of  trumpets  from 
the  courtyard  into  which,  at  that  moment,  galloped  a  body  or 
five  hundred  horsemen.  They  had  been  sent  by  Buquoy  in 
order  to  protect  the  King,  and  had  entered  the  city  through  a 
gate  which  Thurn  had  inexcusably  left  unguarded.  Their 
arrival  changed  the  whole  aspect  of  affairs.  Ferdinand  was 
saved.  Soon  after,  news  came  of  the  defeat  of  Mansfeld.  Thurn 
immediately  raised  the  siege  and  hurried  back  to  Bohemia. 

^*  Ernst  von  Mansfeld,  born  in  1585,  was  one  of  the  greatest  generals 
of  his  time.  After  serving  the  king  of  Spain  and  the  emperor  of  Ger- 
many, he  joined  the  Protestants  of  Bohemia,  fought  many  battles  in  their 
interests,  showed  himself  as  formidable  after  defeat  as  before,  and  died,  in 
1626,  near  Zara,  in  Dalmatia. 


500  THE    HISTORY    OF 

As  soon  as  he  was  gone  Ferdinand  proceeded  to  Frankfurt- 
on-the-Main  and  began  negotiations  with  the  Electors. 
When  the  Bohemian  Directors  saw  that  these  negotiations 
would  prove  successful,  they  prepared  to  shake  off  the  Haps- 
burg  yoke.  On  the  thirty-first  of  July  a  treaty  was  concluded 
with  Moravia,  Silesia  and  Lusatia,  and  on  the  sixteenth  of 
August  with  Austria.  A  general  Diet  convened,  which,  after 
publishing  the  reasons  that  rendered  the  deposition  of  Ferdi- 
nand justifiable  and  the  election  of  a  new  monarch  necessary, 
united,  on  the  nineteenth  of  August,  1619,  in  choosing  Freder- 
ick the  Fifth  of  the  Palatinate.  At  Frankfurt,  nine  days  later, 
(August  the  twenty-eighth)  Ferdinand  was  elected  Emperor. 

Many  advisers  warned  Frederick  against  accepting  the 
Bohemian  throne.  His  own  father-in-law,  James  the  First 
of  England,  refused  all  aid.  But  Abraham  Scultetus,  his 
court-preacher,  represented  the  appointment  as  a  call  from 
God  which  duty  to  the  Evangelical  faith  required  him  to 
follow ;  and  Elizabeth,  his  ambitious  wife,  told  him,  that  if 
he  had  had  courage  to  marry  a  king's  daughter,  he  ought  to 
have  courage  to  take  a  kingdom  for  her  portion.  To  such 
persuasions  he  yielded.  On  the  thirty-first  of  October,  1619, 
he  entered  Prague,  and  on  the  fourth  of  November  was 
crowned  King  of  Bohemia.  George  DikastuSj  the  Adminis- 
trator of  the  Protestant  Consistory,  and  his  associate.  Bishop 
John  Cyrill,  the  representative  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum,  con- 
jointly performed  the  ceremony.  The  coronation  sermon  was 
delivered  by  the  former,  on  the  first  seven  verses  of  the  second 
chapter  of  St.  Paul's  first  Epistle  to  Timothy.  Three  days 
later,  November  the  seventh,  Elizabeth  was  crowned  Queen 
of  Bohemia,  John  Corvin,  a  priest  of  the  Unity  and  member 
of  the  Consistory,  preaching  on  the  same  text.  Soon  after 
the  new  monarch  issued  a  proclamation  in  Bohemian,  Ger- 
man, and  Latin,  setting  forth  the  reasons  which  induced  him 
to  accept  the  crown. ^^ 

26  Original  of  the  German  version  of  this  proclamation  in  Malin  Library, 
No.  331.  "OHen  ausschreiben,  warumb  wir  die  Cron  Bohmen  auf  uns  ge- 
nommen,"  etc. 


THE    MORAVIAN   CHURCH.  501 

Frederick  was  aifable  and  good-natured,  but  careless,  weak, 
and  unfit  to  rule  amidst  the  intricacies  and  conflicts  of  a  Rev- 
olution. He  put  slights  upon  his  Bohemian  generals  and 
councilors,  and  alienated  the  affections  of  the  people  by  giving 
undue  prominence  to  the  Reformed  ritual  and  by  the  scan- 
dalous vandalism  which  he  encouraged  in  the  Cathedral  and 
otlier  churches. 

The  measures  of  Ferdinand,  on  the  contrary,  were  prompt 
and  energetic.  He  assured  himself  of  the  support  of  Max- 
imilian of  Bavaria;  won,  through  Maximilian's  influence, 
the  entire  Catholic  League ;  and  gained  from  Sigismund  of 
Poland  and  Philip  the  Third  of  Spain  the  promise  of 
auxiliary  troops. 

Over  against  so  formidable  a  coalition,  Frederick  en- 
deavored to  rouse  the  Protestant  Union;  but  jealousy  and 
bickerings  stood  in  his  way.  In  March,  1620,  John  George, 
Elector  of  Saxony,  the  most  powerful  adherent  of  the  Evan- 
gelical faith,  espoused  the  Emperor's  cause;  and  in  Julv, 
through  the  intervention  of  France,  a  pacification  was  brought 
about  between  the  Union  and  the  League.  And  now,  on 
every  side,  a  storm  began  to  gather.  Maximilian  took  com- 
mand of  the  army  of  the  League  and  effected  a  junction  with 
Count  Buquoy;  the  Elector  of  Saxony  conquered  Lusatia; 
Sigismund  sent  eight  thousand  Cossacks ;  two  Spanish  generals 
advanced  from  the  Netherlands  with  thirty  thousand  men. 

Before  these  auxiliaries  could  be  of  any  assistance  the  fate 
of  Frederick,  of  Bohemia  and  Moravia,  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum, 
of  Protestantism  in  the  Hapsburg  dominions  for  generations  to 
come,  was  decided.  On  the  eighth  of  November,  1620,  the 
imperialists  and  the  troops  of  the  League,  under  Buquoy  and 
Maximilian,  attacked,  at  the  White  Mountain,  three  miles  to 
the  west  of  Prague,  the  Bohemian  army,  which  scarcely  counted 
half  the  number  of  their  combined  forces.  It  was  commanded 
by  Prince  Christian  of  Anhalt  and,  on  the  seventh,  had  made  a 
forced  march  in  order  to  reach  the  capital.  In  this  march 
Frederick  had  taken  ])art,  but  had  left  the  camp  and  gone 
into  the  city  where  he  had  spent  the  night.     In  the  morning 


502  THE    H18TORY    OF 

Anhalt  sent  him  word  that  an  attack  was  Imminent,  begging 
him  to  rejoin  the  troops  and  encourage  them  by  his  presence. 
Instead  of  complying  Frederick  attended  service  in  the  Cathe- 
dral, and  then  engaged  two  English  ambassadors  in  a  lengthy 
conversation,  assuring  them  that  Anhalt  was  mistaken.  At 
noon  he  invited  them  to  sit  down  with  him  to  dinner.  The 
meal  had  just  been  finished  when  a  messenger  arrived,  with 
the  startling  report  that  a  battle  was  in  progress.  Putting 
himself  at  the  head  of  five  hundred  horsemen,  detailed  to 
guard  the  Hradschin,  he  hastened  to  the  Reichs  Gate.  There 
he  met  his  generals  fleeing  from  the  field.  For  one  short  hour 
only  did  the  conflict  last.  The  Bohemian  army  suffered  a 
crushing  defeat. 

Frederick's  cause  was  not  yet  lost.  Many  of  his  troops 
found  their  way  into  Prague ;  the  citizens  offered  to  defend 
its  walls;  eight  thousand  Hungarians  were  within  twenty 
miles  of  the  city;  Mansfeld  had  twelve  thousand  men  at 
Pilsen ;  winter,  which  was  close  at  hand,  would  render  a 
protracted  siege  impossible.  But  the  King's  heart  failed  him. 
He  fled,  with  his  family,  his  generals,  and  a  number  of  prom- 
inent nobles.  At  Breslau  he  made  a  brief  stand.  On  hearing, 
however,  of  the  defection  of  Moravia,  he  continued  his  flight 
until  he  reached  Holland.  There  he  lived  in  retirement,  at 
the  expense  of  his  father-in-law.  In  the  beginning  of  1621, 
he  was  put  under  the  ban  of  the  empire. 

Thus  ended  the  Bohemian  Revolution.  The  entire  king- 
dom with  its  afiiliated  countries  lay  helpless  at  the  Emperor's 
feet. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  503 


PERIOD  VIII. 

THE  UNITAS  FRATRUM  AS  A  CHURCH  IN  EXILE 
AND  A  HIDDEN  SEED.     A.  D.  1621-1722. 


CHAPTER  XLYII. 

The  Day  of  Blood  at  Prague.      ^.  Z>.  1621. 


Prague  and  the  Protestant  States  surrender. — Outrages  in  the  City  and 
throughout  the  Country. — Charles  von  Liechtenstein  Governor. — The 
Jesuits  recalled  and  the  Ministers  of  the  Brethren  and  the  Reformed 
banished. — The  Directors  and  Leaders  of  the  Revolution  imprisoned. 
— Their  Trial  and  Condemnation. — Twenty-seven  of  them  to  suffer 
Death. — Ferdinand  approves  of  the  Sentence. — The  Condemned  pre- 
pare for  their  End. — The  Scaffold  on  the  Grosse  Ring. — The  Execu- 
tion.— The  Victims. — Other  Punishments. — Confiscations. 

The  defeat  of  the  Bohemian  army  at  the  White  Mountain 
struck  terror  to  the  hearts  of  the  Protestants.  Their  cause 
was  lost.  No  hope  remained  except  in  God.  The  terms 
which  the  states  attempted  to  make  with  the  conquerors  were 
coldly  rejected.  An  unconditional  surrender  formed  the  only 
proposition  which  Maximilian  would  entertain ;  and  the  sole 
promise,  on  behalf  of  the  Emperor,  which  he  believed  him- 
self justified  to  give,  was,  that  their  lives  should  be  spared. 
Even  against  this  Bouquoy  protested.  The  states,  he  said, 
had   deserved  death.     Eonally  unsuccessful  were  the  efforts 


504  THE    HISTORY   OF 

of  the  City  Councils  to  open  negotiations.^  On  the  tenth  of 
November  the  victorious  army  entered  Prague. 

This  army  immediately  gave  itself  up  to  a  licentiousness 
that  beggars  description.  Houses  were  pillaged;  women 
violated ;  men  tortured  in  order  to  extort  confessions  as  to 
where  they  had  hidden  their  treasures.  The  very  clothes 
were  torn,  in  the  public  streets,  from  the  persons  of  the 
passers  by.  No  one  was  safe.  In  as  much  as  valuables  of 
every  kind  had  been  brought  into  the  capital,  under  the 
supposition  that  within  its  walls  they  could  best  be  protected, 
the  booty  that  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  army  proved  to  be 
immense.  Similar  spoliations  took  place  throughout  the 
country.  The  Spanish  mercenaries  made  themselves  particu- 
larly notorious.  Nor  were  the  outrages  perpetrated  by 
common  soldiers  alone.  "  It  is  an  undeniable  fact,"  says 
Gindely,  "  that  the  bearers  of  the  most  exalted  names,  who 
filled  the  highest  military  offices  under  Buquoy,  personally 
took  part  in  such  robberies."^  Maximilian,  in  the  time  of 
his  short  stay  at  Prague,  vainly  tried  to  put  a  stop  to  them ; 
and  on  returning  to  his  own  dominions  (November  the 
eighteenth),  charged  the  Prince  von  Liechtenstein,  whom  he 
appointed  Governor,  to  curb  the  disorders  by  all  the  means 
within  his  power. ^ 

In  this  Prince  Bohemia  soon  learned  to  recognize  a  scourge 
of  God.  His  efforts  in  the  direction  pointed  out  by  the  Duke 
were  as  lame  as  his  measures  on  behalf  of  the  Romish  Church 
were  energetic.  The  Jesuits,  the  Archbishop,  and  the  other 
exiled  ecclesiastics  were  recalled ;  the  priests  of  the  Unity,  as 
well  as  the  Calvinist  ministers,  professors  and  teachers,  were 
ordered  to  leave  Prague  in  three  days,  and  Bohemia  in  eight; 

'  Sources  for  this  chapter  are :  Gindely's  SO-jiihr.  Krieg,  III.  chap.  10 
and  IV.  chap.  2 ;  Pescheck  I.  chap.  9  and  10 ;  Daums'  Verfolgungcn  in  B.; 
Ein  Tag  aus  d.  Bohm.  Gesch.;  Priigerisclie  Execution ;  Hist.  Persecu- 
tionum,  Cap.  LIX-LXXXIV ;  Kekatholisirung  des  Bohm.  Niederlandes. 

2  Gindely's  30-jahr.  Krieg,  III.  p.  375. 

'Liechtenstein's  title  was  " Subdelegirter  Commissarius ;"  Ferdinand 
sanctioned  botli  the  appointment  and  this  title. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  505 

the  Jesuit  Church  was  taken  from  the  Brethren  ;^  the  Cath- 
edral rededicated  with  many  ceremonies.  Other  reactionary 
measures,  all  pointing  to  a  radical  change  in  Church  and 
State,  followed  in  quick  succession.  No  one  knew  what  a  day 
would  bring  forth.  Dark  forebodings  filled  every  mind. 
And  yet  with  such  finesse  were  things  managed  that  men 
allowed  themselves,  in  spite  of  their  better  knowledge,  to  be 
rocked  in  a  cradle  of  security.  For  three  months  no  open 
steps  were  taken  against  the  Directors  and  other  leaders  of 
the  Revolution.  In  secret  they  were  watched.  But  of  this 
they  knew  nothing.  They  imagined  the  danger  to  be  past ; 
came  out  of  their  hiding  places;  and  showed  themselves  in 
the  streets  of  Prague. 

This  pleasing  dream  was  suddenly  interrupted.  On  the 
twentieth  of  February,  1621,  the  nobles  were  summoned  to 
an  audience  with  Liechtenstein,  in  order  to  hear,  so  ran  the 
message,  a  communication  from  the  Emperor.  Count  Tilly, 
struck  with  pity  at  their  impending  fate,  gave  them  a  hint  to 
flee.^  But,  unsuspicious  still,  they  neglected  this  warning. 
At  the  appointed  hour  of  the  afternoon  they  appeared  before 
the  Governor,  and  were  arrested.  Under  the  same  pretence 
those  not  of  noble  birth  were  induced  to  present  themselves 
to  the  City  Judges,  who  forthwith  gave  them  in  custody.  In 
this  manner  forty-three  prominent  representatives  of  the 
Revolution  fell  into  Ferdinand's  power.  They  were  all 
incarcerated ;  some  in  the  towers  of  the  Hradschin,  others  in 
the  Council  Houses  of  the  Alt-  and  Neustadt.  On  the  follow- 
ing day  heralds  passed  through  the  streets  and  cited  those 

*  This  Church  had  probably  been  given  to  the  Brethren  after  the  expul- 
sion of  the  Jesuits ;  the  Bethlehem  Chapel  was  taken  away  from  the  former 
immediately  after  the  battle  of  the  White  Mountain. 

^  Count  John  Tzesklas  von  Tilly  was  born,  in  Brabant,  in  1559.  Having 
served  in  the  Netherlands  under  Alva  and  others,  he  entered  the  Bavarian 
army,  and  soon  after  the  battle  of  the  White  Moimtain,  took  chief  command 
of  the  forces  of  the  Catholic  League.  He  was  made  a  field-marshal  and,  in 
1630,  succeeded  Wallenstein  as  commander-in-chief  of  the  Imperial  troops. 
His  taking  of  Magdeburg  in  the  following  year  is  notorious.  He  died  in 
consequence  of  a  wound  received  at  the  battle  of  Lech,  in  1632. 


506  THE    HISTORY    OF 

leaders  who  had  fled  with  Frederick  to  appear  for  trial  within 
six  weeks.  At  the  same  time  active  measures  were  iuaugur- 
ated  to  capture  such  fugitives.  Count  Schlick  was  the  only 
one  taken.  The  rest  escaped.  On  the  twenty-fifth  of  April, 
by  order  of  the  Emperor,  their  names  were  affixed  to  gallows 
in  the  Altstadt,  the  Neustadt,  and  the  Kleimeite  of  Prague. 

And  now  was  appointed  a  court  of  eleven  judges,  with 
Liechtenstein  as  its  president.  Before  this  court  the  prosecu- 
tion began  on  the  twenty-ninth  of  March,  the  prisoners 
being  arraigned  separately.  Charges  were  brought  against 
them  involving;  a  thousand  things  of  w4iich  no  one  had  ever 
thought."  The  accused  bore  themselves  with  courage  and 
manliness.  Budowa,  Kaplir,  and  Otto  von  Los,  in  particular, 
exhibited  a  heroic  spirit.  Schlick,  exasperated  by  the  irrele- 
vancy of  the  questions  which  were  put  to  him,  lost  patience 
and  baring  his  breast  exclaimed :  ''  Divide  my  body  into  a 
thousand  parts,  and  search  through  my  bowels,  you  will  find 
nothing  except  what  is  written  in  our  Apologies.  The  love 
of  liberty  and  of  our  faith  put  the  sword  into  our  hands. 
God  has  given  the  victory  to  the  Emjieror.  We  are  in  your 
power.     The  will  of  the  Lord  be  done  !"^ 

*  On  the  authority  of  Skala,  cited  by  Czerwenka,  and  of  tlie  Hist.  Per- 
secutionum,  Cap.  LIX.  5. 

'  This  incident  is  given  in  Hist.  Persecutionum,  Cap.  LIX.  5.  Gindely, 
30-jahr.  Krieg,  IV.  p.  62,  categorically  pronounces  it  to  be  false,  and  says, 
that  the  bearing  of  the  prisoners,  with  the  exception  of  Budowa,  Kaplir 
and  Los,  was  not  manly,  and  that  Schlick,  in  particular,  tried  to  move  his 
judges  to  mercy.  His  chief  authority  is  the  official  protocols.  We  consider 
Gindely's  position  untenable,  and  for  the  following  reasons:  1.  There  were 
forty-three  prisoners,  consequently  forty-three  hearings  and  as  many  pro- 
tocols ;  but  only  eleven  have  been  preserved ;  from  what  he  finds  in  these 
he  draws,  as  he  himself  confesses,  a  conclusion  affecting  all.  2.  We  have 
no  faith  whatever  in  the  fairness  of  the  eleven  protocols.  The  spirit  mani- 
fested by  the  Catholics,  in  that  whole  period  of  their  final  triumph,  was  so 
absolutely  void  of  even  the  faintest  element  of  justice,  that  neither  judges 
nor  secretaries  would  hesitate  to  give  such  a  coloring  to  the  sayings  of  the 
prisoners  as  suited  their  own  purposes.  3.  Granting  that  some  of  the 
prisoners  did  try,  in  an  honest  way,  to  save  their  lives,  that  is  no  proof  at 
all,  that,  as  Gindely  maintains,  "  nur  wenige  eine  wiirdige  Haltung  einnah- 
men."     4.  If  Count  Schlick  did  not  utter  the  words  imputed  to  him  by  the 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  507 

The  prisoners  were  found  guilty :  twenty-seven  to  be 
executed ;  the  rest  to  be  punished  in  other  ways ;  their 
possessions  to  be  confiscated.  This  sentence  was  transmitted 
to  Vienna  for  approval.  Ferdinand  consulted  the  Jesuits, 
and  especially  Lamormain,  his  subsequent  confessor.  They 
advised  him  to  sign  the  document.  He  hesitated  and 
referred  the  question  to  a  commission,  which  recommended 
a  less  cruel  mode  of  execution,  and,  in  some  cases,  per- 
petual imprisonment  instead  of  death,  but  otherwise  ap- 
proved of  the  sentence.  On  the  twenty-sixth  of  May  the 
Em])eror  attached  his  signature,  adopting  the  recommendation 
of  the  commissioners.  The  ostensible  crime  for  which  so 
many  nobles  and  distinguished  citizens  were  to  suffer,  was 
rebellion  ;  but  the  real  object  which  the  Court  of  Vienna  and 
its  Jesuitical  instigators  had  in  view,  was  to  inaugurate  the 
destruction  of  Protestantism  throughout  the  kingdom.  If 
the  accused  had  been  Catholics  they  would  not  have  been  put 
to  death. 

On  the  nineteenth  of  June  the  sentence  was  read  to  the 
prisoners  in  a  body,  at  the  Hradschin.  This  ceremony  lasted 
from  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning  to  two  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon. Of  the  twenty-seven  adjudged  to  death,  about  one- 
half  were  members  of  the  Brethren's  Church  :  of  the  remain- 
ing sixteen,  some  were  condemned  to  life-long  imprisonment, 
among  these  William  von  Lobkowitz  and  Rican ;  others  to  a 
limited  confinement;  others  to  exile;  and  still  others  to 
corporeal  punishment.  In  vain  did  the  wives  and  children 
of  those  set  apart  for  execution  importune  Liechtenstein  to 
spare  them.  The  day  of  grace  was  irrevocably  past,  he  said. 
Among  them  was  one  Catholic,  Dionys  Cernin,  who  had,  on 
the  memorable  twenty-third  of  May,  1618,  admitted,  but  by 

History  of  Persecutions,  who  originated  those  words?  It  is  hard  to  believe 
that  the  authors  of  that  work  would  deliberately  invent  such  an  incident. 
They  must  have  had  some  ground  for  it.  5.  The  heroism  manifested  by 
the  prisoners  after  their  condemnation  and  on  the  scaffold,  a  heroism  which 
even  Romish  writers  do  not  call  in  question,  is  utterly  at  variance  with  the 
supposition  that  tliey  showed  a  craven  spirit  at  the  trial. 


508  THE    HISTORY    OF 

command  of  his  superior  officer,  the  states  to  the  Castle.  He 
was  included  in  the  death-list  in  order  to  keep  up  a  show  of 
justice. 

The  prisoners  were  informed  that  the  twenty-first  of  June 
was  the  day  fixed  for  their  execution.  The  time  of  prepara- 
tion was  therefore  short.  At  first  the  Emperor  had  directed 
that  no  ministrations  except  those  of  the  Capuchins  and 
Jesuits  should  be  allowed ;  the  expostulations  of  Liechten- 
stein, however,  induced  him  to  permit  the  services  of 
Lutheran  clergymen.  Priests  of  the  Unity  were  prohibited 
from  appearing.  Although  in  the  very  nature  of  the  case  the 
prisoners  who  belonged  to  that  body  would  have  preferred 
their  own  pastors,  they  nevertheless  welcomed  the  Lutheran 
ministers,  who  performed  their  painful  duties  with  holy  zeal. 
From  various  churches  of  the  city  there  came  John  Rosacius, 
Victorin  Verbenius,  Veit  Jakesh,  Adam  Clemens,  John 
Hertwich,  and  David  Lippach.  These  men  of  God  ex- 
pounded the  Scriptures;  comforted  with  all  gentleness  and 
love ;  were  instant  in  intercessory  prayer ;  and  dispensed  the 
sacramental  blessings  of  the  Lord's  body  and  blood.  The 
evening  of  the  nineteenth  of  June,  and  the  whole  of  the  next 
day,  which  was  a  Sunday,  were  devoted  to  such  exercises. 
On  Sunday  Lippach,  in  the  St.  Salvator  church  of  which  he 
was  the  preacher  and  which  constituted  one  of  those  Prot- 
estant church-edifices  that  were  erected  soon  after  the  granting 
of  the  charter,  publicly  commended  the  prisoners  to  the  inter- 
cessions of  his  people ;  in  the  afternoon  he  delivered  to  his 
congregation  a  message  from  three  of  them — Jessenius, 
Riippel,  and  Hauenschild — asking  forgiveness  of  all  whom 
they  might  have  offended. 

The  condemned,  without  exception,  bore  themselves  as 
heroes  of  faith.  Grace  was  given  them  to  rejoice  in  the 
Lord's  promises,  to  be  strong  in  the  power  of  His  might,  to 
"  witness  a  good  confession."  Nothing  disturbed  the  peace 
of  their  last  hours,  except  the  odious  pertinacity  of  the 
Jesuits.  These  crafty  bigots  would  not  be  rebuifed.  They 
came  again  and  again.      They  circled  around  their  victims 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  509 

like  a  shoal  of  sharks  around  a  vessel  from  which  a  dead 
body  is  being  cast.  To  draw  Protestants  as  famous  as  these 
into  the  maw  of  Romanism,  the  day  before  their  execution, 
would  be  one  of  the  most  brilliant  achievments  in  their  record. 
So  eager  were  they  that  they  did  not  hesitate,  although  they 
knew  that  they  were  lying,  to  hold  out  the  promise  of  pardon, 
or  at  least  of  a  commutation  of  the  sentence.  But  their 
efforts  were  unavailing,  even  when  they  called  heaven  and 
earth  to  witness,  that  they  were  innocent  of  the  eternal 
damnation  which  must  follow  upon  so  obstinate  a  rejection  of 
divine  grace. 

On  Sunday  evening  the  prisoners  in  the  Hradschin  and  the 
Town  Hall  of  the  Neustadt  were  brought  to  the  Council 
House  of  the  Altsiadt,  Avhere  the  execution  was  to  take  place. 
From  the  windows  of  this  edifice  their  fellow-sufferers  wel- 
comed them  with  the  inspired  words  of  the  forty-fourth 
Psalm.  The  night  which  followed  was  a  night  of  song  and 
prayer  and  heavenly  anticipations.  Exhorting  one  another 
to  stand  fast,  to  overcome  the  world,  to  leave  to  posterity  an 
example  of  unshaken  faithfulness,  these  patriots  and  con- 
fessors awaited  the  breaking  of  the  fatal  mornino-. 

Toward  dawn  they  prepared  for  their  execution  as  though 
it  were  a  marriage  feast.  They  bathed  and  put  on  their  finest 
linen ;  they  ripped  off  the  large  ruffs  worn  around  the  neck, 
and  otherwise  adjusted  their  apparel  for  the  death-stroke,  so 
that  nothing  of  this  sort,  except  the  removal  of  their  doublets, 
would  be  necessary  at  the  last  moment.  When  they  were 
ready  they  gathered  at  the  windows  and  looked  out. 

A  spectacle  presented  itself  that  might  well  have  sent  a 
thrill  to  their  hearts.  Fronting  the  Grosse  Ring  there  had 
been  built  a  scaffold,  covered  with  black  cloth  and  connected 
with  the  balcony  of  the  Council  House  by  a  short  flight  of 
steps.^     The  executioner  was  at  his  post.     Near  by  lay  four 

^  The  Grosse  Ring  is  a  large  irregular  place,  or  square,  at  the  end  of  the 
Zeltnergasse,  with  the  Bathhaus,  or  Council  House  on  the  west  and  the 
Thein  Church  on  the  east.  Of  the  original  Rathhaus  nothing  is  left  except 
a  very  quaint  tower  with    a  remarkable  clock;    the  present  edifice  was 


510  THE    HISTORY    OF 

two-edged  swords.  Around  the  scaffold  were  drawn  up  in 
closed  ranks  squadrons  of  horse  and  companies  of  infantry.^ 
On  the  Ring  itself  surged  a  great  multitude  of  spectators ; 
others  thronged  the  windows  and  even  the  roofs  of  the  sur- 
rounding houses.  Beyond,  on  the  eastern  side,  was  seen  the 
venerable  Thein  Church,  with  its  two  quaint  towers ;  and  on 
the  peaked  fa9ade  between  them  appeared  the  colossal  cup  set 
up  by  the  Hussites,  the  symbol  of  that  heroic  struggle  for 
religious  liberty  which  had  endured  for  two  centuries,  but 
was  now  about  to  end  in  blood,  oppression  and  woe.  As 
the  doomed  men  gazed  upon  this  spectacle  the  sun  rose  in  all 
his  glory.  When  they  saw  that,  and  beheld  the  sombre 
scaffold  bathed  in  light,  they  rejoiced,  giving  thanks  to  God. 

At  five  o'clock  a  gun  at  the  Hradschin  was  fired.  It  was 
the  appointed  signal.  As  its  echoes  died  away,  Liechtenstein, 
his  associate  judges,  the  imperial  commissioners,  and  the 
magistrates  of  the  Altstadt,  appeared  and  took  seats  on  the 
balcony.  Over  the  chair  occupied  by  Liechtenstein  hung  a 
canopy. 

And  now  began  the  work  of  blood.  One  by  one  the 
prisoners  were  summoned  to  the  scaffold.  In  Avords  of  hope 
they  took  leave  of  their  associates,  were  answered  with  bene- 
dictions of  faith,  and  came  forth  calm,  fearless,  strong ;  their 
hearts  full  of  God's  promises ;  their  lips  overflowing  with 
prayer  and  praise  and  triumphant  assurance.  "  Never,  even 
for  a  moment,"  says  the  History  of  Persecutions,  "did  they 
lose  their  presence  of  mind ;  and  so  fervent  were  the  words 
which  they  spoke,  that  the  very  judges  and  soldiers  frequently 
shed  tears."  ^°     The  Lutheran  clergymen  were  with  them  still. 

erected  in  1848.  The  scaffold  was  tAvelve  feet  high  and  twenty-two  paces 
square.  It  was  reached  through  a  door  leading  from  the  Council  House, 
probably  the  same  that  opened  on  the  balcony. 

^  In  addition  to  the  regiment  garrisoning  Prague,  seven  squadrons  of 
Saxon  horse  had  been  ordered  to  Prague,  in  order  to  prevent  disturbances, 
and  had  arrived  on  the  seventeenth  of  June. 

'°  Hist.  Persecutionum,  Cap.  LX.  13.  In  our  narrative  of  the  execution 
we  follow  this  work  and  Pescheck.  There  is  no  lack  of  cotemporaneous 
autliorities,  and  the  last  sayings  of  tlie  sufferers  are  fully  authenticated,  in 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  511 

Not  one  of  these  dauntless  servants  of  the  Lord  flinched 
throughout  the  long  and  terrible  ordeal.  To  the  last  they 
spoke  peace,  in  the  name  of  Christ;  and  on  rejoining  those 
waiting  to  be  called,  told  them  what  their  brethren  had  said 
and  with  what  firmness  they  had  died.  Rosacius  distinguished 
himself.  His  ministrations  were  performed  with  marvelous 
power  from  on  high.  During  the  entire  execution  drums 
beat  and  trumpets  sounded,  so  that  the  people  should  not 
hear  the  last  words  of  the  defenders  of  their  liberties.  Such 
words  were  audible  only  to  the  occupants  of  the  balcony  and 
scaffold,  and  to  the  nearest  soldiers. 

The  first  victim  was  Count  Joachim  Andrew  Schlick. 
During  the  interregnum  he  had  been  a  Director,  under 
Frederick,  Chief  Judge  and  Governor  of  Upper  Lusatia." 
While  preparing  for  death  he  said  to  Rosacius :  "  I  have 
ventured  to  stand  up  against  Antichrist ;  I  will  now  venture 
to  die  for  Christ."  He  added,  that  in  all  that  he  had  done 
the  defence  of  true  religion  had  been  his  sole  object ;  that  he 
would  remain  steadfast ;  and  hoped  for  a  different  sentence 
from  God.  On  Sunday,  the  twentieth  of  June,  about  an 
hour  after  partaking  of  the  Holy  Communion,  he  suddenly 
exclaimed :  "  One  thing  troubles  me  !  That  they  intend  to 
mutilate   our   bodies !     If  they  would  only  not   sever   my 

as  much  as  these  sayings  were  noted  down,  at  the  time,  by  Eosacius,  his 
assistant,  and  other  clergymen  in  attendance.  Rosacius  publislied  his 
account  at  Zittau.  It  bears  the  following  title :  "  Unverwelkliche  Krone 
der  sechs  Miirtyrer."  There  exists  another  narrative  of  the  imprisonment, 
preparation  for  death,  and  last  sayings  of  the  sufferers,  written  originally  in 
Bohemian  and  published  anonymously,  probably  by  Rosacius'  assistant. 
It  was  subsequently  translated  into  German.  Both  these  invaluable  works 
were  in  Pescheck's  hands.  In  addition  to  his  History  and  the  Hist,  of 
Persecutions,  we  have  consulted,  for  the  details  which  follow,  Gindely's 
30-jiihr.  Krieg;  Pelzel's  Bohm.  und  Mahr.  Gelehrte;  and  Priigerische 
Execution,  which  last  work  is  also  cotemporaneous  and  exceedingly  rare. 

"  Although  Schlick  had  been  a  friend  of  the  Elector  of  Saxony  and  had 
urged  his  choice  as  king,  it  was  a  body  of  this  Elector's  horse  that  took  him 
prisoner,  while  seeking  refuge  with  his  brother-in-law,  Christopher  von 
Radern,  at  Friedland ;  and  it  was  this  Elector  himself  who,  by  the  advice 
of  Dr.  Hoe,  his  double-tongued  Protestant  court-preacher,  at  one  time 
stationed  in  Prague,  delivered  him  up  to  Liechtenstein. 


512  THE    HISTORY    OF 

hands!"     "Ah,  my  lord   Count,"  replied   Baron  von  Bile, 
"  what  does  this  mean  ?     Have  you  not  thouojht  yourself  to 
be  the  most  courageous?    Prove  your  heroism !    What  though 
they  cut  us  iu  pieces— we  will  not  feel  it!     What  though 
they  scatter,   or  hang  up,  our    members — our  Saviour  can 
gather  and  glorify  them  !  "     Schlick  was  comforted.     Pres- 
ently he  said:    "Oh   how  thirsty  I  am!"     Bile  remarked: 
"Here  is  wine  left  from  the  Holy  Communion.     Refresh 
yourself  with  that."     "  No,"  rejoined  Schlick,  "  what  I  have 
partaken  of  in  the  sacrament,  shall  be  my  last  food.     I  will 
wait  for  the  cup  of  heavenly  joy."     On  the  following  morn- 
ing, when  the  clock  struck  five  and  the  gun  from  the  Castle 
was  heard,  he  said :  "  That  is  the  signal !     I  am  to  be  the 
first !     Do  Thou,  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  have  mercy  upon  me !" 
While  he  was  yet  speaking  one  of  the  imperial  judges  entered 
and  announced :  that  the  hour  of  execution  had  arrived  and 
that  the  prisoners  should  come  forth  singly  in  the  order  in 
which  they  would  be  called.     The  same  announcement  was 
made  in  all  the  other  apartments  occupied  by  the  condemned. 
Immediately  afterward  the  sheriiF  summoned  Schlick.     With 
an  affectionate  farewell    to  his  associates  he   left   the  room 
attended  by  four  German  clergymen.     He  wore  a  black  satin 
doublet ;  in  his  hand  was  a  prayer-book.     At  the  bottom  of 
the  stairs  leading  to  the  corridor  through  which  he  had  to 
pass  stood  Sedetius  and  another  Jesuit.     "  My  lord  Count," 
said    the    former,    "there   is    yet   time.      Consider   well!" 
"Leave  me  in  peace!"    was  Schlick's  answer,  and  waving 
him  aside  he  calmly  pursued  his  way.     As  he  stepped  upon 
the  scaifold  he  lifted  up  his  eyes  to  the  sun,  ejaculating  with 
deep    fervency:    "Oh   Christ,  Thou    Sun  of  Righteousness, 
grant  that  I  may,  through  the  shadow  of  death,  come  to  Thy 
light !  "     Thus  saying  he  began  to  walk  to  and  fro,  pensively, 
and  yet  with  such  dignity  and  firmness  that  several  of  the 
judges   could   not   conceal    their   emotion.      Once    more    he 
prayed,  and  then  having,  with  the  assistance  of  his  servant, 
taken  off  his  doublet,  kneeled  on  a  black  cloth  spread  out  before 
the  executioner.      One  swift  blow  and  his  head  fell.      His 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  513 

right  hand  was  now  cut  off.  Head  and  hand  were  thrust 
upon  a  spear  and  laid  aside ;  six  men,  wearing  black  masks, 
carried  away  the  body.  The  bloody  cloth  was  removed  and 
a  clean  one  substituted.  This  was  done  in  the  case  of  each 
execution.     Schlick  was  about  fifty  years  of  age.'^ 

The  next  victim  was  Budowa.  Of  his  distinguished 
abilities  and  sincere  devotion  to  the  Brethren's  Unity  we 
have  spoken  elsewhere.  "He  was,"  says  the  History  of 
Persecutions,  "a  man  of  splendid  talents  and  illustrious  learn- 
ing, distinguished  as  a  writer,  widely  known  as  a  traveler. 
An  ornament  to  his  country,  a  shining  light  in  the  Church,  a 
father  among  his  vassals  rather  than  their  master,  it  may  well 
be  said  of  him  that  he  was  a  leader  beloved  by  God  and 
man."^^  "He  belonged,"  adds  Pelzel,  "to  that  old  cast  of 
serious,  thoughtful,  inflexible  Bohemians  by  which  the  nation 
was  characterized  in  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries."  '^ 
During  the  interregnum  he  had  been  a  Director  and  under 
Frederick,  President  of  the  Court  of  Appeals  and  custodian 
of  the  crown.  He  was  seventy-four  years  of  age.  After  the 
battle  of  the  White  Mountain  he  took  his  wife  and  children 
to  a  place  of  safety  on  one  of  his  domains,  and  then  returned 
to  Prague.  There  he  found  his  house  despoiled.  "  So  be 
it,"  he  said,  "  the  Lord  gave  and  the  Lord  has  taken  away." 
Paul  Aretin,  the  secretary  of  one  of  the  courts,  with  whom 
he  seems  to  have  been  intimate,  came  to  see  him  and  asked,. 

^"^  The  report  given  by  Klevenhiller,  that  Schlick  was  not  accompanied 
by  Protestant  clergymen  and  had  practically  embraced  the  Romish  faith 
is  false,  as  is  also  the  other  report  that  he  was  intoxicated.  At  this  the 
anonymous  author  of  the  Bohemian  Narrative  expresses  his  indignation. 
'"God  knows,"  he  writes,  "how  great  the  injustice  done  to  the  condemned 
in  this  respect ;  not  one  of  them  tasted  a  single  drop  of  wine  except  in  the 
Communion." 

^^  Hist.  Persecutionum,  LXII.  1.  So  anxious  was  Budowa  to  further  the 
spiritual  interests  of  his  vassals  that  he  often  himself  preached  to  them,  in 
the  churches  on  his  domains. 

'*  Pelzel's  Bohm.  Gelehrte,  III.  p.  84.     Gindely  says,  that  in  all  that 
Budowa  did  he  was  actuated  by  religious  motives,  and  must  not  be  classed 
with  those  who,  under  the  pretext  of  defending  Protestantism,  followed 
political  ends.     Rudolf  II,  Vol.  I.  p.  182. 
33 


514  THE    HISTORY    OF 

why  he  had  anew  exposed  himself  to  the  fury  of  the  storm 
after  having  been  safely  under  shelter  ?  "  My  heart  impelled 
me,"  answered  the  Baron.  "  To  forsake  my  country,  and  its 
good  cause,  would  have  been  sinning  against  my  conscience. 
I  do  not  know  the  counsels  of  God.  Perhaps  the  things  that 
have  transpired  are  now  to  be  sealed  with  ray  blood."  Rising 
from  his  seat  he  continued  with  intense  earnestness :  "  Here 
am  I,  my  God ;  do  unto  Thy  servant  as  seemeth  good  unto 
Thee!  I  am  weary  of  life:  take  me  that  I  may  not  see  the 
ruin  which  is  coming  on  my  country."  At  a  later  time  the 
same  secretary  told  him  that  a  report  had  spread  that  he  had 
died  of  grief.  With  a  smile  he  said  :  ''  I  die  of  grief !  I 
have  scarcely  ever  had  happier  hours  than  now."  Pointing 
to  his  Bible  he  continued :  "  Behold  my  paradise  !  Never 
has  it  offered  me  sweeter  food  than  that  which  I  am  at  present 
enjoying.  I  still  live  ;  and  will  live  as  long  as  it  may  please 
God.  No  one,  I  hope,  will  see  the  day  on  which  it  can  be 
said,  Budowa  died  of  grief."  In  the  course  of  his  imprison- 
ment he  was  advised  to  send  a  petition  to  the  Emperor  and 
sue  for  mercy.  "ifafo  mori,"  was  his  illustrious  reply, 
"  quam  Patriam  videre  mori  !  "  ^^  At  the  trial  he  defended  his 
course  with  tlie  utmost  boldness;  and  when  condemned  he 
said  to  the  judges:  "You  have  long  thirsted  for  our  blood; 
now  you  will  get  it;  but  be  assured  that  the  shedding  of  it, 
innocent  as  it  is,  will  be  followed  by  God's  judgments,  for 
whose  cause  we  suffer." 

He  longed  for  the  ministrations  of  a  clergyman  of  his  own 
Church ;  but  his  request  was  refused.  When  he  heard  that 
Rosacius  was  at  the  Castle  he  sent  for  him,  wishing  partic- 
ularly, he  said,  in  view  of  the  false  report  that  he  had  asked 
for  a  Romish  priest,  to  assure  him  that  he  held  firmly  to  the 
Protestant  faith.  His  recent  experiences  with  the  Capuchins 
he  related  as  follows  :  "Last  evening  (Saturday)  two  Capu- 
chins came  to  see   me.      I  was  amazed    at  their   boldness; 


i^Pelzel's  Bohm.  Gelehrte,  III.  p.  84.     "I  will  rather  die  than  see  my 
country  die." 


THE   MORAVIAN   CHURCH.  515 

V 

nevertheless  I  received  them,  and  finding  that  they  did  not 
understand  Bohemian  addressed  them  in  Latin.  They  in- 
formed me  that  their  visit  was  one  of  pity.  '  Of  pity  ? '  I 
asked,  '  how  so  ? '  '  We  wish  to  show  your  lordship  the  way 
to  heaven.'  I  assured  them  that  I  knew  the  way  and  stood 
on  firm  ground.  'My  lord  only  imagines,'  they  rejoined, 
'  that  he  knows  the  way  of  salvation ;  he  is  mistaken ;  not 
being  a  member  of  the  holy  Church  he  has  no  share  in  the 
Church's  salvation !'  I  averred  that  it  was  not  imagination 
on  my  part,  but  that  my  assurance  grew  out  of  an  unshaken 
faith  in  my  dear  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ.  '  I  have,'  I  added, 
*  this  excellent  promise :  whosoever  believeth  in  Him  shall 
not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life.  Therefore,  until  my 
last  moment  wdll  I  abide  by  our  true  Church!'  Smiting 
upon  their  breasts  they  said,  that  so  hardened  a  heretic  they 
had  never  before  seen;  and  crossing  themselves  repeatedly, 
left  me." 

On  the  day  of  execution,  early  in  the  morning,  two  Jesuits, 
wdiom  his  companions  had  repulsed,  drew  near  to  him.  "  We 
see,"  said  one  of  them  speaking  Latin  and  adopting  an  in- 
sinuating tone,  "  that  my  lord  is  learned  and  well  versed  in 
the  sciences.  But  we  desire  to  save  his  soul  and  thus  perform 
a  work  of  mercy."  "Dear  Fathers,"  replied  Budowa,  "you 
desire  to  help  my  soul  in  securing  salvation  ?  Most  earnestly 
do  I  wish  that  you  were  as  certain  of  your  salvation  as  I'ara 
of  mine.  For  I  thank  my  God  that  His  Holy  Spirit  has 
given  me  the  assurance  that  I  will  be  saved  through  the 
blood  of  the  Lamb."  "  My  lord,"  rejoined  the  Jesuits,  "  had 
better  not  boast  of  his  salvation,  lest  through  vain  thoughts 
he  might  deceive  himself;  for  the  Scriptures  say,  'Man  does 
not  know  whether  he  deserves  grace  or  wrath.'  "  ^^  "  Is  this 
your  work  of  mercy  ?"  exclaimed  the  Baron  ;  "  are  you,  un- 

'®  The  Jesuit  misquoted  the  passage,  which  is  found  in  Ecc.  9  :  1,  and 
reads :  "  No  man  knoweth  either  love  or  hatred  by  all  that  is  before 
him."  It  refers  to  the  uncertainty  of  the  future  with  regard  to  experiences 
of  this  life. 


516  '  THE    HISTORY    OF 

happy  robbers  of  souls,  trying  to  fill  my  soul  wi'th  despair? 
Miserable  meu,  you  do  err  not  knowing  the  Scriptures!" 
Thereupon  he  expounded  the  true  meaning  of  the  passage, 
and  cited  others  which  set  forth  the  believer's  assurance, 
especially  St.  Paul's  words :  "  I  know  whom  I  have  be- 
lieved ;"  "  henceforth  there  is  laid  up  for  me  a  crown  of 
righteousness,  which  the  Lord,  the  righteous  Judge,  shall 
give  me  at  that  day,  "  ^^  "  Hera  ! "  said  the  Jesuit,  with  a 
sneer,  "  Paul  there  speaks  of  himself,  not  of  others."  "  You 
lie,"  cried  the  Baron,  "  for  does  he  not  expressly  add  :  '  and 
not  to  me  only,  but  unto  all  them  also  that  love  His  appear- 
ing?'" The  Jesuit  was  silenced.  Budowa  rose  from  his 
seat  and  approaching  him  said :  "  You  have  tried  to  catch 
me  with  a  Scripture  passage ;  come,  here  is  a  Bible,  show 
me  where  that  passage  stands."  Turning  to  his  companion 
the  Jesuit  said  :  "  Where  is  it "  "  I  believe,"  was  the 
answer,  "in  the  epistle  to  Timothy."  At  this  Biidowa's  pent 
up  indignation  burst  forth.  "Ass  that  you  are,"  he  cried  in 
a  voice  of  thunder,  "you  undertake  to  show  me  the  way  of 
salvation  and  do  not  even  know  in  what  part  of  the  Holy 
Word  of  God  to  find  this  little  passage.  Depart  from  me, 
Satan,  and  tempt  me  no  longer ! "  Overwhelmed  with 
mortification  the  Jesuits  left. 

Not  long  after  he  was  summoned  to  the  scaffold.  He  bade 
his  friends  farewell,  and  turning  to  his  servant  said,  with 
reference  to  a  recent  dream  of  which  he  had  told  him  :  "  Now 
I  go  in  the  garment  of  righteousness;  thus  arrayed  I  will 
appear  before  God  in  whom  I  have  hoped."  With  manly 
steps  he  came  upon  the  scaffold,  and  while  walking  across  it 
stroked  his  silvered  locks  and  venerable  beard,  saying : 
"Thou  old  gray  head  of  mine,  thou  art  highly  honored; 
thou  wilt  be  decorated  with  the  martyr-crown."  Thereupon 
he  prayed  for  the  Church,  for  his  country,  for  his  enemies, 
and  committed  his  own  soul  to  Christ.  From  afar,  with 
furious  gesticulations,  the  two  Jesuits  whom  he  had  discom- 
fited, bent  their  angry  eyes  upon  him.  The  sword  fell  and 
Budowa's  grand  career  was  closed.     It  has  been  strikingly 

"2  Tim.  1:  12;  4:  8. 


WENZEL  VON   BUDOWA. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH,  517 

summed  up  in  these  words  :  "  Budowa  was  the  last  Bohemian, 
as  Brutus  was  the  last  Roman.'"^ 

The  third  one  to  suffer  was  Baron  Christopher  Harant,  a 
learned  man,  distinguished  writer  and  noted  traveler.  He 
deemed  his  condemnation  grossly  unjust  and  did  not  die  wil- 
lingly. Although  he  had  been  a  Director,  he  had  discouraged 
the  extreme  measures  of  his  colleagues  and  advised  them  to 
submit  to  Ferdinand ;  and  although  he  had  subsequently, 
under  Frederick,  been  induced,  through  the  force  of  circum- 
stances, to  undertake  the  management  of  the  royal  exchequer, 
he  had  discharged  the  duties  of  this  office  with  singular  im- 
partiality, making  no  distinction  between  Protestants  and 
Catholics.  He  told  Rosacius  that  he  had  been  involved  in 
the  Revolution  to  no  greater  extent  than  many  Romanists 
who  went  scot-free.  Nevertheless  he  resigned  himself  into 
the  hands  of  the  Lord  and  said  that  His  holy  will  should  be 
done.  His  instructions  to  his  wife  he  had  committed  to 
writing.  These  instructions  he  solemnly  reiterated,  through 
Rosacius,  when  called  to  the  scaffold :  beseeching  her  to  be 
true  to  the  Protestant  faith,  to  guard  their  children  against 
the  influences  of  the  Jesuits  and  have  them  educated  by 
Evangelical  teachers,  to  remember  that  his  only  comfort  in 
death  was  the  atonement  of  Christ,  to  meet  him  in  heaven, 
and  meanwhile  to  lead  a  righteous  and  benevolent  life,  treat- 
ing her  vassals  more  leniently  than  she  had  done.  On  leav- 
ing his  apartment  he  prayed :  "  In  Thee,  O  Lord,  have  I 
trusted  from  my  youth  ;  let  me  never  be  confounded."  His 
last  words  were :  "  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  Thou  Son  of  the 
living  God,  have  mercy  upon  me  and  receive  my  soul ! " 
The  wishes  with  which  he  passed  from  earth  were,  in  every 
particular,  grossly  disregarded.  His  wife,  Salomena,  married 
a  Romanist,  renounced  the  Protestant  religion,  persecuted  her 
husband's  brethren  in  the  faith  and  committed  her  children 
into  the  keeping  of  the  Jesuits. 

The  next  on  the  death-list  was  Caspar  Kaplir  von  Sulewicz, 

"  Pelzel's  Bohm.  u.  Miihr.  Gelehrte,  III.  p.  84. 


518  THE    HISTORY    OF 

a  venerable  sire  of  eighty-six  years,  who  seems  to  have  be- 
longed to  the  Brethren's  Unity.  He  received  Rosacius  with 
weeping  eyes,  but  undaunted  spirit.  "  How  often,"  he  said, 
"  have  I  miserable  old  man  called  upon  God,  that  He  should 
show  mercy  and  take  me  out  of  this  life ;  but  my  prayer  was 
not  fulfilled,  because  He  has  set  me  apart  to  be  a  spectacle  to 
the  world  and  a  sacrifice  unto  himself.  His  will  be  done! 
My  death  will  be  shameful  in  the  eyes  of  the  world,  but  in 
His  sight  glorious  and  precious,  since  it  is  for  His  honor  and 
truth  that  I  must  suiFer."  He  begged  that  the  Supper  of 
the  Lord  might  be  administered,  in  order  to  the  strengthen- 
ing of  his  faith  and  hope ;  confessed  his  sins,  especially  those 
of  his  youth ;  and  praised  God  that  he  had  been  brought  to 
know  a  better  and  holier  life. 

The  sentiments  which  he  expressed  in  regard  to  his  public 
career  were  noble  and  manly.     He  said  that  he  had  served 
four  emperors  in  succession ;    that  the  part  which   he  had 
recently  played  had  been  forced  upon  him  and  his  compeers ; 
that  he  had  not  sought  riches  or  honor,  but  solely  the  deliv- 
erance of  the  Evangelical  faith  from  unjust  oppression ;  that 
self-defence  had  become  a  necessity ;    that  it  was  better  for 
the  states  to  imperil  their  lives  than  to  submit  in  silence  to 
gross  wrongs   and  betray  their  posterity.     "  We  have  been 
outwardly  conquered,"  he  added.     "  I  recognize  this  as  the 
will  of  God.     He  has  chosen  me  and  my  beloved  associates 
in  order  that  His  truth  may,  in  these  last  days,  be  honored 
through  our  blood  and  our  inner  constancy  shine  the  more 
brightly.     And  although,  after  sentence  had  been  pronounced 
upon  us,  my  flesh  began  to  tremble,  I  am  now,  through  God's 
grace,  no  longer  afraid  to  die."      He  further  said  that  his 
aunt  had  given  him  a  hint  of  Liechtenstein's  willingness  to 
spare  his  life,  if  he  would  only  plead  for  mercy ;  but  that  he  had 
declined,  saying,  that  he  would  seek  God's  grace,  not  the  grace 
of  an  earthly  ]irinee ;  that  to  sue  for  pardon  would  be  equiva- 
lent to  acknowledging  his  guilt,  which  he  was  unwilling  to  do ; 
that  in  any  case  he  would  rather  die  than  languish  in  prison. 
This  conversation  with   Rosacius  took  place  on  Saturday 


THE    MORAVIAN   CHURCH.  519 

evening.  The  next  day  Kaplir  partook  of  the  Holy  Com- 
munion. His  soul  was  abundantly  nourished.  "  I  am  recon- 
ciled to  my  God ;  I  have  peace  through  Christ ;  I  fear  no 
man.  Full  of  confidence  I  say  with  the  Psalmist:  'My 
flesh  and  my  heart  faileth ;  but  God  is  the  strength  of  my 
heart,  and  my  portion  for  ever!'"  Such  was  his  joyous 
confession.  He  committed  his  grand-children  to  Rosacius 
and  laid  upon  him  a  patriarchal  blessing :  "  The  Lord, 
through  His  glory,  protect  you,"  he  said,  "and  preserve  the 
Church  from  being  utterly  trampled  down  by  the  Babylonian 
beast !" 

In  the  morning  of  the  day  of  execution  he  expressed  his 
firm  assurance  of  forgiveness  through  the  merits  of  Jesus,  his 
resignation  to  the  divine  will,  and  his  desire  to  depart  and  be 
with  Christ.  He  directed  his  servants  to  draw  a  white  shirt 
of  the  finest  texture  over  his  ordinary  dress — remarking  to 
Lippach,  "  Behold  my  wedding  garment !  " — and  to  throw 
around  him  a  half-satin  cloak.  When  called  he  exclaimed : 
"  In  the  name  of  God  !  I  have  waited  long !  "  Then  he 
prayed  for  strength  to  reach  the  place  of  execution.  Totter- 
ing in  spite  of  the  support  of  his  servants,  he  slowly  and 
painfully  made  his  way  to  the  balcony.  At  the  stairs  leading 
down  to  the  scaifold  he  stopped  and  begged  one  of  the  attend- 
ing clergymen  to  help  him,  sO  that  he  might  not  fall  and  give 
his  enemies  occasion  to  mock.  The  clergyman  took  his  hand 
and,  praying  aloud,  led  him  forward.  With  great  difficulty 
Kaplir  fell  upon  his  knees,  sending  word  to  the  executioner 
to  strike  immediately.  But  his  aged  body  sank  together,  so 
that  it  was  impossible  to  deal  the  blow.  When  Rosacius  saw 
that  he  called  to  him  in  a  loud  voice  and  said :  "  Noble  lord, 
you  have  committed  your  soul  to  Christ ;  now  offer  to  Him 
your  hoary  head  also  and  lift  it  up  to  heaven."  "  In  the 
name  of  God,"  replied  Kaplir ;  and  collecting  all  his  strength 
he  raised  his  head,  crying,  "  Lord  Jesus,  into  Thy  hands  I 
commend  my  spirit !"  In  the  next  instant  was  heard  the 
swoop  of  the  sword.     The  sire  was  at  rest. 

The  fifth  victim  was  Procop  Dworzecky.     His  comment 


520  THE    HISTORY    OF 

on  the  sentence  Avas  :  "  And  does  the  Emperor  expect  to  reap 
any  advantage  by  taking  off  my  head  ?  Very  well.  So  be 
it."  The  next  day  he  said  to  the  attending  clergyman  :  "  I 
have  been  in  conflict,  all  night  long,  with  the  old  Adam  ; 
but,  thanks  to  God,  through  His  aid  I  have  overcome  at 
last."  He  added  that  the  Emperor  could  kill  his  body  only, 
not  his  soul ;  sent  a  message  to  his  wife  and  son  to  remain 
true  to  the  Evangelical  faith ;  and  then  broke  out  into  this 
impassioned  prayer :  "  Oh,  Almighty  God  !  To  Thee  have  I 
committed  my  soul ;  keep  it  and  be  gracious ;  endow  Thy 
servant  with  power,  so  that  I  may  not,  through  fear,  give  the 
enemy  occasion  to  mock.  Hast  Thou  not  upheld  the  holy 
martyrs?  I  firmly  believe  that  Thou  wilt  uphold  me."  When 
summoned  he  said :  "  I  thank  my  God,  who  calls  me  to  him- 
self; to  Him  I  have  lived;  in  Him  I  will  die.  My  Saviour 
died  and  rose  again,  that  He  might  be  Lord  both  of  the  dead 
and  living.  Therefore  I  know  that  my  soul  will  bear  away 
the  victory  ;  that  my  body  will  rise ;  and  that  it  will  be  like 
unto  His  glorious  body."  On  passing  the  balcony  he 
stopped  and  addressed  the  judges.  "Tell  your  Emperor,"  he 
began,  "  that  we  are  forced  to  submit  to  his  unrighteous 
iudgment  now;  but  that  hereafter  he  will  have  to  undergo, 
before  the  throne  of  God,  a  heavier  and  a  righteous  judg- 
ment." Here  he  was  interrupted  by  the  drums  which  began 
to  beat  so  furiously  that  he  could  say  no  more.  In  removing 
his  doublet  he  found  a  small  purse  containing  a  Hungarian 
ducat.  He  presented  both  to  the  clergyman,  saying :  "  Here 
are  my  last  earthly  possessions ;  to  me  they  are  useless  ;  I 
make  them  over  to  you."  He  took  off  also  a  gold  medal 
struck  in  memory  of  Frederick's  coronation  and  requested 
that  it  might  be  given  to  him  in  case  he  should  regain  the 
throne.  Then  kneeling  he  cried  :  "  Lord  Jesus,  have  mercy 
upon  me  and  receive  my  soul !  "  When  he  had  thus  spoken 
his  head  fell. 

The  next  to  die  was  Baron  Frederick  von  Bile  (in  German 
Weiss),  an  upright  and  learned  man,  one  of  the  Directors  in 
the  time  of  the  interregnum.     He  resigned  himself  wholly  to 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  521 

God  and  his  last  moments  were  distinguished  by  extraordinary 
patience. 

The  seventh  victim  was  another  Director,  Henry  Otto  von 
Los ;  under  Frederick  he  had  been  connected  with  the 
exchequer.  He  belonged  to  the  Brethren's  Church  and  was 
a  man  of  keen  intellect  and  noble  purposes.  The  sentence, 
especially  the  quartering  to  which  he  was  condemned,  roused 
his  indignation  and  yet  called  forth  implicit  trust.  "  My 
dear  Emperor,"  he  said,  "  strengthen  your  throne  by  shedding 
our  blood ;  but  remember,  the  day  of  judgment  will  reveal 
what  an  account  you  will  have  to  give  to  God.  I  have  seen 
barbarous  peoples,  but  such  barbarity — never !  To  cut  a 
human  body  into  four  pieces !  Here  to  cast  the  head,  there 
the  hands,  and  elsewhere  the  other  members — what  cruelty! 
But  let  them  send  a  portion  of  my  body  to  Rome,  another 
portion  to  Spain,  a  third  portion  to  Turkey,  the  rest  across 
the  sea — I  nevertheless  believe  that  my  Saviour  will  gather 
and  glorify  them  all ;  and  with  these  mine  eyes  will  I  see 
Him,  with  these  mine  ears  hear  Him,  with  this  my  mouth 
praise  Him,  with  this  heart  of  mine  rejoice  in  Him  forever." 
Rosacius,  after  having  attended  Dworzecky  to  the  scaffold, 
entered  the  apartment  of  Los,  who  rose  hastily  from  his  chair 
exclaiming :  "  Oh  how  glad  I  am  that  you  have  come,  man 
of  God !  I  sat  on  this  chair,"  he  continued,  "  lost  in  sad 
thoughts  because  I  was  not  permitted  to  see  a  priest  of  my 
own  Church  and  receive  absolution  and  the  sacrament  at  his 
hands.  I  began  to  feel  sorry  and  still  regret,  that  I  did  not 
accept  both  from  you.^"  Amidst  such  thoughts  drowsiness 
overcame  me.  I  fell  asleep  and  dreamt  that  the  Saviour  had 
appeared  to  me  and  said, '  My  grace  is  sufficient  for  thee,  with 
my  blood  I  cleanse  thee ; '  and  that  He  had  let  a  drop  of 
His  blood  fall  into  my  heart.  I  awoke  and  sprang  from  my 
seat  wonderfully  refreshed."     Lifting  up  his  hands  to  heaven 

^^  Budowa  and  Los,  from  conscientious  scruples,  and  believing  that  they 
must  set  an  example  of  consistency  to  the  end,  did  not  partake  of  the  Lord's 
Supper  administered  by  the  Lutheran  ministers.  All  the  rest,  except 
Dionys,  received  the  sacrament. 


522  THE    HISTORY   OF 

he  then  gave  praise  like  one  inspired  :  "  I  thank  Thee,  Oh 
blessed  Jesus,  that  Thou  hast  deemed  me  worthy  of  such 
abundant  comfort,  and  that  I  have  been  made  certain  of  Thy 
blessed  grace.  Now  I  understand  what  it '  means,  '  Believe 
and  thou  hast  eaten  ;'^^  now  I  no  longer  fear  death  but  die 
with  joy."  On  receiving  the  summons  he  begged  Rosacius  to 
accompany  him.  Rosacius  consented  and  said  :  "  A  moment 
ago  the  Lord  Jesus  appeared  to  you  in  a  dream ;  in  a  few 
moments  more  He  will  appear  as  He  is  seen  by  the  saints  in 
His  glory."  Los  replied:  '*  Yes,  I  am  certain  that,  even 
now.  He  is  coming  with  his  angels  to  meet  and  lead  me  to 
the  heavenly  marriage,  where  I  shall  drink  with  Him  the  cup 
of  joy  throughout  eternity.  Oh  I  know  that  death  will  not 
separate  me  from  Him!"  All  the  way  to  the  scaffold  he 
prayed  silently ;  when  he  had  reached  it  he  looked  up  and 
exclaimed  like  Stephen  of  old  :  "  Behold,  I  see  the  heavens 
opened ! "  As  soon  as  he  came  to  the  fatal  cloth,  he  fell 
on  his  face  and  again  prayed  silently ;  then  rising  he  took  off 
his  doublet,  kneeled  and  cried  aloud:  "Into  Thy  hands. 
Lord  my  God,  I  commit  my  spirit,  have  mercy  upon  me 
through  Jesus  Christ  and  receive  me,  that  I  may  behold  Thy 
Glory!"  With  these  words  he  died.  His  body  was  not 
quartered. 

He  was  followed  by  Dionys  Czernin,  the  Catholic.  When 
Rosacius  set  forth  eternal  life  through  the  merits  of  Jesus, 
Czernin  said  :  "  Such  is  my  faith  also ;  in  this  faith  will  I 
die."  He  expected  a  pardon  but  was  disappointed.  A  canon 
of  the  Cathedral  and  a  Jesuit  went  with  him  to  the  scaffold. 
He  paid  no  attention  to  their  exhortations,  refused  their  kiss 
of  peace,  turned  away  from  the  crucifix  which  they  held  out, 
and  died  as  courageously  as  the  rest. 

The  ninth  victim  was  William  Konechlumsky,  aged  seventy 
years.  Of  the  charge  which  brought  about  his  condemnation 
— that  he  had  negotiated  with  the  Margrave  of  Jiigerndorf 
against  the  Emperor — he  solemnly  protested  that  he  was 
innocent,  and  rendered  up  his  life  with  unshaken  confidence. 

21  "  Crede  et  manducasti ; "  the  words  of  St.  Augustine. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  523 

This  aged  confessor  was  followed  by  Bohnslaw  vou 
Michalowitz,  a  man  of  splendid  talents,  zealous  for  God, 
deserving  well  of  his  country.  He  denied  the  justness  of  the 
sentence,  and  maintained  that  the  resort  to  arms  on  the  part 
of  the  Protestants  had  been  the  necessary  result  of  a  premedi- 
tated plot  on  the  part  of  the  Catholics.  "  God  knows,"  he 
said,  "  that  we  wanted  nothing  except  liberty  of  faith.  Yes, 
we  will  die !  God  will  acknowledge  us  as  martyrs  for  His 
own  cause."  His  trust  in  divine  grace  never  wavered  and 
his  hope  of  everlasting  life  was  both  sure  and  steadfast.  In 
the  early  watches  of  the  fatal  morning  he  repeated  the 
promise  of  Christ,  "  Where  I  am,  there  shall  my  servant  also 
be,"-^  and  expressed  an  intense  longing  to  depart  and  be  with 
Him.  When  Bile  was  summoned,  he  exclaimed  :  "  Why  is 
von  Bile  preferred  before  me  in  death,  seeing  that  I  have 
always  been  preferred  before  him  in  life?"  Clasping  him  in 
his  arms  and  kissing  him,  he  immediately  added  :  "  Lead  the 
way,  my  brother,  since  so  it  pleases  God,  I  will  follow."  But 
when  still  others  were  called  and  no  summons  came  to  him, 
he  began  to  be  seriously  troubled.  "  What  means  this.  Oh 
my  God  !"  he  ejaculated.  "  Thou  knowest  that  I  am  ready. 
Hasten  to  take  me."  While  he  was  yet  speaking  the  clergy- 
man, who  was  in  attendance,  saw  the  sheriff  approaching  and 
said  :  "The  glory  for  which  you  long  is  at  hand."  "Praised 
be  God  !"  replied  the  Baron,  "earthly  sorrows  are  at  an  end. 
I  hasten  to  Christ."  He  came  forward  to  meet  the  officer 
and  died  like  a  hero.  Prior  to  decapitation  his  right  hand 
was  cut  off. 

The  name  of  John  Theodore  Sixtus,  an  influential  citizen 
of  the  AlMadt,  was  called  next ;  but  when  he  reached  the 
scaffold  he  was  pardoned.^^ 

Valentine  Kochan,  a  citizen  of  the  Neustadt  and  a  learned 

22  John  12:  26. 

23  This  pardon  was  secured  through  his  nephew,  Plateys,  a  canon  of  the 
Cathedral.  Sixtus  was  banished.  The  Hist.  Persecutionum  says :  "  While 
we  write  this  he  is  still  standing,  a  living  martyr,  beneath  the  cross  of 
Christ."     Cap.  LXXI.     He  died  at  Dresden  in  1653. 


524  THE    HISTORY   OF 

Master  of  Arts,  who  belonged  to  the  Brethren's  Unity,  was 
now  summoned.  In  the  course  of  his  imprisonment  he  often 
bewailed  the  unhappy  diiferences  among  Bohemian  Prot- 
estants which  had  helped  to  bring  about  their  overthrow. 
His  own  faith  was  strong  and  his  anticipations  of  coming 
glory  found  frequent  utterance  in  the  words  of  St.  Paul : 
"  Our  conversation  is  in  heaven ;  from  whence  also  we  look 
for  the  Saviour,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  ^*  His  wish  to  have 
his  son  accompany  him  to  the  scaiFold  that  he  might  see  him 
die,  was  overruled  by  Rosacius.  On  the  way  he  prayed 
aloud;  sang  the  eleventh  verse  of  the  sixteenth  Psalm, 
"  Thou  wilt  shew  me  the  path  of  life ;  in  Thy  presence  is 
fullness  of  joy ;  at  Thy  right  hand  there  are  pleasures  for 
evermore ;"  and  as  he  came  out  on  the  fatal  platform  repeated 
the  saying  of  Simeon,  "  Lord,  now  lettest  Thou  Thy  servant 
depart  in  peace  according  to  Thy  word."^^  While  on  his 
knees  waiting  for  the  stroke,  he  cried  in  Latin  :  "  In  manus 
tuas  oommendo  spiritwn  meum:  redemisti  me,  Domine.,  Dens 
veritatis.^'  ^     These  were  his  last  words. 

The  thirteenth  victim  was  Tobias  Stoifek,  a  citizen  of  the 
Neustadt.  During  the  interregnum  he  had  been  a  Director, 
but,  owing  to  frequent  journeys,  had  taken  no  active  part 
in  the  Revolution.  The  time  of  his  imprisonment  he  spent 
in  silent  meditation  and  prayer.  A  man  of  gentle  spirit  and 
tender  sensibilities,  he  shed  many  tears  at  the  prospect  of  an 
ignominious  death.  But  when  the  supreme  moment  arrived 
he  was  strong  and  full  of  courage. 

The  illustrious  Doctor  John  Jessen  followed — a  scholar,  a 
scientist  and  an  orator,  whose  name  and  writings  shed  lustre 
upon  the  University.  His  eflForts  to  win  the  Hungarians 
over  to  the  Revolution  made  him  particularly  obnoxious  to 
the  court  of  Vienna,  and  his  cruel  sentence  showed  that  the 
Emperor   entertained  toward   him  feelings   of  the   greatest 

2*  Phil.  3  :  20. 
25  Luke  2  :  29. 

=6  "Into  Thine  hand  I  commit  my  spirit,  Thou  hast  redeemed  me,  O 
Lord  God  of  truth."     Ps.  31 :  5. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  525 

bitterness.  Prior  to  decapitation  his  tongue  was  to  be  cut  out 
and  afterward  his  body  to  be  quartered.  "  Shamefully  and 
barbarously  do  you  treat  us/'  he  said  when  this  sentence  had 
been  communicated ;  "  but  know,  there  will  come  those  who 
will  take  the  heads  which  you  set  up  for  a  spectacle  and  give 
them  honorable  burial."^  The  Jesuits  tried  their  utmost 
to  pervert  him.  In  every  instance  they  were  discomfited. 
He  too,  like  Dworzecky,  addressed  the  judges  in  the  balcony, 
boldly  asserting  that  Frederick  would  yet  reign  over  Bo- 
hemia, but  the  drums  forced  him  to  desist. 

And  now  the  executioner  came  forward,  in  one  hand  a 
knife,  in  the  other  a  pair  of  pinchers,  and  told  him  to  put 
out  his  tongue.  Jessen  calmly  obeyed.  Seizing  it  with  the 
pinchers  the  man  cut  it  off  at  the  roots.  Jessen  fell  on  his 
knees,  a  stream  of  blood  pouring  from  his  mouth.  His  lips 
moved  in  prayer.  The  sound  thereof  was  an  inarticulate 
moan.  But  it  reached  the  mercy-seat.  The  next  instant  his 
soul  went  home  to  God. 

Jessen's  body  was  not  removed  by  the  attendants,  but 
thrust  into  a  sack  and  pushed  aside.  Later  in  the  day  it  was 
quartered  without  the  walls.  Its  four  portions  were  fastened 
to  four  posts. 

Christopher  Kober,  a  citizen  of  the  Kleinsdte,  was  the 
fifteenth  victim.  In  prison,  he  spoke  of  the  glorious  ex- 
ample set  by  the  prophets,  apostles,  and  martyrs,  and 
particularly  by  Hus  and  Jerome  of  Prague,  and  encouraged 
his  companions  to  stand  fast  and  rejoice  that  they  were 
deemed  worthy  of  a  place  in  that  noble  army.  When  called 
he  said :  "  I  am  coming  in  the  name  of  my  God  and  am  not 
ashamed  to  suffer  an  ignominious  death  for  the  sake  of  His 
honor.  I  know  whom  I  have  believed."  With  manly  mien 
and  firm  steps  he  crossed  the  scaffold.  "Is  it  here,"  he 
exclaimed,  "that  I  am  to  die?  I  will  not  die  but  live, 
and  in  the  land  of  the  living  proclaim  the  wondrous  works 


^'  This  prediction  was  fulfilled  in  1631,  when  the  Elector  of  Saxony  took 
Prague. 


526  THE    HISTORY    OF 

of  God."  Praying  with  great  fervency  he  received  the 
stroke. 

Two  burgomasters  suffered  next :  the  one  John  Schuhes, 
of  Kuttenberg ;  the  other  Maximilian  Hostlalek,  of  Saaz. 
Both  had  been  Directors  during  the  interregnum ;  and  both 
now  yielded  up  their  lives  with  a  firm  trust  in  Christ.  The 
head  of  Schultes  was  fastened  to  a  post  without  the  gate  of 
his  town ;  the  head  of  Hostialek  made  a  spectacle  of  in  the 
market  place  of  Saaz. 

And  now  came  the  turn  of  John  Kutnaur,  a  councilor  of 
the  Alistadt.  He  was  but  forty  years  of  age — the  youngest 
but  the  bravest  of  all  that  suffered.  To  the  Jesuits  he 
said :  "  We  beg  you,  Fathers,  do  not  try  to  confuse  our 
minds.  The  consolations  which  we  enjoy,  are  sufficient." 
But  they  persisted,  until  he  sternly  exclaimed :  "  Be  silent ! 
We  will  not  hear  you  !  Why  do  you  trouble  us  and  attempt 
what  is  useless?"  "They  are  as  hard  as  a  rock,"  said  one 
of  them.  "  You  are  right,"  replied  Kutnaur,  "  Christ  the 
rock  can  not  be  moved  and  upon  Him  we  firmly  rest."  He 
was  condemned  to  be  hung.  "  I  do  not  know,"  he  remarked 
to  his  companions,  "  in  what  mode,  whether  by  the  neck,  the 
feet,  or  the  ribs.  This  gives  me  no  anxiety  ;  but  I  am  pained 
that  my  blood  will  not  mingle  with  yours,  dear  fellow- 
sufferers,  and  that  we  are  not  permitted  to  die  together." 
When  summoned,  those  of  his  friends  whose  sentence  had 
been  commuted  to  imprisonment  thronged  around  him  with 
many  tears.  "Brethren,"  he  said,  "do  not  weep.  Be  men. 
I  am  merely  going  before.  The  time  is  short;  we  will  soon 
meet  again  in  heavenly  glory."  He  walked  to  the  scaffold 
"  with  the  courage  of  a  lion,"  and  while  walking  sang  a 
German  hymn.  With  arms  pinioned  he  was  made  to  ascend 
a  ladder  reaching  to  a  beam  which  projected  from  a  window 
of  the  Council  House.  The  noose  having  been  adjusted 
Kutnaur  turned  to  the  multitude  and  cried,  in  a  voice  so 
clear  and  ringing  that  the  drums  and  trumpets  could  not 
altogether  quench  the  words :  "  I  am  neither  guilty  of 
treason,  nor  of  murder,  nor  of  any  crime  worthy  of  death.     I 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH.  527 

die  because  I  have  been  true  to  my  country  and  the  Gospel. 
God  forgive  all  our  enemies,  for  they  know  not  what  they  do. 
And  Thou,  Jesus  Christ,  have  mercy  upon  me ;  to  Thee  I 
commend  my  soul."  He  ceased.  The  ladder  was  with- 
drawn and  his  soul  launched  into  eternity. 

Kutnaur  was  followed  by  his  father-in-law,  Simon  Sus- 
sicky.  When  he  heard  the  sound  of  the  cannon  he  ex- 
claimed :  "  Hark  !  It  is  the  signal  of  death.  Let  us  obey 
the  summons  and  die ;  let  us  yield  to  our  enemies  who  can 
not  bear  to  see  us  live.  But  while  we  hope  to  suffer  man- 
fully, everlasting  destruction  awaits  them,  unless  they  repent." 
He  went  singing  to  the  scaflFold  and  was  hanged  beside 
Kutnaur  on  the  same  beam.  Their  bodies  swung  close 
together,  face  to  face.  "  What  hardened  rebels  these  two 
must  have  been,"  cried  some  with  jeering  laughter.  "  See, 
even  in  death  they  are  trying  to  hatch  treason ! " 

Nathaniel  Wodniansky  was  condemned  to  suffer  in  the 
same  way.  He  showed  himself  strong  in  God.  To  the 
Jesuits  he  said :  "  Under  the  pretext  of  rebellion  you  are 
about  to  take  our  lives.  But  this  does  not  satisfy  you ;  you 
want  our  souls  also.  Would  it  not  be  better  to  let  the  shed- 
ding of  our  blood  content  you?  Sharp  will  be  the  sting 
which  we  leave  in  your  conscience."  The  day  before  the  ex- 
ecution his  son  John  said  to  him  :  "  My  father,  if  life  should 
be  offered  you  at  the  expense  of  your  religion,  forget  not  that 
we  are  to  serve  Christ  with  faithfulness  unto  death."  "My 
son,"  replied  Wodniansky,  "  I  am  glad  to  hear  this  admoni- 
tion from  your  lips.  But  do  you  really  imagine  that  I  am  in 
danger  of  denying  my  faith  ?  By  no  means  !  Therefore,  I 
exhort  you,  your  brothers,  your  sisters,  and  your  own  children, 
to  follow  in  my  footsteps,  imitating  that  firm  confidence  of 
which  I  will  leave  you  an  example."  Not  until  he  had 
reached  the  scaffold  was  he  told  that  he  would  be  hanged  on 
a  gallows  erected  in  the  middle  of  the  Ring.  As  he  was  led 
away  he  apostrophized  the  corpses  of  Kutnaur  and  Sussicky 
still  swinging  from  the  beam :  "  Beloved  associates,  how  sorry 
I  am  to  be  separated  from  you  and  brought  to  a  place  even 


528  THE   HISTORY    OF 

more  ignominious  than  yours."  "  If  we  suffer,"  said  the 
attending  clergyman,  "we  shall  also  reign  with  Him."^ 
Accepting  the  promise  which  these  words  convey,  he  patiently 
submitted  to  his  doom. 

Wenzel  Gisbitsky,  surnamed  Masterowsky,  a  relative  of 
Plateys,  fully  expected  to  be  pardoned.  This  expectation  all 
his  companions  shared,  wishing  him  joy  and  commending  to 
him  their  wives  and  little  ones.  When  he  came  to  the  scaffold 
he  looked  around  for  the  messenger  of  mercy ;  and  on  seeing 
a  young  man  approach,  turned  to  him  with  great  eagerness, 
but  found  that  he  merely  wished  to  assist  him  in  removing 
his  cloak.  For  a  little  while  Gisbitsky  was  overwhelmed ; 
but  regaining  his  composure,  he  asked  for  a  Hymnal,  fell  on 
his  knees,  and  sang  with  a  strong  voice  four  stanzas  of  a  hymn 
expressive  of  his  trust  in  Christ,  Then  rising  he  took  off 
his  doublet,  kneeled  down  again,  and  with  a  fervent  prayer 
offered  his  neck  to  the  sword. 

The  last  to  suffer  were  Henry  Kozel,  Andrew  Kozour, 
George  Recicky,  Michael  Wittman,  Simon  Wokac,  Leander 
Riippel,  and  George  Hauenschild.  They  were  attended  to 
the  scaffold  by  Adam  Clemens,  but  the  records  give  no 
details.  The  right  hands  of  Riippel  and  Hauenschild  were 
cut  off  after  they  had  been  beheaded. 

From  five  until  ten  o'clock  did  this  spectacle  continue. 
One  and  the  same  executioner,  himself  a  Protestant  who 
showed  as  much  consideration  as  possible,  performed  the 
bloody  work,  hanging  with  his  own  hands  three  of  the 
victims  and  decapitating  the  remaining  twenty-four.  With 
the  first  of  his  swords  he  beheaded  eleven ;  with  the  second, 
five ;  and  with  the  two  others,  eight.  ^^  The  bodies  of  those 
beheaded,  excepting  Jessen's,  were  delivered  to  their  families 
and  buried  the  same  day,  without  religious  ceremonies  but 

28  2  Tim.  2:12. 

2*  One  of  these  swords  is  preserved  in  the  Bohemian  Museum  at  Prague. 
The  names  of  those  that  were  executed  with  it,  among  them  Budowa's,  are 
engraved  on  the  blade.  Mydlar  seems  to  have  been  the  name  of  the 
executioner.  His  fees  for  the  Day  of  Blood  amounted  to  634  Thaler, 
equivalent  to  about  $444. 


THE   MORAVIAN   CHURCH.  529 

amidst  the  lamentations  of  the  widow  and  the  fatherless ;  the 
corpses  of  the  hanged  were  secretly  interred  in  the  night.  On 
the  ancient  Watch  Tower,  at  the  end  of  the  Carlshrucke  next 
to  the  Altstadt,  twelve  heads  were  set  up  in  small  iron  cages, 
six  on  one  side  and  six  on  the  other.  To  the  same  Tower 
were  fastened  the  hands  of  Schlick  and  Michalowitz,  as  also 
the  tongue  of  Jessen.  Riippel's  head  and  hand  were  nailed 
to  the  Council  House. 

Among  the  condemned  was  Martin  Fruwein,  a  member  of 
the  Brethren's  Unity  and  a  celebrated  advocate  of  Prague. 
After  the  battle  of  the  White  Mountain  soldiers  burst  into 
his  house,  and  subjected  him  to  such  frightful  tortures  that, 
for  nearly  six  months,  he  suffered  intense  pain.  During  the 
interregnum  he  had  been  a  Director,  and  was  arrested  along 
with  the  rest,  but  confined  alone  in  the  White  Tower.  On 
the  sixth  of  June  his  dead  body  was  found  in  the  moat  below. 
The  Catholics  asserted  that  he  had  committed  suicide;  the 
History  of  Persecutions  pronounces  this  improbable,  but  adds, 
"  God  knows ! "  If  he  did  commit  suicide,  it  must  have 
been  in  a  fit  of  temporary  insanity  brought  on  by  sufferings 
that  might  well  craze  the  strongest  mind.  His  body  was 
taken  to  the  White  Mountain,  and  there  beheaded,  then 
quartered.  The  bowels  were  buried;  the  other  portions 
fastened  to  four  posts  ;  the  head  was  nailed  to  the  gallows  in 
the  Ross  Market. 

On  the  day  following  the  execution,  June  the  twenty- 
second,  the  tongue  of  Nicholas  Dionysius,  the  clerk  of  the 
council  of  the  Altstadt,  was  fastened  with  an  awl  to  the 
gallows  and  in  this  painful  posture  he  was  forced  to  stand  for 
two  hours.  When  released,  he  was  led  back  to  prison,  where 
he  spent  four  years,  and  finally  banished.  His  offence  con- 
sisted in  welcoming  Frederick  to  Prague  in  a  short  speech. 
While  he  was  pinned  to  the  gallows,  Joseph  Kubin,  John 
Swehla  and  Wenzel  Boczek,  were  publicly  whipped,  three 
times,  at  three  different  points  of  the  city,  and  then  banished 
forever.  They  left  Prague  singing  the  one  hundred  and 
twelfth  and  the  seventieth  Psalms. 
34 


630  THE   HISTORY   OF 

Those  whose  sentence  had  been  commuted  to  perpetual 
imprisonment  languished,  for  a  year,  in  the  capital  and  were 
then  conveyed  to  the  Castle  of  Zbirow,  among  them  William 
von  Lobkowitz  and  Paul  von  Rican.  Doctor  Borbonius,  a 
distinguished  physician,  was  pardoned  through  the  agency  of 
Liechtenstein  and  resumed  his  practice  at  Prague,  but  was 
subsequently  banished  because  he  refused  to  embrace  the 
Catholic  religion. 

On  the  twenty-eighth  of  June  the  property  of  all  the  con- 
demned, including  such  as  had  escaped,  was  confiscated.  The 
registered  value  of  this  property  amounted  to  more  than  five 
millions  of  Thaler;  equivalent  at  present,  says  Gindely,  to 
between  thirty  and  thirty-five  millions. 

The  executions  at  Prague  and  the  sweeping  confiscation  by 
which  they  were  followed,  excited  the  utmost  bitterness 
among  the  Protestants  of  Bohemia  and  filled  them  with 
consternation.  These  high-handed  measures  were  signs  of 
fearful  things  to  come.  In  foreign  lands  the  Bohemian 
fugitives,  among  whom  was  Count  Thurn,  were  horror-struck. 
The  Catholics  rejoiced  and  mockingly  said  that  the  Directors 
had  ceased  directing. 

That  the  illustrious  leaders,  to  the  memory  of  whose  last 
days  this  chapter  brings  a  tribute,  were  justified  according  to 
the  inalienable  rights  of  man,  in  inaugurating  the  Bohemian 
Revolution,  we  deem  to  be  an  incontrovertible  position  and 
repudiate  every  other.^"  They  tried  to  establish  the  religious 
liberties  of  a  Protestant  nation  in  opposition  to  the  rule  of  a 
Romish  tyrant.  This  was  not  only  lawful  under  their  own 
Charter,  but  also  became  their  duty  as  its  appointed  De- 
fenders. That  they,  at  last,  shook  off  the  Hapsburg  yoke  was 
the  fault  of  the  outrageous  character  of  the  Hapsburg  govern- 
ment. The  grievances  which  brought  about  the  American 
Revolution  were  as    nothing  in  comparison  with  those  that 

=*"  Bishop  Cregor  says,  II.  p.  296 :  "  Sie  haben  in  der  Liebe  fur  die 
Freiheit  ihres  Vaterlandes  und  ilirer  Gewissen  sich  hinreissen  lassen,  gegen 
das  Gebot  und  Beispiel  unsers  Heilandes,  zu  welt  lichen  Waffen  zu  grelfen, 
und  dafur  haben  sie  durch  Gottes  gerechtes  Gericht  den  Tod  erlitten !" 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  531 

Bohemia  complained  of;  and  if  its  Revolution  had  been  suc- 
cessful, Budowa  and  Schlick  and  Jessen  would  rank  in  history 
by  the  side  of  Washington  and  Jefferson  and  Adams,  and  the 
whole  body  of  our  own  cherished  heroes. 

There  is,  however,  another  aspect  of  the  case.  What 
though  the  Bohemian  leaders  failed  and  perished — their 
testimony  to  Christian  patriotism  and  Evangelical  religion 
and  personal  faith  is  immortal !  While  the  world  stands  it 
can  not  die.  It  rings  through  the  ages.  The  annals  of  states 
and  the  records  of  the  Church  show  few  events  which  more 
wonderfully  establish  the  promises  of  God  and  more  abund- 
antly glorify  His  power,  than  the  Day  of  Blood  at  Prague. 


632  THE   HISTORY   OP 


CHAPTER  XLVIII. 

The  Anti-Reformation   in  Bohemia   and  Moravia. 
A.  D.  1621-1628. 


Ferdinand  and  the  Anti-Eeformation. — Its  fundamental  Principle. — The 
Means  employed. — Churches  seized. — Burial  Grounds  desecrated. — 
Clergymen  banished. — Sufferings  of  the  Clergy. — Expelled  by  a  Com- 
mission.— Schools  and  the  University  reconstructed. — Destruction  of 
Protestant  Literature — Anthony  Koniasch. — Sweeping  confiscations. — 
New  Edicts  against  the  Protestants. — Depreciation  of  the  Currency. — 
A  Eeform  Commission. — The  Jesuits  and  Liechtenstein's  Troops. — 
The  Peasants  and  their  Sufferings. — Edict  against  the  Protestant 
States. — The  Diet  of  1627. — A  new  Reform  Commission.— Exodus  of 
1628. — Decline  of  Bohemia  and  Moravia. 

The  tragedy  at  Prague  introduced  one  of  the  most  tyran- 
nical, wicked  and  unjustifiable  measures  known  to  history. 
Upon  the  neck  of  a  Protestant  nation  was  relentlessly  forced 
the  iron  yoke  of  Rome.  Not  by  an  alien  power,  not  amidst 
the  wild  turmoil  of  a  victorious  army  sweeping  like  a  tornado 
over  Bohemia  and  Moravia;  but  by  their  own  sovereign, 
slowly  and  systematically,  with  an  intolerance  hard  as  a  rock 
and  a  premeditation  that  deserves  to  be  called  satanic.  The 
impoverishment  of  the  country,  the  sufferings  of  his  subjects, 
the  depletion  of  the  population  to  a  bare  remnant,  the  down- 
fall of  industrial  prosperity,  the  blight  upon  literature,  the 
ruin  in  every  other  respect  of  an  entire  kingdom  and  its 
affiliated  margraviate; — all  these  evils  weighed  as  nothing 
over  against  the  satisfaction  of  crushing  out  the  Evangelical 
faith  and  elevating  Romanism  to  supremacy.     Not  in  vain 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH,  533 

liad  Ferdinand  the  Second  sworn  his  secret  oath  at  Prague. 
The  opportunity  M^as  now  come  for  doing  even  more  than 
that  shameful  and  treacherous  pledge  implied.  We  have  no 
sympathy  with  his  apologists,  whether  Protestant  or  Catholic.^ 
While  it  is  true  that  he  was  but  following  out  to  its  legitimate 
end  the  tendency  given  him  by  his  education ;  while  he  may 
have  imagined  that  to  overthrow  the  Protestant  religion  was 
doing  God  a  service ;  and  while  it  is  certain  that  he  was  the 
mere  agent  of  schemes  laid  by  others ;  such  considerations  do 
not  justify  his  course.  A  monarch  intrusted  with  the  sceptres 
which  Ferdinand  swayed  and  living  in  the  age  to  which  he 
belonged,  was  bound  to  recognize  the  signs  of  the  times  and 
accept  Protestantism  as  a  legitimate  element  of  Christendom. 
The  darkness  and  bigotry  and  narrow  conceptions  of  the 
jMiddle  Ages  had  passed  away.  But  he  willfully  shut  his 
eyes  to  the  light  that  was  shining  and  obstinately  closed  his 
ears  to  the  voices  which  were  bidding  the  world  to  go 
forward.  Nor  were  these  the  worst  features  of  his  course. 
Ferdinand  stands  at  the  bar  of  history  condemned  as  a 
deliberate  perjurer.  Amidst  the  solemnities  of  his  coronation, 
in  the  house  of  the  God  whom  he  professed  to  serve,  he  swore 
that  he  would  uphold  the  Bohemian  charter  and  maintain 
inviolate  the  religious  liberty  of  his  subjects.  It  is  from  the 
point  of  view  offered  by  this  oath  that  the  only  correct  opinion 
in  relation  to  the  overthrow  of  Protestantism  in  Bohemia  and 
Moravia  can  be  formed. 

According  to  the  History  of  Persecutions  it  was  at  Rome 
that  a  plan  was  laid  to  coerce  these  two  countries  under  the 


^  "Wir  haben  gewiss  Grund  zu  glauben,  dass  Kaiser  Ferdinand  iiber- 
zeugt  war,  dass  er  als  ein  treuer  Katholischer  Christ  gegen  seine  anders- 
denkenden    Unterthanen   so   handeln   miisse,    urn  der    Wohlfahrt    seines 

Reiches  und  um  der  Irrenden  selbst  willen Auch  mussen  wir  nicht 

ausser  Acht  lassen,  in  welchem  abschreckenden  Vorstellungen  von  den 
Andersglaubigen  Ferdinand  befangen  sein,  und  wie  seine  strengen  Befehle 
durch  seine  Diener  und  Werkzeuge  noch  weit  iiberboten  werden  mochten." 
Thus  says  Bishop  Croeger,  II.  pp.  303  and  3C4.  Pesclieck  entertains 
similar  views,  II.  jj.  1,  etc. 


534  THE    HISTORY    OF 

sway  of  the  Catholic  Church.  Opportunities  to  become  martyrs 
were  not  to  be  given  the  followers  of  the  Evangelical  faith ; 
they  were  to  be  persecuted  in  other  ways  until  their  courage 
would  be  broken  and  their  endurance  exhausted;  obedience 
to  the  Catholic  Church  would  follow  as  a  necessary  result. 
Whether  Rome  was  the  birthplace  of  this  scheme,  or  whether 
it  was  concocted  elsewhere,  remains  uncertain;  that  it  sets 
forth  the  principle  according  to  which  the  work  was  actually 
carried  on,  our  narrative  will  show.  Not  fire  and  sword  and 
the  rack  were  introduced,  but  a  Reformation,  and  therefore, 
in  the  Protestant  sense,  au  Anti-Reformation.'^ 

The  following  were  the  chief  means  employed :  the  Prot- 
estants were  deprived  of  their  church-edifices;  Protestant 
clergymen  were  everywhere  driven  from  their  parishes; 
Protestant  literature  was  as  far  as  possible  destroyed;  a 
wholesale  confiscation  of  property  took  place ;  the  currency 
was  depreciated ;  Commissions  were  sent  through  the  country 
in  order  to  bring  the  people  into  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  ; 
all  those  who  refused  to  deny  Protestantism  were  banished.^ 


2  In  1622  the  Congregatio  De  Propaganda  Fide  was  established  at  Eome, 
in  order  to  promote  missions  among  the  heathen  and  the  conversion  of 
heretics  in  Christian  countries.  It  is  very  likely  that  the  Anti-Eeformation 
received  aid  from  this  powerful  agency. 

'^  Authorities  for  this  chapter  are :  First  and  foremost,  Hist.  Persecu- 
tionum.  Cap.  XLIV-LVIII,  and  LXXXV  to  the  end  of  the  work.  This 
authority  says:  "Ifall  the  cunning  deceptions  and  the  gross  acts  of  wick- 
edness, all  the  bloodthirsty  oppressions  and  persecutions,  that  were  put  into 
practice  were  to  be  narrated,  it  would  require  a  sharper  wit  than  the  dove- 
like simplicity  of  our  nation  is  capable  of,  and  more  voluminous  books 
would  have  to  be  written  than  our  present  undertaking  will  permit.  For 
that  which  the  Evangelist  says,  'There  are  also  many  other  things  which 
Jesus  did,  the  which,  if  they  should  be  written  every  one,  I  suppose  that 
even  the  world  itself  could  not  contain  the  books  that  should  be  written ' 
(John  21  :  25)— can  be  said  also  of  Antichrist,  whose  evil  deeds  have  been 
developed  with  so  much  craft  and  malice  that  the  world  can  scarcely  con- 
tain them.  This,  however,  we  testify  before  God,  that  we  have  secured 
the  most  accurate  information  with  regard  to  everything  which  we  report, 
even  though  we  have  not  always  adduced  examples,  partly  in  order  to  be 
brief  and  partly  because  amidst  the  still  existing  dispersion  instances  could 
not  in  every  case  be  collected."     The  next  authority  is  Pescheck's  entire 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  535 

Ferdinand's  principal  advisers  in  carrying  out  these  details 
were  Archbishop  Lohelius  and  his  clergy  at  Prague ;  Carlo 
Caraffa,  Bishop  of  Aversa,  the  Papal  Nuncio  at  Vienna,  who 
ceased  not  to  urge  the  Emperor  forward  in  everything  that 
was  intolerant,  base  and  cruel ;  and  especially  the  Jesuits 
upon  whom,  in  the  last  instance,  rests  the  entire  responsibility 
of  the  Bohemian  Anti-R-eformation. 

It  began,  as  we  have  said,  with  the  seizure  of  the  Protestant 
church-edifices.  There  were  hundreds  of  them;  but  upon 
every  one  was  laid,  in  the  course  of  a  few  years,  the  rapacious 
hand  of  Rome.  Such  buildings  were  either  razed  to  the 
ground  or  thoroughly  cleansed  from  wdiat  was  deemed  to  be 
their  heretical  contaminations,  and  rededicated  with  imposing 
ceremonies.  Both  the  exterior  and  interior  were  purified; 
the  former  by  removing  images  of  the  cup,^  effacing  inscrip- 
tions, destroying  monuments,  and  altering  even  the  door- 
knobs and  flag-stones ;  the  latter  by  sprinkling  holy  water, 
lashing  the  pulpits  with  whips,  and  beating  the  altars  with 
sticks.  Romish  symbols,  inscriptions,  and  images,  took  the 
place  of  those  that  had  been  destroyed. 

On  the  twentieth  of  February,  1621,  the  Cathedral  was 
rededicated,  at  a  heavy  cost  which  the  Emperor  assumed ;  on 
the  twenty  third  of  January,  1623,  the  colossal  gilded  cup 
adorning  the  Tliein  church  was  taken  down  and  the  image  ot 
the  Virgin  substituted.  The  new  and  splendid  church  of  St. 
Salvador,  erected  in  the  Altsiadt,  on  the  strength  of  the  privi- 
leges granted  by  the  charter,  was  given,  together  with  its  adjoin- 
ing school,  to  the  Pauline  monks.  The  cup  on  the  gate 
leading  to  the  Church  of  St.  Anthony,  at  Koniggriitz,  was 

second  volume.  He  had  a  number  of  original  sources  at  command,  par- 
ticularly Holyk's  Pabstische  Geissel,  published  at  Wittenberg  in  1673  and 
written  by  an  eye-witness,  himself  at  one  time  a  Romish  monk  who  was 
subsequently  converted  to  Protestantism.  Our  last  authority  is  of  Roman 
Catholic  origin — Gindely's  30-jahr.  Krieg,  IV,  Chap.  9. 

*  Images  of  the  cup,  made  of  metal  or  stone,  the  symbol  of  Utraquisni, 
were  found  on  nearly  all  churches,  steeples  and  city-gates.  One  such 
cup  on  the  top  of  a  tower  at  Leitmeritz  escaped,  and  remains  to  the  present 
dav. 


536  THE    HISTORY    OF 

torn  down  and  a  picture  substituted,  representing  an  over- 
turned chalice  from  which  flowed  an  impure  matter  and 
having  this  inscription  :  "  In  the  hand  of  the  Lord  there  is 
a  cup,  and  the  wine  is  red ;  it  is  full  of  mixture,  and  He 
poureth  out  of  the  same ;  but  the  dregs  thereof,  all  the  wicked 
of  the  earth  shall  wring  them  out,  and  drink  them."  (Ps. 
75  :  8.)  On  the  wall  over  the  door  appeared  another  inscrip- 
tion as  follows :  "  My  house  is  a  house  of  prayer,  but  not 
thine,  thou  detested  Calvin."  These  are  but  a  few  instances 
of  the  wanton  bigotry  which  went  rioting  through  the  sanc- 
tuaries of  God. 

Nor  did  the  church-yards  escape.  Memorials  were  ruth- 
lessly broken  ;  graves  sacrilegiously  opened  ;  the  bones  of  the 
dead  shamefully  dishonored.  Among  the  tombs  thus  defiled 
were  those  of  Zizka,  at  Czaslau,  and  of  Rokycana,  in  the 
Theiu  church,  at  Prague. 

The  expulsion  of  the  Protestant  clergy  formed  the  next 
device.  It  was  inaugurated  at  Prague.  The  Protestant 
Consistory  was  broken  up,  and  on  the  tenth  of  March,  1621, 
the  Calvinist  ministers,  as  well  as  those  of  the  Unity,  were 
banished.  Out  of  regard  for  the  Elector  of  Saxony  the 
Lutherans  received  permission  to  remain. 

Against  this  CarafFa  vehemently  protested,  until  Liechten- 
stein made  known  the  conditions  upon  which  their  further 
stay  would  depend.  They  must  advance  to  the  Emperor  a 
large  sum  of  money,  several  thousand  florins ;  acknowledge 
the  coronation  of  Frederick  as  illegal ;  be  reordained  by  the 
Archbishop;  cease  administering  the  sacrament  under  both 
kinds ;  repudiate  their  wives  and  look  upon  them  merely  as 
their  cooks.  These  degrading  conditions  were  rejected.  The 
result  was  a  decree,  which  appeared  on  the  thirteenth  of 
December,  1621,  commanding  the  Lutheran  clergy,  except 
the  four  who  had  charge  of  German  churches,  to  leave 
Prague  in  three  days  and  Bohemia  in  eight.  Nineteen  of 
them,  among  whom  was  Rosacius,  went  into  exile.  Caraffa 
and  the  Jesuits  were  not  yet  satisfied.  The  German  ministers 
who  remained  were  an  offence  to  them.     They  did  not  rest 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  537 

until  these,  too,  were  dismissed,  and  along  with  them  the 
German  school-teachers  who  held  to  the  Evangelical  faith. 
The  indignant  remonstrances  of  the  Elector  of  Saxony,  who 
now  began  to  realize  into  what  an  unfortunate  position  his 
alliance  with  the  Emperor  had  placed  him,  were  of  no  avail. 
On  the  twenty-ninth  of  October,  1622,  escorted  by  a  great 
multitude  of  their  parishioners,  the  last  representatives  of  the 
pure  Gospel  turned  their  backs  upon  the  Bohemian  capital. 
Several  miles  beyond  its  walls  they  held  a  service  in  the  open 
fields,  Lippach  delivering  a  farewell  address. 

Throughout  the  country  the  clergy  made  experiences  that 
were  far  worse. 

Soon  after  the  battle  of  the  White  Mountain  many  of  them 
suffered,  at  the  hands  of  the  Catholic  soldiery,  horrible  cruel- 
ties or  a  violent  death.  Paul  Moller,  of  Zrutsch,  was  pierced 
by  a  bullet  while  preaching,  and  exjjired  in  his  own  pulpit; 
Martin  Maresch  was  tortured,  and  his  two  daughters  were 
carried  oif  to  a  life  of  enforced  shame  and  misery ;  Wenzel 
Jakesch,  of  Kaunitz,  after  having  been  subjected,  for  an 
entire  month,  to  scandalous  indignities,  which  were  varied  by 
the  infliction  of  bodily  torments,  escaped  with  his  life  on 
paying  five  hundred  florins ;  Paul  Welwar  gave  a  ransom  of 
fifteen  hundred  florins,  but  died  a  few  days  after  in  conse- 
quence of  the  inhuman  treatment  which  he  had  received ; 
John  Moyses  and  his  wife,  of  Kouigmestitz,  as  well  as 
Lawrence  Curtin  and  his  wife,  of  Netin,  were  burned  alive ; 
the  parish  ministers  at  Bakoven  and  Nimes  were  murdered  in 
other  ways;  Paul  Pscheniczka,  of  Bochdalow,  who  had 
reached  nearly  three  score  years  and  ten,  was  hung  up  in  a 
manner  too  devilish  to  be  named  ;  a  fire  was  kindled  under 
him  with  books  from  his  own  library,  and  he  Avas  slowly 
roasted,  until  a  soldier  took  pity  on  his  excruciating  sufferings 
and  shot  him  dead. 

From  royal  or  free  cities  the  clergy  were  expelled  in  1622 
and  the  following  years,  by  a  Commission  sent  out  for  this 
purpose.  Although  they  did  not  suffer  the  cruelties  practiced 
by  the  marauding  soldiers,  they  were  treated  with  the  greatest 


538  THE    HLSTORY    OF 

brutality.  The  most  notorious  of  the  com raissi oners  was 
George  Michna,  a  butcher's  son,  who  had  risen  to  be  a  wealthy 
count.  At  the  head  of  a  troop  of  horse  he  rode  about  from 
place  to  place,  in  the  Schlan  and  Leitmeritz  districts,  reviling, 
maltreating  and  driving  away  from  parish  and  from  home 
God's  faithful  servants.  The  majority  of  them  escaped  to 
other  countries;  some  hid  themselves  in  forests  or  among  the 
mountains  and  secretly  ministered  to  their  flocks.  The  vacant 
parishes  were  committed  to  Catholic  priests;  but  as  their 
number  proved  insufficient  several  churches,  sometimes  as 
many  as  six,  constituted  one  charge.  As  a  rule,  the  priests 
were  worthless  characters  and  led  immoral  lives.^ 

The  crusade  against  the  Protestant  clergy  involved  a  recon- 
struction of  the  schools  of  which  they  had  had  the  oversight 
and  the  dismissal  of  the  teachers.  Nor  did  the  University 
escape.  On  the  thirtieth  of  April,  1622,  Adam  von  Wald- 
stein,  in  the  name  of  the  E,egent,  deposed  the  Professors  who 
were  not  Romanists ;  a  few  days  later  commissioners  entered 
the  Carolinum,  sealed  up  the  archives  and  gave  the  building 
to  two  renegade  members  of  the  Faculty.  Thereupon  the 
endowments,  rights  and  privileges  of  this  ancient  and  illus- 
trious seat  of  learning  were  made  over  to  the  Jesuit  College. 
That  University  which  Charles  the  Fourth  had  founded, 
practically  ceased  to  exist. 

Such  measures  resulted  in  a  melancholy  decay  of  learning ; 

while  popular  education,  that  had  attained  to  a  point  which 

it  reached  in  few  other  countries,  sank  to  the  lowest  ebb.     A 

Roman  Catholic  historian  writes : 

"I  do  not  know  of  a  single  scholar,  subsequent  to  the  expul- 
sion of  the  Protestants,  who  distinguished  himself  by  his  learn- 
ing. The  University  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Jesuits,  or  prac- 
tically abohshed.      The  Pope  forbade  promotions,  so   that  no 

*  This  fact  is  not  only  substantiated  by  many  instances  which  George 
Holyk  adduces  from  personal  observation,  but  also  fully  granted  by  the 
E.  C.  writer  Pelzel,  who  says :  "  Sie  predigten  und  lehrten  zwar  mit  vielera 
Eifer;  allein  von  der  andern  Seite  fiihrten  sie  ein  lasterhaftes  Leben. 
Viele  gingen  nach  Polen  wieder  zuriick,  da  sie  zuvor  den  Biirgern  ihre 
Tochter  oder  gar  Weiber  verfuhrt  und  entfuhrt  hatteu."     Pelzel,  II.  p.  744. 


THE   MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  539 

academical  degrees  could  be  conferred.  A  few  patriots,  both 
amoug  the  laity  and  the  clergy,  murmured  openly  but  in  vain 
against  this  state  of  affairs ;  others  secretly  mourned  over  the 
decline  of  literature.  Throughout  the  kingdom  nearly  all  the 
schools  were  in  the  hands  of  the  Jesuits  or  other  ecclesiastical 
orders,  and  little  more  than  bad  Latin  was  taught."  ® 

About  the  same  time  that  the  University  was  closed, 
Liechtenstein  dismissed  the  Protestant  magistrates  of  Prague 
and  put  Catholics  in  their  place. 

The  third  anti-reformatory  measure  was  the  destruction  of 
Protestant  literature.  This  work  began  at  Prague  soon  after 
its  capture.  Instigated  by  the  Catholic  clergy,  the  Spanish 
troops  and  those  from  the  Netherlands  burst  into  private 
dwellings  and  searched  their  libraries,  carrying  off  all  works 
written  in  Bohemian,  whether  they  related  to  religion  or  not, 
and  burning  them  in  the  public  squares.''  When  the  Reform 
Commissioners  commenced  passing  through  the  country  the 
same  vandalism  occurred.  Sometimes  the  books  were 
privately  thrown  into  the  flames,  in  the  houses  where  they 
had  been  seized,  even  as — so  says  the  History  of  Perseeutions 
—  Jehoiakim  cast  Jeremiah's  roll  into  the  fire  on  the  hearth  f 
at  other  times  they  were  brought  to  the  market  place,  or 
without  the  walls,  or  to  the  gallows,  and  there  publicly 
burned.  On  such  occasions  soldiers  posted  themselves 
around  the  fire  in  order  to  prevent  the  people  from  interfering. 

The  Jesuits  were  indefatigable  in  their  search  for  heretical 
literature,  ransacking  houses  from  cellar  to  garret,  opening 
every  closet  and  chest,  prying  into  the  very  dog-kennels  and 
pig-sties.  When  they  had  been  successful  and  the  flames 
were  consuming  a  pile  of  volumes,  many  of  them  perhaps 
splendidly  bound,  they  would  stand  by  and  rejoice  aloud  say- 
ing :    "  Look,   look,    how    beautifully  these  heretical   books 

«  Pelzel,  II.  p.  790. 

'  In  this  way,  with  the  exception  of  from  three  to  six  copies,  the  entire 
edition,  just  published,  of  Dalimil's  Chronicle,  a  celebrated  Bohemian 
History  in  rhymes,  was  lost.  This  edition  was  dedicated  to  Budowa  and 
William  von  Enppa.     Palacky's  Geschichtschreiber,  p.  105. 

®  Jeremiah  36  :  113 


540  THE    HISTORY   OF 

with  their  false  doctrines  burn  !"  Many  perished  that  had 
no  connection  with  religion.  If  a  book  was  written  in  Bohe- 
mian that  was  enough  to  condemn  it.  But  it  was  against  the 
Holy  Scriptures  in  particular  that  the  Jesuits  raged.  Of 
this  sacred  volume  not  a  single  copy  upon  which  they  could 
lay  their  hands,  was  spared.  They  told  the  people  that  it 
was  an  obscure,  imperfect  and  unintelligible  work,  a  well  of 
heresies,  the  refuge  of  heretics,  a  book  which  no  layman 
should  think  of  reading.  To  such  extremes  did  their 
fanaticism  carry  them,  that  they  gave  to  it  the  nickname  of 
WyblUa,  or  "Vomit." » 

In  this  war  upon  books  no  one  of  their  whole  order  had  a 
record  equal  to  that  of  Anthony  Koniasch,  who  labored  for 
thirty-seven  years  as  a  missionary  in  Bohemia  and  Moravia. 
He  often  went  out  alone  on  a  hunt  for  heretical  literature. 
Hardships  and  dangers  did  not  quench  his  zeal.  On  one 
occasion  he  was  penned  up  in  a  pig-sty,  for  three  days,  by  an 
indignant  peasant ;  more  than  once  he  was  severely  beaten. 
But  when  he  had  found  a  trail,  he  could  as  little  be  turned 
back  as  a  blood-hound  that  has  scented  the  prey.  With 
honest  pride  his  biographer  relates  that,  in  the  course  of  his 
long  career,  he  destroyed  more  than  sixty  thousand  volumes, 
besides  expurgating,  with  his  own  hands,  several  thousand 
more ;  thus  assigning  to  him  a  distinguished  place  by  the 
side  of  Caliph  Omer  in  the  popular  legend.^" 

The  next  expedient  called  forth  by  the  Anti-Reformation 
bore  a  peculiar  character.  At  Innsbruck,  on  the  third  of 
February,  1622,  the  day  after  his  marriage  to  Elenora  of 
Mantua,  his  second  wife,  Ferdinand  signed  a  General  Pardon, 
which  had  long  been  promised  and  for  which  Bohemia  was 
anxiously  waiting.  To  all  those  Protestant  nobles  and 
burghers  who  would  come  forward  and  freely  confess  what- 
ever misdeeds  they  had  committed  against  the  Emperor  by 


9  Holyk,  cited  by  Pescheck,  II.  p.  93. 

10  "Eorumque  ultra  60  facile  inillia  Vulcano  in  prsedam  dedit."     Cited  in 
Pelzel's  Jesuiten,  pp.  184  and  185. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  541 

abetting  the  rebellion,  were  offered  life  and  liberty,  on  condi- 
tion of  their  presenting  an  exact  statement  of  their  property, 
both  real  and  personal,  which  his  Imperial  Majesty  would 
thereupon  proceed  to  seize.  Whoever  failed  to  appear  must 
expect  no  mercy. 

Under  the  euphonious  title  of  a  General  Pardon  this  docu- 
ment, therefore,  inaugurated  a  sweeping  confiscation.  More 
than  seven  hundred  nobles  and  a  large  number  of  burghers 
obeyed  the  summons;  the  former  appearing  before  a  Commis- 
sion at  Prague,  the  latter  before  the  royal  judges  of  their 
several  cities.  The  confessions  which  these  unfortunate  men 
made  were  barely  listened  to ;  but  the  statements  which 
they  brought  excited  the  "closest  attention.  Domains,  bonds, 
mortgages,  and  other  securities,  were  at  once  appropriated. 
The  promissory  notes  which  the  owners  occasionally  received 
in  exchange  were  never  paid.  It  was  an  unjustifiable  pro- 
ceeding and  particularly  hard  upon  the  nobility.  By  one 
swoop  the  representatives  of  ancient  and  honorable  lines  were 
reduced  to  poverty.  Their  ancestral  estates  were  parceled 
out  among  imperial  generals,  favorites,  and  adventurers  who 
had  risen  to  power,  or  among  churches  and  monasteries ;  they 
themselves  remained  as  stewards  of  the  new  proprietors,  or 
lived  in  scanty  lodgings  in  towns  and  maintained  themselves 
as  best  they  could,  or  accepted  a  home  in  the  castles  of  their 
Catholic  relatives.  Against  such  an  unparalleled  confiscation 
the  German  princes  protested  ;  but  the  Emperor's  answer  was, 
that  not  a  single  baron,  knight,  or  citizen,  had  been  punished 
who  had  not  freely  and  fully  confessed  his  guilt. 

Ernst  von  Harrach,  the  new  Archbishop  of  Prague,  was 
constrained  to  acknowledge  that  the  majority  of  the  Prot- 
estants still  tenaciously  held  to  their  faith.  Such  a  state  of 
affairs  was  humiliating.  He  besought  the  Emperor  to  adopt 
severer  measures.  The  response  was  prompt  and  determined. 
A  number  of  edicts  appeared,  in  the  course  of  the  years  1623 
and  1624,  having  in  view  the  absolute  conversion  of  Bohe- 
mia and  Moravia  to  the  Catholic  religion.  Among  other 
points  these  decrees  contained  the  following : 


542  THE    HISTORY    OF 

Protestant  worship,  iu  every  form,  was  forbidden  under 
heavy  penalties  ;  in  royal  or  free  towns  Catholics  only  were 
permitted  to  enjoy  the  rights  of  citizenship  and  carry  on 
business ;  none  but  Catholics  were  allowed  to  marry ;  Prot- 
estants were  not  to  be  buried  on  consecrated  ground ;  the  last 
will  and  testament  of  a  Protestant  was  to  be  invalid ; 
Protestant  inmates  of  hospitals  were  to  be  expelled  unless 
they  promised  to  become  Catholics;  refusal  to  attend  mass 
was  to  be  severely  punished. 

In  August  of  1624  and  July  of  1625  two  additional  edicts 
were  issued  in  relation  to  such  Protestant  clergy  as  had  not 
been  driven  away  by  the  Commission.  The  first  banished 
them  forever  as  corrupters  of  the  people;  allowing  them  six 
weeks  in  which  to  prepare  for  their  departure.  The  second, 
which  was  published  after  it  had  become  known  that  a 
number  had  not  left  Bohemia,  or  had  returned,  and  "were 
holding  religious  worship  in  secret,  ordered  :  that  diligent 
search  should  be  made  for  them;  that  they  should  be 
expelled  without  mercy ;  that  whoever  harbored  them  was  to 
be  deprived  of  his  property  and  suffer  death ;  that  informers 
who  would  point  out  their  hiding  places  were  to  be  liberally 
rewarded. 

About  this  time  the  currency  of  the  country  was  depreciated 
by  a  deliberate  act  of  the  Emperor.  He  caused  new  money — 
copper  with  a  little  admixture  of  silver — to  be  coined  in  large 
quantities.  This  currency  spread  and  was  welcomed  by  the 
common  people.  Meanwhile  gold  and  silver  rose  to  an 
enormous  premium.  Suddenly,  in  1 624,  the  new  money  was 
reduced  by  an  imperial  mandate  to  one-tenth  of  its  nominal 
value.  There  resulted,  throughout  Bohemia  and  Moravia, 
financial  distress  which  can  scarcely  be  described.  Paul 
Michna,  the  originator  of  this  scheme,  boasted  that  it  had 
broken  the  power  of  the  two  countries  more  thoroughly  than 
if  they  had  been  subjected  to  the  oppressions  of  an  army  for 
ten  years. 

The  grand  eiFort  began  in  1624.  A  Reform-Commission 
was  sent   through    the  country  and  instructed   to   force  its 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  543 

inhabitants  into  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  Of  this  Com- 
mission George  Michna  and  Don  Martin  von  Huerta,  noted 
for  their  cruelty,  rapacity  and  wickedness,  were  leading  mem- 
bers. The  latter  was  a  native  of  Spain,  originally  a  tailor, 
who  had  seduced  a  young  countess  and  amassed  an  enormous 
fortune  by  robbing  Protestants,  but  had  made  himself  indis- 
pensable to  Ferdinand  and  had  been  raised  to  the  rank  of  a 
baron. 

The  Commission  began  its  work  at  Prague,  and  then  pro- 
ceeded to  Kuttenberg,  Jungbuuzlau,  Leitmeritz,  Koniggriitz, 
Bidschow,  Saaz,  Prachatitz,  Dobrzisch,  Kossenberg,  and 
many  other  towns.  Its  path  was  marked  by  wrongs,  brutality 
and  outrages.  Thousands  of  the  best  citizens  went  into  exile ; 
other  thousands  were  constrained  to  submit,  at  least  out- 
w^ardly,  to  the  Romish  yoke.  The  formula  of  recantation 
read  as  follows : 

"I,  N.  N.,  confess  in  the  presence  of  God  and  the  holy  Virgin 
Mary  and  all  the  Saints,  that  I  have,  this  day,  come,  without 
constraint  or  compulsion,  but  of  my  own  free  will  and  with  a 
sincere  conviction  of  heart,  to  the  only  saving  ancient  Roman 
Catholic  Church ;  and  with  uplifted  finger  I  affirm,  vow  and 
swear,  that  I  will  abide  by  this  Church  faithfully  unto  my  latter 
end.     So  help  me  God,  the  holy  Virgin  Mary,  and  all  the  Saints !" 

The  Commission  was  assisted,  on  the  one  hand,  by  several 
canons  of  Prague,  by  Dominican  and  Franciscan  friars,  and 
especially  by  the  Jesuits;  on  the  other,  by  dragoons,  cuiras- 
siers, and  infantry,  notoriously  known  as  "  Leichtensteiu's 
troops." 

Into  parts  of  the  country  where  little  opposition  was  ex- 
pected, were  sent  either  the  canons,  or  the  Dominicans  and 
Franciscans ;  the  towns  noted  for  their  faithfulness  in 
upholding  the  Gospel  were  assigned  to  the  Jesuits.  These 
Fathers  labored  with  a  zeal  worthy  of  a  better  cause.  Some- 
times they  traversed  the  country  alone  ;  again  they  accom- 
panied the  Commission.  Here  they  were  friendly,  ready  to 
argue,  anxious  to  persuade ;  thei-e  they  showed  themselves 
curt,  rude,  imperious.  If  they  failed,  the  soldiers  were  sum- 
moned. 


544  THE    HISTORY    OF 

That  they  subsequently  took  to  themselves  the  chief  credit 
of  having  ronianized  Bohemia  and  Moravia,  is  evident  from 
the  writings  of  Balbin,  one  of  their  own  order  and  an  eye- 
witness of  the  Anti-Reformation.  "  I  could  name,"  he  says, 
"more  than  three  hundred  of  our  Fathers  each  of  whom 
converted  several  thousand  heretics;  one  of  them  sixteen 
thousand.""  The  most  glowing  tribute  he  pays  to  Adam 
Krawarsky,  telling  with  a  full  heart  of  his  untiring  labors, 
his  burning  zeal,  his  unbounded  success.  In  order  to  show 
that  there  is  good  ground  for  such  laudation  Balbiu  adds,  that 
Krawarsky,  shortly  prior  to  his  death,  wrote  "  with  a  trem- 
bling hand,"  by  order  of  his  superiors,  a  summary  of  those 
conversions  which  constituted  the  immediate  outcome  of  his 
mission  in  Bohemia  and  Moravia,  and  behold  their  number 
was  thirty-three  thousand  one  hundred  and  forty ! 

The    unreal    character    of  such    conversions  was    forcibly 

shown,  in  the  presence  of  the  Pope  himself,  by  Valefianus 

Magnus,  the  famous  Capuchin,  while  listening  to  the  boastful 

language  of  certain  Jesuits  who  asserted  that  the  credit  of 

reforming  Bohemia  and   Moravia   belonged   to  their  order. 

"Holy  Father,"   he  exclaimed,   "give  me  soldiers,  as  they 

were  given  to  the  Jesuits,  and  I  will  convert  the  whole  world 
to  the  Catholic  faith!"  12 

Leichtenstein's  troops  were  mostly  foreigners,  selected  not 
for  their  bravery  in  the  field,  but  for  their  skill  in  harassing 
unarmed  citizens,  tormenting  defenceless  serfs,  terrifying 
women  and  children.  Permitted  to  indulge  in  all  manner  of 
licentiousness  they  vied  with  each  other  in  everything  that 
was  low,  brutal  and  disgusting.  The  peasants,  when  it  be- 
came evident  that  in  spite  of  the  banishment  of  their  pastors 
they  meant  to  be  true  to  the  Gospel,  suffered  more  than  any 
other  class.  They  were  driven  to  mass  by  the  soldiers  with 
drawn  sabres;  imprisoned  in  dungeons,  stables  and  foul 
places;    exposed  to  the  inclemency  of  the  weather  and  left 

"  Balbin's  Bohemia  Sancta,  cited  by  Pescheck,  I.  p.  107. 
12  Pelzel,  I.  p.  788. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  545 

without  food.  Many  died;  many  were  prevented  from 
emigrating.  In  some  regions  their  sufferings  were  so  great 
that  they  rose  against  their  persecutors.  But  such  insurrec- 
tions were  speedily  quelled  and  frightful  was  the  vengeance 
which  followed.  The  work  of  the  Commission  continued 
until  1626. 

In  the  following  year,  on  the  twenty-ninth  of  May, 
Ferdinand  issued  a  proclamation  announcing  that  almost  the 
entire  kingdom  and  margraviate  had  returned  to  the  bosom 
of  the  only  saving  Church.  Many  thousands  of  his  subjects 
had,  indeed,  emigrated,  but  he  chose  to  construe  this  as  a 
proof  "of  their  continued  loyalty,  in  that  they  preferred  to 
leave  their  fatherland  rather  than  oppose  their  King."*^ 
Others  took  a  different  view  of  the  case,  denouncing  such 
emigrations  as  an  instance  of  unparalleled  obstinacy.  The 
real  motive,  faithfulness  to  Christ  and  His  Gospel,  few 
Catholics  could  be  brought  to  acknowledge. 

On  the  thirty-first  of  July  an  edict  appeared,  setting  forth, 
that  in  order  to  further  the  salvation  of  his  people,  perpetuate 
peace,  and  satisfy  his  own  conscience,  the  Emperor  required 
all  Protestants  still  in  the  country,  either  to  become  Catholics 
or  emigrate.  To  this  end  a  new  Reform-Commission,  with 
unlimited  power,  was  appointed,  consisting  of  the  Archbishop, 
the  Abbot  of  Strahow,  Valerianus  Magnus,  Martinic,  Mitrowic 
and  Thalemberg. 

A  few  mouths  later  Ferdinand  came  to  Prague,  convened 
the  Diet,  and  announced  that  the  Bohemian  Charter  was 
revoked  ;  that  the  crown  was  no  longer  to  be  elective ;  that 
his  son  Ferdinand  was  to  be  his  successor ;  that  the  use  of 
the  Bohemian  language  in  the  public  courts  was  abolished ; 
that  the  Archbishop,  the  abbots  and  prelates  were  to  consti- 
tute a  fourth  estate  and  outrank  the  three  others.  In  abject 
submission  the  Diet,  once  so  proud  and  free,  now  thinned  out 
and  powerless,  listened  to  these  arbitrary  deliverances.  The 
dissatisfaction  caused  among  the  old  Catholic  aristocracy  by 
the  creation  of  the  third  estate  did  not  venture  to  make  itself 

''  Czerwenka,  II.  p.  644,  on  the  authority  of  Kutzmanv's  Urkundenbuch. 
35 


546  THE    HISTORY    OF 

heard ;  the  fact  that  the  Emperor  again  graciously  acknowl- 
edged Bohemia  as  a  kingdom  and  promised  to  maintain  its 
rights  according  to  a  new  code,  was  no  equivalent  for  the 
ancient  privileges  which  he  had  taken  away.  On  the  twenty- 
fourth  of  November  Ferdinand  the  Third  was  crowned. 

Meanwhile  the  Commission  directed  its  attention  chiefly  to 
the  Protestant  states — the  barons,  knights  and  representatives 
of  the  royal  cities.  A  term  originally  of  six  months,  after- 
ward by  a  new  edict  (December  the  sixth)  extended  to  one 
year,  was  set  apart  as  the  period  in  which  they  were  to 
come  forward  in  order  to  be  instructed  in  the  Catholic  faith. 
If  they  declined  "  accommodating  themselves,"  they  were 
required  to  sell  to  Catholics  whatever  real  estate  had  been 
left  them  and  go  into  exile.  No  exception  was  made  even  in 
the  case  of  widows,  who,  moreover,  were  not  allowed  to  take 
their  children  with  them.  The  consequences  of  this  final 
stroke  of  tyranny  were  various.  Some  wavered;  others 
denied  their  faith  and  became  Catholics ;  others  feigned  sub- 
mission ;  still  others  suffered  the  loss  of  all  things  for  Christ's 
sake.  Of  these  the  number  was  very  large.  In  1628  a 
general  exodus  took  place.  According  to  the  testimony  of 
Slawata,  more  than  thirty-six  thousand  families  left  Bohemia 
and  Moravia.  Among  them  were  sturdy  husbandmen,  skilled 
mechanics,  able  artists,  learned  scholars,  rich  merchants,  and 
no  less  than  one  hundred  and  eighty-five  noble  houses  of 
which  many  counted  twenty  or  even  fifty  male  representatives 
alone.^*  Both  countries  suffered  fearfully;  and  were  still 
further  depleted  by  subsequent  emigrations  which  continued, 
more  or  less,  until  1652,  long  after  Ferdinand's  death.  The 
population  of  Bohemia  dwindled  to  less  than  one-third  of  its 
former  number;  from  about  three  millions  to  about  eight 
hundred  thousand.^^  Indeed  Balbin  expresses  his  astonish- 
ment that  it  retained  any  inhabitants  at  all;  while  Pelzel 
mournfully    writes :     "  History    scarcely    presents     another 

"  Schlesinger,  p.  546. 

'*  Ibid.  p.  629.  Tins  does  not  mean  that  more  than  two  miliions  actually 
emigrated,  hut  that  Bohemia  lost  that  numher  through  the  Thirty  Years' 
War,  the   Anti-Reformation  and  the  exodus  of  its  peoTile.     Upon  what 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  547 

instance  of  a  nation's  being  changed  and  snbverted  in  the 
short  space  of  fifteen  years,  in  the  way  in  which  Bohemia  was 
during  the  reign  of  Ferdinand  the  Second."  ^^  In  some  parts 
it  resembled  a  country  through  which  the  pestilence  has 
walked,  leaving  entire  villages  desolate ;  in  others,  old  land- 
marks and  venerable  memorials  had  passed  away,  and  in  their 
stead  were  seen  the  symbols  of  Rome's  final  triumph.  A 
returning  exile  would  hardly  have  recognized  his  native  land. 
Aliens  trod  ancestral  halls  that  knew  them  not.  Industry 
was  blighted.  It  seemed  as  though  the  whole  nation  were 
struffo-ling  for  breath. 

The  scars  left  by  the  wounds  which  Bohemia  received  in 
the  Anti-Reformation  are  seen  even  at  the  present  day ;  the 
idolatrous  emblems  of  the  religion  which  it  was  forced  to 
accept  still  appear.  In  this  latter  reapect  no  contrast  can  be 
greater  than  that  oifered  the  traveler  as  soon  as  he  crosses  the 
boundary  from  Saxony.  Groves,  hills,  and  valleys,  but 
especially  the  villages,  abound  with  crosses  and  shrines,  with 
rudely  painted  pictures  of  the  Saints  and  gaudy  images  of  the 
Virgin.  It  appears  scarcely  credible  that  Bohemia,  at  one 
time,  was  a  Protestant  country. 

Its  affiliated  provinces  Lusatia  and  Silesia,  escaped  the 
Anti -Reformation :  the  former  altogether,  because  it  was 
mortgaged  to  the  Elector  of  Saxony,  in  order  to  repay  him 
for  his  assistance  in  the  war;  the  latter  for  a  season,  because 
he  had  exacted  a  promise  from  the  Emperor  that  religion 
should  there  be  free.  Hence  the  exiles  flocked  to  both  these 
countries,  as  also  to  Saxony,  Prussia,  Holland,  Poland,  Hun- 
gary and  Transylvania.  At  a  later  time,  the  Emperor  broke 
his  pledge  in  relation  to  Silesia,  and  sent  the  Reform-Com- 
mission and  Leichtenstein's  troops  into  that  country  likewise. 

authority  Gindely,  in  his  Comenius,  p.  483,  asserts  that  the  number  of 
exiles  amounted  to  scarcely  one  hundred  thousand,  we  fail  to  understand. 
This  assertion  is  contradicted  by  Slawata's  official  figures  and  by  every  other 
source  that  we  know  of.  Talvi,  p.  195,  says :  "  In  1617  Bohemia  had  732 
cities  and  34,700  villages;  when  Ferdinand  the  Second  died  in  1637,  there 
remained  130  cities  and  6,000  villages ;  and  its  three  millions  of  inhabitants 
were  reduced  to  780,000." 
16  Pelzel,  II.  p.  788. 


548  thp:  history  of 


CHAPTER  XLIX. 

The  Overthroiv  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum  in  Bohemia  and 
Moravia.     A.  D.  1621-1628. 


Churches  taken  from  the  Brethren. — Cemeteries  profaned. — Literature 
destroyed.— Schools  closed.— Experiences  of  the  Bishops  and  other 
Ministers. — Zerotin's  Efforts  on  their  behalf. — Experiences  of  Amos 
Comenius. — Final  Departure  of  Nobles  and  Clergy. — The  Prayer  on 
the  Mountain  Top. — The  Membership.— Unhistoric  Views  respecting 
a  Spiritual  Decline. — Albert  von  Wallenstein. 

In  its  original  seats  the  Unitas  Fratrum  was  overthrown 
by  the  storms  of  the  Anti-Reformation.  Although  the 
account  of  this  calamity  is  included  in  the  general  history 
given  in  the  last  chapter,  we  here  present  a  few  details  of  the 
experiences  made  by  the  Brethren  in  particular.^ 

Their  churches  at  Prague  were  among  the  first  to  be  seized; 
the  Bethlehem  Chapel  immediately  after  the  capture  of  the 
city,  the  Jesuit  church  at  a  later  time.  A  thorough  purifica- 
tion of  these  edifices  took  place.  The  floors  were  strewed 
with  gunpowder  which  was  ignited,  so  that  smoke  and  flame 
might  counteract  "  the  horrible  heresy"  of  the  Picards.  Of 
the  many  other  churches  and  chapels  the  majority,  no  doubt, 
were  appropriated  by  the  Catholics,  while  some  were  torn 
down,  or  allowed  to  fall  into  ruins.^ 

1  Sources  are:  Hist.  Persecutionum,  and  Pescheck,  passim;  Benham's 
Comenius;  Gindely's  Comenius;  Eegenvolscius,  Lib.  II.  cap.  IL; 
Criegern's  Comenius. 

2  The  church  which  the  Catholics  are  still  using  at  Zauchtenthal,  in 
Moravia,  is  said  to  be  one  of  those  which  were  taken  from  the  Brethren  in 
the  Anti-Reformation.  It  is  a  large  stone  building  painted  white,  with  a 
tower  in  front  and  a  small  belfry  at  the  rear  end  of  the  roof. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  549 

Zerotin  himself  caused  the  church  which  he  had  built  at 
Braudeis,  to  be  destroyed,  so  that  it  might  not  be  desecrated 
by  Romish  worship,^ 

To  profane  the  cemeteries  of  the  Brethren  was  an  outrage 
in  which  the  Catholics  seemed  to  take  particular  delight.  On 
a  domain  of  the  Barons  von  Swihow,  at  Horazdowic,  stood  an 
old  convent  which  had  been  in  the  possession  of  the  Unity  for 
many  years  and  formed  the  burial  place  of  several  of  its 
ministers.  In  1621  this  convent  was  seized  and  given  to  a 
monastic  order.  Like  ghouls  the  friars  pressed  around  the 
graves.  First  were  unearthed  the  remains  of  Jacob  Weliky, 
an  influential  and  honored  priest  who  had  died  in  1600. 
Seizing  an  iron  rod  Severin  Dudek,  the  warden,  with  loud 
maledictions,  beat  them  in  pieces.  They  were  then  burned 
together  with  the  bones  of  John  Popel,  John  Japhet,  and 
Matthias  Chobar.  In  the  baronial  vault  lay  the  body  of 
Theobald  von  Swihow,  who  had  been  one  of  the  Defenders. 
It  was  torn  from  its  leaden  coffin,  thrust  into  a  box  and  cast 
into  a  hole,  which  workmen  who  were  repairing  the  convent 
filled  up  with  rubbish.  From  the  same  vault  were  carried 
off  gorgets,  rings  and  other  valuables.^ 

The  rich  literature  of  the  Brethren  perished  almost  entirely. 
Their  Kralitz  Bibles,  their  Hymnals  and  Confessions  and 
Catechisms,  the  many  other  works  which  they  had  issued, 
were  cast  into  the  flames  by  thousands.  When  Spanish 
mercenaries  sacked  Fulneck  in  1620,  the  library  and  manu- 
scripts of  Amos  Comenius  were  burned  in  the  public  square. 
At  the  present  day  some  of  the  most  famous  writings  of  the 
Brethren  exist  only  as  antiquarian  relics.  Upon  this  point 
Gindely  expresses  himself  as  follows  : 

"  Nearly  all  the  memorials,  whether  printed  or  in  manuscript, 
which  belong  to  the  period  stretching  from  the  beginning  of  the 
fifteenth  to  the  second  half  of  the  seventeenth  centuries  and  treat 

'  Two  portions  of  the  walls  of  this  church  are  still  to  be  seen ;  the  one 
forming  a  section  of  the  rear  end  of  a  modern  house  built  on  its  site,  the 
other,  a  section  of  the  garden-wall. 

*  Hist.  Persecutionuni.  cap.  CV.  5. 


550  THE    HISTORY   OF 

of,  or  refer  to,  the  history  of  the  Brethren,  may  well  be  esteemed 
as  the  most  i:)recious  literary  relics  of  former  times.  *  *  * 
The  writings  of  the  Brethren  in  particular  seem  to  have  been 
devoted  to  annihilation.  We  are  not  astonished  that,  as  a 
general  thing,  but  one  or  two  copies  of  works  in  manuscript  have 
come  down  to  us ;  but  that  printed  works,  circulating  by  hundreds 
and  thousands  scarcely  two  and  a  half  centuries  ago,  have  in 
part  altogether  disappeared  and  in  part  are  extant  in  not  more 
copies  than  if  they  were  manuscripts ; — this  is  so  remarkable  a 
fact  that  it  becomes  credible  only  because  it  cannot  possibly  be 
denied."  ^ 

The  schools  which  gave  to  the  Unity  so  wide-spread  a  repu- 
tation, its  College  at  Eibenschutz,  its  theological  institutes,  its 
recently  established  Gymnasium  Rosarum,  with  forty  to  fifty 
free  scholarships  and  a  throng  of  students,  all  came  to  an  end.^ 

Interesting  particulars  concerning  the  ministers  have  been 
preserved.  Amidst  the  outrages  perpetrated  by  the  Catholic 
troops,  several  of  them  lost  their  lives.  In  Moravia,  Wenzel 
Wotic,  an  aged  priest  at  Bistritz,  and  Paul  Capito,  of  Napagedl, 
were  murdered  by  Polish  soldiers  on  their  march  to  Austria 
(February,  1620).  Into  the  hands  of  the  wild  hordes  that 
ravaged  the  country  after  the  capture  of  Prague,  fell  Elias 
Severin,  of  Przibitz,  who  was  fearfully  tormented  so  that  for 
two  years  he  lingered  in  constant  and  often  excruciating  pain 
until  death  came  to  his  relief ;  John  Beranek,  of  Zdanitz,  a 
man  aged  more  than  seventy  years,  who  was  burned  alive 
(March  the  seventeenth,  1622);  and  Gallus  Celech,  of 
Czerochow,  who  died  in  consequence  of  the  cruelties  practiced 
upon  him.  The  treatment  which  Adam  Pisek  received,  was 
particularly  shocking.  He  had  charge  of  the  parish  of 
Bitesch,  on  one  of  Zerotin's  Moravian  domains.  Deeming 
the  well-known  loyalty  of  that  Baron  to  be  a  sufficient  safe- 
guard, he  made  no  attempt  to  flee  when  a  body  of  mercenaries 
arrived   in   the  village,   but  showed    them    hospitality.     No 

*  Gindely  in  his  Preface  to  the  Quellen.  p.  VI. 

«  This  Gymnasium  was  founded  by  Peter  Wok  von  Eosenberg,  at  Sobies- 
law,  soon  after  religious  Uberty  had  been  granted.  Michael  Gehler,  of 
Gorlitz,  was  its  Eector.  Pescheck,  II.  p.  92.  (Ger.),  on  the  authority  of 
Otto's  Oberlaus,  Schriftstellerlexicon. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  551 

sooner,  however,  did  they  discover  that  he  was  a  preacher, 
than  they  began  to  beat  him,  and  when  he  escaped  to  the 
vestibule  of  the  chapel  hastened  after  and  killed  him. 
Stripping  his  body  they  left  it  lying  stark  naked  and  pre- 
vented his  parishioners  from  burying  or  even  covering  it. 
The  parsonage  they  plundered  and  its  library,  which  filled 
three  apartments,  they  set  on  fire.  Not  until  they  had  gone  to 
another  part  of  the  country  were  Pisek's  remains  committed 
to  the  grave. 

The  first  to  be  banished  were  the  three  assessors  of  the 
Consistory,  Bishop  John  Cyrill,  John  Corvinus,  and  Paul 
Fabricius,  and  the  incumbent  of  the  Bethlehem  Chapel, 
Adam  Hartmann.  None  of  them  left  Bohemia.  Cyrill  con- 
cealed himself  at  Slaupna,  an  estate  of  Baron  Sadowsky, 
among  the  Giant  Mountains  ;  Corvinus  and  Fabricius  proba- 
bly did  the  same ;  while  Hartmann  found  some  other  retreat. 
Soon  after  Hartmann's  departure  from  the  capital  his  wife 
was  cast  into  prison  where  she  languished  for  three-quarters 
of  a  year.  She  had  with  her  an  infant  son  but  two  months 
old,  Adam  Samuel,  who  subsequently  became  a  celebrated 
bishop.  On  being  released  she  set  out  to  join  her  husband, 
not  knowing  that  in  his  anxiety  on  her  account  he  had  ven- 
tured back  to  the  vicinity  of  Prague.  They  met  accidentally 
in  a  village  near  the  city  and  fled  to  Thorn.'' 

In  1622  a  general  persecution  of  the  clergy  began.  Besides 
Cyrill  there  were  three  Bishops  in  Bohemia  and  Moravia: 
Jacob  Lanetius,  the  President  of  the  Council,  Matthias 
Koneczny,  and  Gregory  Erastus.  God  himself  delivered 
Koneczny.  He  died  at  Brand eis  on  the  Adler,  on  the  eighth 
of  February,  1622,  aged  fifty-two  years.  His  last  words 
were :  "  Just  in  time  am  I  called  away."  ^  Lanetius  and 
Erastus  found  retreats  on  the  domains  of  Charles  von  Zerotin. 
Of  the  ministers  who  stood  under  these  Bishops  not  a  few 


'  J.  Miiller's  MS.  Notes  based  on  Jireck's  Handbuch  zur  Bohmischen 
Literaturgeschichte. 
*  Regenvolscius,  p.  321. 


552  THE    HISTORY    OF 

followed  their  example  aud  hid  themselves,  unwilling  to  leave 
the  country  as  long  as  it  was  possible  to  do  anything  for  their 
parishes.  Zerotin  espoused  their  cause.  In  March,  1623,  he 
went  to  Vienna  in  order  to  appeal  to  the  Emperor.  Indig- 
nantly breaking  away  from  the  courtiers  who  wanted  to 
persuade  him  that  their  imperial  master  was  but  manifesting 
a  fatherly  solicitude  for  the  salvation  of  his  people,  the  Baron 
souffht  an  interview  with  Ferdinand  himself  This  interview 
was  noteworthy.  It  showed  the  dignity  and  power  of  a  good 
cause  even  in  the  extremity  of  its  misfortunes ;  and  the  shame 
and  weakness  of  a  bad  cause  however  complete  its  triumph. 

Zerotin  began  the  conversation  by  reminding  the  Emperor 
that  he  had  repeatedly  promised  to  reward  his  fidelity  and 
allow  him  the  free  exercise  of  his  religion  at  all  times  and 
places ;  he  complained  that  this  promise  had  not  been  kept ; 
he  urged  that  his  Majesty's  good  name  could  not  be  main- 
tained and  that  his  government  could  not  prosper,  if  such 
pledges  as  had  been  given  to  him  were  broken  and  the  inno- 
cent treated  like  the  guilty.  The  Emperor  replied,  that  he 
remembered  and  acknowledged  his  promises ;  but  to  carry 
them  out  did  not  lie  within  his  power;  they  were  objec- 
tionable to  his  Holiness  the  Pope,  whom  he  was  bound  to 
follow  in  all  matters  affecting  the  conscience ;  he  could  not 
act  otherwse;  his  own  conscience  constrained  him.  The 
Baron  rejoined,  that  he  too  had  a  conscience  and  begged  that 
he  might  not  be  forced  to  act  contrary  to  it.  Ferdinand  pro- 
tested that  he  did  not  intend  anything  of  the  sort ;  but  that 
the  preachers  should  be  allowed  to  remain  in  the  country  was 
out  of  the  question.  On  the  other  part  Zerotin  protested  that 
he  could  not  do  without  religious  services  and  hence  must 
have  preachers.  Finally,  the  Emperor  referred  him  to 
Cardinal  Dietrichstein,  the  Governor  of  Moravia.  The  curt 
decision  of  this  prelate  was  that  the  Emperor  allowed  no 
interference  whatever  in  the  affairs  of  religion.^ 

^  There  are  two  sources  upon  which  the  account  of  this  interview  is 
based  :  the  one  a  letter  from  Vienna  in  Soltl's  Denkwiirdigkeiten  aus  den 
Zeiten  des  Religionskrieges  in  Deutschland,  1842,  given  by  Pescheck,  II. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  553 

Although  greatly  disappointed  Zerotin  did  not  lose  heart. 
On  returning  to  Namiest  he  gave  shelter  to  twenty-four 
Moravian  clergymen  until  the  following  year  (1624),  when 
Count  Magnis  and  Canon  Plateys,  two  Reform  Commis- 
sioners, appeared  and  banished  them.  Not  even  this  experi- 
ence, which  brought  the  Anti-Reformation  to  his  very  home, 
could  stop  him  in  his  course.  He  continued  to  support  and, 
as  far  as  possible,  shield  the  two  Bishops  as  well  as  other 
ministers  who  sought  his  protection,  although  when  danger 
grew  imminent  they  were  often  obliged  to  flee  to  the  moun- 
tains or  hide  in  forests  and  caves.  Among  the  refugees  was 
Julian  Poniatowski,  the  Rector  of  the  school  at  Jungbunzlau, 
who  acted  as  Zerotiu's  librarian.^"  During  all  this  time  his 
chaplain,  Paul  Hronow,  conducted  religious  worship  in 
public.  A  number  of  Bohemian  ministers  were  protected  on 
the  estates  of  George  Sadowsky  and  a  few  other  noblemen. 
In  some  instances  such  ministers  imitated  the  example  of 
Hronow. 

After  the  sacking  of  Fulneck,  Amos  Comenius  continued 
to  labor  in  his  parish  for  nearly  two  years.  In  the  autumn 
of  1622  to  he  was  obliged  to  flee  to  Brandeis  on  the  Adler. 
Soon  after  he  lost  his  wife  and  child.  The  cellar  of  the  house 
that  he  occupied  is  still  to  be  seen.  This  dwelling  stood  at 
the  foot  of  the  Klopot  Mountain  which  even  at  the  present 
day  is  wooded  to  the  top  ;  in  the  time  of  Comenius  the  forest 
must  have  been  dense,  afibrding  a  perfect  hiding  place.  Here 
he  wrote,  in  1623,  The  Labyrinth  of  the  World  and  the  Palace 

pp.  53  and  54  (Ger.) ;  the  other  Hist.  Persecutionum  cap.  LXXXVIII. 
At  first  sight  it  would  appear  as  thougli  they  referred  to  two  diiFerent  inter- 
views. We,  however,  deem  it  improbable  that  Zerotin,  after  having  once 
been  refused  by  the  Emperor,  should  have  visited  Vienna  a  second  time 
and  appealed  to  him  again,  and  rather  believe  that  both  sources  refer  to 
the  same  interview  and  supplement  each  other. 

'"  Julian  Poniatowski  was  a  Pole  of  noble  descent,  who  abjured 
Romanism  and  a  monastic  life,  and  joined  the  Brethren.  He  was  a  learned 
theologian,  a  philosopher  and  an  astronomer,  the  author  of  several  theo- 
logical works.  His  death  occurred  at  Namiest  on  the  sixteenth  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1628. 


554  THE    HISTORY    OF 

of  the  Heart.  It  is  the  most  celebrated  of  his  Bohemian 
works — an  allegory  representing  a  pilgrim  going  out  to  see 
the  world,  led  by  a  guide  whom  its  queen  has  sent,  and  find- 
ing that  there  is  no  real  satisfaction,  or  joy,  or  peace,  except  in 
God  through  Christ." 

In  1624,  while  still  at  Brandeis,  Comenius  married  his 
second  wife,  Dorothea  Cyrill.  She  was  a  daughter  of  the 
Bishop,  who  did  not  venture  to  leave  his  hiding  place  in  order 
to  attend  the  wedding/^ 

In  March  of  the  following  year,  however,  he  and  his  two 
colleagues  Lanetius  and  Erastus,  braving  every  danger, 
secretly  met  in  the  house  of  a  faithful  adherent,  one  Horn,  at 
Daubrawitz,  among  the  mountains,  near  the  source  of  the 
Elbe.  The  oppressed  state  of  the  Unity  was  the  subject  of 
their  consultations  and  prayers.  It  would  seem  that  they  had 
been  hoping  against  hope  for  a  favorable  change;  but  now 
they  were  convinced  that  the  Brethren  would  be  forced  to  go 
out  from  the  land  of  their  fathers.  They  therefore  com- 
missioned Comenius,  John  Chrysostom,  and  Matthias  Probus 
to  visit  Poland  and  Hungary  in  order  to  secure  new  homes 
for  the  exiles.  This  mission  was  successfully  accomplished  in 
1626.  Not  long  after  the  return  of  the  envoys  Bishop 
Lanetius,  the  venerable  President  of  the  Council,  died  at 
Kral.itz,  November  the  seventeenth,  aged  seventy-two  years. 
Comenius  took  up  his  abode  at  Slaupna. 

The  edict  of  1627  in  banishing  the  nobles,  put  an  end  to 
the  further  protection  of  the  clergy.  It  is  true  that  Zerotin 
was  not  touched  by  that  decree.     But  he  declined  to  accept 

"  This  work,  which  constitutes  a  model  of  Bohemian  style,  was  translated 
into  German  and  extensively  read  in  Germany  also.  In  modern  times  John 
Nowotny  has  issued  a  new  German  version.  The  Labyrinth  of  the  World 
was  the  forerunner  of  Bunyan's  Pilgrim's  Progress. 

We  visited  Brandeis  in  1879.  Near  the  cellar  of  Comenius'  house  a 
monument  has  been  erected  to  his  memory.  It  is  a  stone  obelisk,  showing 
his  bust  in  relief,  with  the  inscription  :  "Dem  Johann  Amos  Comenius  das 
dankbare  Volk,  September  5,  1865." 

12  Miiller's  MS.  Notes.  Benham,  p.  37,  says  this  marriage  took  place  at 
Lissa  in  1628.     The  name  and  family  of  Comenius'  tirst  wife  are  not  known. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH.  555 

what  was  denied  his  brethren;  sold,  at  an  enormous  sacrifice, 
his  splendid  domains,  excepting  Prerau,  to  his  brother-in-law, 
Wallenstein;  and  accompanied  by  the  clergy  whom  he  had 
sheltered,  left  the  country  (1627). 

Toward  the  end  of  January  of  the  following  year  (1628), 
George  Sadowsky,  Erastus,  Cyrill,  Comenius,  and  many 
others,  set  out  from  Slaupna.  When  they  reached  the  top  of 
the  mountain-chain  separating  Bohemia  from  Silesia,  at  a  spot 
where  they  could  look  back  upon  their  native  land,  they  fell 
on  their  knees,  Comenius  oifering  an  impassioned  prayer, 
that  the  Lord  would  not  entirely  withdraw  His  word  from 
Bohemia  and  Moravia,  but  preserve  a  seed  of  righteousness 
to  glorify  His  name.  Rising  and  striking  up  a  hymn,  they 
pursued  their  way  to  Poland,  strong  in  their  fathers'  God.^^ 

As  regards  the  membership  of  the  Unity  but  few  partic- 
ulars have  been  preserved.  That  the  Reform  Commission 
encountered  in  such  ancient  seats  as  Jungbunzlau,  Brandeis 
and  Leitomischl,  a  resistance  in  keeping  with  the  heroic  asso- 
ciations of  the  past,  is  certain.  That  the  Brethren  generally 
were  the  staunchest  confessors  amidst  the  sorrows  and  tempta- 
tions of  the  Anti-Reformation,  seems  a  legitimate  deduction 
from  the  fact  of  their  having  contributed  to  the  Bohemian 
exodus  a  quota  of  exiles  which  was  three  or  four  times  larger, 
in  proportion  to  their  entire  number,  than  the  contingent  of 
their  sister   churches.^*     Nor  did   the   majority   of  such    as 

"  This  hymn  was  probably  the  one  which  originated  among  the 
Brethren  in  the  time  of  tlie  Anti-Keformation.  It  is  instinct  with  faith  in 
God,  based  upon  those  evidences  of  His  protecting  care  which  the  Scrip- 
tures unfold  in  the  case  of  Jacob,  David,  Elijah,  and  others.  Croeger,  II. 
p.  342,  etc.  There  are  two  other  traditions  in  relation  to  the  prayer  of 
Comenius :  the  first,  that  it  was  offered  on  the  frontier  mountains  of  Mo- 
ravia, near  Troppau  ;  the  second,  that  the  incident  took  place  on  the  castle- 
hill  at  Fulneck  in  1622,  when  he  fled  to  Bohemia.  The  narrative  in  the 
text  is  undoubtedly  the  correct  one. 

"•Gindely's  Comenius,  p.  483.  "  Was  die  Bohmischen  Briider  insbeson- 
dere  betriffl,  so  stellten  sie  ein  im  Verhiiltniss  drei  bis  viermal  starkeres 
Contingent  zur  Auswanderung."  Plitt,  followed  by  Bishop  Croeger,  asserts 
that  the  majority  of  the  Brethren  apostatized.  He  cites  the  Hist.  Per- 
secutionum  as  authority.     But  in  the  passage  referred  to,  that  work  speaks 


556  THE    HISTORY    OF 

remained  in  the  country  accept  Romanism  from  conviction. 
They  merely  succumbed  to  a  power  which  it  was  impossible 
to  resist.  In  doing  this  many,  no  doubt,  were  unfaithful, 
preferring  ease  and  prosperity  to  exile  and  impoverishment 
for  Christ's  sake.  But  it  may  well  be  assumed,  that  many 
others  were  kept  from  following  their  brethren  into  foreign 
countries  by  circumstances  beyond  their  control.  It  is  true 
that  Balbin  speaks  with  enthusiasm  of  the  success  which 
Adam  Krawarsky  had  among  the  members  of  the  Unity, 
converting  five  thousand  to  the  true  Church  in  the  region 
round  about  Trebnitz,  pressing  forward  to  their  original  seats 
on  the  barony  of  Senftenberg  and  inducing  them  "  piously  to 
admire  and  firmly  to  love  the  mysteries  of  the  Catholic  re- 
ligion." ^^  But  such  testimony  is  worthless.  It  is  disproved 
by  the  history  of  the  Hidden  Seed  and  the  uprising  which 
followed  the  Edict  of  Toleration.  At  that  time  it  appeared, 
that  neither  the  Lutheran  nor  the  Reformed  Confession,  but 
the  religious  principles  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum,  had  struck  the 
deepest  roots  in  the  consciousness  of  the  Bohemian  people.'® 
For  there  came  forward  not  less  than  one  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  Bohemians  and  Moravians  who  claimed  to  be,  not 
Lutherans,  not  Reformed,  but  Bohemian  Brethren.'^  If  the 
principles  of  the  Church  retained  for  a  century  and  a  half 

of  the  Protestants  generally,  not  of  the  Brethren.  Moreover,  if  it  be  a  fact, 
that  the  population  of  Bohemia  melted  to  one-third  its  number,  then  it  is 
quite  impossible  that  a  majority  of  its  Protestant  inhabitants  should  have 
fallen  away.  At  the  time  the  book  was  written  its  authors  had  no  means  of 
ascertaining  the  truth ;  in  fact  all  the  statistics  which  they  give  are  unre- 
liable. 

"  Balbin,  quoted  by  Pescheck,  II.  101  and  103. 

^*  Lemme,  p.  19. 

^'  "  Protestantism  in  Bohemia  and  Moravia,"  by  Frederick  Emmanuel 
Kleinschmidt,  published  in  The  Messenger.  Vol.  V.,  1868.  p.  356. 
Kleinschmidt  was  a  Moravian  clergyman  who,  between  the  years  1860  and 
1870,  itinerated  in  Bohemia  and  Moravia  as  an  evangelist  in  the  interests 
of  the  Lutheran  and  Reformed  churches.  He  says :  "  This  change  took 
place  in  1781,  and  the  result  of  this  edict  of  Toleration  was  the  public 
acknowledgment  of  100,000  souls  in  Bohemia,  and  of  about  half  that 
number  in  Moravia,  that  they  were  not  Roman  Catholics.     The  greatest 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  557 

such  a  hold  upon  the  people,  it  is  clear  that  Balbiu's  narra- 
tive is  of  no  historic  value  whatever.'*^ 

part  of  them  lived  in  the  neighborhood  of  those  very  towns  which  had 
been  the  chief  seats  of  the  Ancient  Brethren,  as  Leitomisclil  in  Bohemia, 
and  Prerau  and  Fulneck  in  Moravia.  Judging  from  this  fact  and  also 
from  the  books  they  had  in  their  possession,  and  other  circumstances,  it 
is  clear  that  the  most  of  these  people  were  the  descendants  of  the  Ancient 
Brethren.  They  belonged,  almost  without  exception,  to  the  lower  orders. 
When  they  came  forward,  asserting  they  were  not  Komanists,  and  were 
asked  what  they  professed  to  be,  they  declared  themselves  to  be  Bohemian 
Brethren.  This  fact,"  Kleinschmidt  adds  in  a  note,  "  was  communicated 
to  the  writer  by  the  historian.  Dr.  Gindely,  of  Prague,  who  referred  to  his 
having  inspected  the  official  records  of  that  period." 

The  Edict  of  1781  restricted  toleration  to  the  Augsburg  and  Helvetian 
Confessions,  and  denied  it  to  the  Brethren.  A  limited  period  was  set  in 
which  those  who  wished  to  enjoy  the  benefits  of  the  Edict  were  invited  to 
enroll  themselves  as  adherents  of  one  of  the  two  Confessions  thereafter  to  be 
tolerated.  It  was  during  this  period  that  the  uprising  of  Bohemian 
Brethren  took  place. 

^®  The  Anti-Reformation  is  generally  set  forth  by  Moravian  writers  as  a 
just  judgment  of  God  upon  the  Unitas  Fratrum,  because  of  its  gross  spiritual 
decline.  This  view  is  based  upon  the  testimony  of  Comenius  given  cliiefly 
in  his  Prefatory  Letter  and  Concluding  Address  accompanying  the  Eighth 
Book  of  Lasitius,  which  he  published  in  1649  (In  German,  Comenii  Erste 
Liebe).  If  the  testimony  of  Comenius  be  correct  then  the  deductions  may 
be  legitimate.  But  in  our  judgment,  such  testimony  is  unwarranted  by  the 
facts  of  the  case  and  melts  away  as  soon  as  historic  criticism  is  applied.  In 
our  lectures  in  the  Theological  Seminary  we  have  set  forth  at  length  the 
reasons  for  our  position.  We  cannot  enter  fully  upon  them  here,  but  will 
merely  say,  that  while  we  do  not  charge  Comenius  with  intentionally  bear- 
ing'false  witness,  we  claim  that  his  testimony  was  given  at  a  time  when  the 
fact,  that  at  the  Peace  of  Westphalia  (1648)  the  Protestant  powers,  and 
especially  Sweden,  left  Bohemia  and  Moravia  to  their  fate,  had  plunged 
him  into  a  morbid  state  of  mind  which  rendered  it  impossible  for  him  to  be 
an  impartial  authority.  He  saw  everything  through  the  medium  of  his 
bitter  disappointment ;  looked  upon  everything  from  the  darkest  point  of 
view;  made  assertions  concerning  a  decline  among  the  Brethren  not  war- 
ranted by  facts,  contradicted  by  Regenvolscius  who  had  the  same  oppor- 
tunity of  knowing  the  truth  as  Comenius,  disproved  by  his  own  History.  In 
comparison  with  the  stern,  puritanic,  heroic  days  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum, 
the  time  of  their  religious  liberty  may  have  presented  a  decline ;  but 
nothing  that  would  at  all  justify  the  rhetorical  language  and  extravagant 
statements  of  Comenius,  or  the  presumptuous  conclusion,  that  God  sent  the 
Anti-Reformation  upon  the  Brethren  as  a  punishment  for  their  sins.  Czer- 
wenka,  II.  p.  624,  refers  to  a  decline  because,  as  he  says,  the  Brethren 


558  THE    HISTORY    OF 

During  the  period  which  we  have  been  considering  the 
Thirty  Years'  War  went  against  the  Protestants,  particularly 
after  its  greatest  general  had  come  to  the  front.  This  was 
Albert  von  Wallenstein,  or  more  properly,  Waldstein,  born 
September  the  fifteenth,  1583,  at  Prague,  a  child  of  the 
Brethren's  Church,  to  which  both  his  parents  belonged  and 
in  which  he  was  educated  until  the  death  of  his  father. 
After  that  his  uncle  sent  him  to  the  Jesuit  College  at  Olmiitz, 
where  he  joined  the  Catholic  Church.  Through  Charles  von 
Zerotin,  who  had  married  his  sister,  he  was  recommended  for 
military  service  in  which  he  distinguished  himself.  Ferdi- 
nand's cause  he  espoused  with  great  enthusiasm  and  success 
and  received  the  domain  of  Friedland  as  a  reward.  He  grew 
enormously  rich,  partly  by  his  first  marriage,  but  chiefly 
through  speculations  in  confiscated  estates.  In  1622  he  was 
created  a  Count,  in  1623  a  Prince,  and  in  1624  Duke  of 
Friedland.  In  the  following  year  he  raised  and  maintained 
an  army,  at  his  own  expense,  of  which  he  became  the  absolute 
commander  and  with  which  he  helped  to  defeat  the  Protestant 
forces. 

themselves  speak  of  it ;  but  forcibly  adds :  "  We  in  our  day  can  only  look 
up  to  the  devoted  faith  of  the  members  of  the  Unity  as  it  showed  itself  even 
in  the  period  of  the  Revolution."  The  position  that  there  was  a  gross  decline 
and  a  consequent  judgment  ought  therefore  to  be  given  up.  There  would 
be  just  as  much  reason  for  saying  tliat  the  St.  Bartholomew  massacre  was  a 
punishment  sent  upon  the  Huguenots. 


THE    MORAVIAN   CHURCH.  559 


CHAPTER  L. 

The  Bohemian  and  Moravian  Branches  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum 

re-organized,  with  Lissa  as  a  Centre. 

A.  D.  1628-1636. 


The  exiled  Brethren  hold  together. — Emigrate  to  Poland,  Hungary,  Tran- 
sylvania, Prussia  and  Silesia.  —  Poland  their  chief  Refuge.  —  The 
Reformed  of  Cujavia  join  the  Unitas  Fratrum. — Bishop  Mikolajewski. 
— Lissa  and  its  History. — The  Leszcynski  Family. — The  Unity  re-or- 
ganized at  Lissa. — Other  Centres.  —  Two  Provinces.  —  The  Exiled 
Ministers. — Bishop  Paliurus. — Gustavus  Adolphus. — Prague  again  in 
the  Hands  of  the  Protestants. — Martini. — Death  of  Sigismund  and 
Election  of  Vladislaus. — Bishop  Cyrill. — Synod  of  1632. — New  Bishops. 
— Justinus,  Prokop,  Comenius,  and  Fabricius. — Synod  of  1633. — New 
Bishops.  —  Orminius  and  Rybinski.  —  Collection  in  Switzerland.  — 
Lutherans  at  Lissa  and  Martini's  Persecutions. — Death  of  Leszcynski 
and  Zerotin. 

The  expatriation  of  the  Brethren  from  Bohemia  and  Mora- 
via was  an  event  which  brought  out  in  beautiful  relief  the 
character  of  their  Unity.  Its  principles  had  been  incorporated, 
as  Gindely  well  says,  "  with  their  flesh  and  blood."  To  these 
principles  they  tenaciously  clung;  and  reorganization  was 
their  common  purpose.  Hence  they  did  not,  like  many  of 
their  fellow  Protestants,  scatter  into  all  parts  of  Germany,  but 
held  together  as  far  as  possible  and  took  their  way  to  countries 
in  which  they  might  reintroduce  the  system  of  their  fathers. 
Such  countries  were  Poland,  where  their  Church  still  exercised 
no  mean  influence ;    Hungary,  where  the  Peace  of  Vienna 


560  THE    HISTORY    OF 

(1606j,  which  secured  the  rights  of  the  Protestants,  was  in 
force,  however  often  the  Catholics  attempted  to  break  it ; 
Transylvania,  whose  enlightened  Prince  Rakoczy  was  himself 
an  adherent  of  the  Evangelical  faith  ;  Prussia,  where  Protest- 
antism prevailed  ;  and  Silesia  in  which  dukedom  were  several 
large  estates  owned  by  members  of  the  Unity.  The  compact 
mass  of  the  Brethren  coming  into  these  countries,  exiles  for 
conscience'  sake  but  intent  upon  maintaining  their  venerable 
usages,  awakened  respect  and  sympathy.^ 

Poland  offered  particular  advantages.  In  that  kingdom  an 
important  occurrence  had  recently  taken  place.  The  Reformed 
of  Cujavia,  in  consequence  of  the  oppression  they  were  suffer- 
ing at  the  hands  of  the  Romish  Bishop  Rozrazewski,  con- 
ceived the  plan  of  uniting  with  the  Brethren.  The  first 
overture  was  made  at  the  Synod  of  Ostrorog,  in  1620,  and  met 
with  favor ;  seven  years  later  the  union  was  consummated,  at 
another  synod  held  at  Ostrorog,  in  December  of  1627.  On 
that  occasion  Daniel  Mikolajewski,  the  senior  or  superinten- 
dent of  the  Reformed,  and  Jacob  Gembicki,  their  consenior, 
together  with  the  seven  Cujavian  parishes  that  remained  to 
them,  formally  and  in  a  body  joined  the  Unitas  Fratrum, 
which  thus  gained  several  thousand  members.  At  the  same 
time  Mikolajewski  was  consecrated  to  the  episcopacy  by  Bishops 
Martin  Gratian  Gertich  and  John  Turnovius.^  From  such  an 
increase  of  power  among  the  Polish  Brethren  the  exiles  reaped 
their  share  of  good. 

The  most  important  benefit  which  Poland  conferred  upon 
them  was  a  new  and  prosperous  seat  for  the  government  of  the 
Church. 


^  Gindely's  Comenius,  p.  483. 

2  Lukaszewicz,  pp.  146  and  147  ;  Fischer,  II.  p.  157 ;  Kegenvolscius,  pp. 
120  and  322.  Plitt,  whom  Croeger  follows,  totally  misunderstands  the  oc- 
currence and  lets  tlie  entire  Polish  branch  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum  unite 
with  the  Eeformed  Church.  He  further  teaches,  that  the  exiled  Brethren 
did  not  re-organize.  Hence  according  to  his  view,  the  Unitas  Fratrum,  in 
all  its  parts,  came  to  an  end  in  1627.  Even  Burkhardt  in  his  Zinzendorf  u. 
die  Briidergemeine,  p.  3,  asserts  the  same  thing,  although  he  says  nothing 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  561 

In  the  Prussian  province  of  Posen,  forming  a  part  of  the 
territory  unrighteously  wrested  from  Poland  in  1772  and  1793, 
there  is  a  town  called  Lissa,  with  nearly  twelve  thousand  in- 
habitants, and  a  history  stretching  back  to  the  tenth  century. 
At  that  time  it  constituted  a  small  village  known  as  Lesczyna, 
which  name  was  gradually  changed  into  Leszno,  or  Lissa.^ 
This  village  was  the  centre  of  a  domain  presented  by  Mieczs- 
law  of  Poland  to  Baron  Philip  von  Perszten,  or  Bernstein, 
who  belonged  to  the  escort  of  the  Duke's  Bohemian  bride  and 
is  said  to  have  stood  sponsor  at  his  baptism  (965).  Perszten 
remained  in  Poland,  becoming  the  progenitor  of  an  illustrious 
family  which,  in  the  fourteenth  century,  adopted  the  patro- 
nymic of  Leszcynski.  "Whoever,"  says  Balbin,  "knows 
nothing  of  the  House  of  Leszcynski,  knows  nothing  of 
Poland."* 

In  1534  Lissa  was  raised  to  the  rank  of  a  town,  and  in 
1548,  increased  rapidly  through  the  influx  of  the  Brethren 
whom  Ferdinand  the  First  had  banished  from  Bohemia.^ 
The  decree  of  the  Polish  King,  forbidding  them  to  remain  in 
his  dominions,  did  not  materially  hinder  the  prosperity  of  the 
place.     Many  of  them  returned  ;  others  were  added  to  their 


about  a  union  with  the  Keformed,  but  represents  the  Polish  branch  as  suc- 
cumbing, in  the  year  named,  to  the  machinations  of  the  Jesuits.  This 
whole  view  of  the  case  is  unhistoric.  We  refer  to  it  merely  in  order  to  ex- 
plain why  the  history  which  we  give,  from  1628  to  1722,  will  be  found  to 
differ,  in  its  leading  points,  from  that  commonly  presented  by  Moravian 
writers. 

^  Lissa  is  situated  in  a  wide  plain,  about  forty-two  miles  south-west  of  the 
city  of  Posen.  Its  original  name  means  "  a  hazel-bush."  Lissa  is  the  name 
given  to  the  town  by  the  Germans. 

*  Balbin's  Epitome,  Lib.  II.  Cap.  7. 

^  Tradition  says  that  the  exiled  Brethren  reached  Fiirstenwalde,  a  village 
near  Lissa,  on  the  twenty-sixth  of  August,  1548,  and  there  set  up  a  tem- 
porary camp.  In  memory  of  their  safe  arrival  it  became  customary  to  un- 
dertake, on  that  day,  a  pilgrimage  to  that  village,  where  religious  services 
were  held.  This  custom  is  still  kept  up  in  a  modified  form.  The  twenty- 
sixth  of  Augus^  is  the  day  for  an  annual  picnic  and  popular  festival  at 
Fiirstenwalde.  Eeligious  services  have,  long  since,  been  dropped  and  few 
know  the  origin  of  the  festival. 
36 


562  THE    HISTORY   OF 

number;  and  in  1552  the  proprietary,  Count  Raphael  the 
Fourth  Leszcynski,  together  with  his  whole  family,  joined 
their  communion.  Under  his  auspices  a  German  parish  was 
organized,  about  1555,  a  church-edifice  built,  and  a  school 
established.  At  a  later  time  a  Polish  parish  grew  into  exist- 
ence. The  Leszcynski  family  became  warm  adherents  and 
powerful  patrons  of  the  Unity.  Raphael  the  Fourth  was 
succeeded  by  his  son,  Count  Andrew,  and  Andrew  by  his  son, 
Raphael  the  Fifth,  who  had  been  educated  at  German,  French 
and  Italian  universities,  was  an  accomplished  scholar,  and  a 
godly  man.  Even  the  Catholic  King  esteemed  him  and  con- 
stituted him  Palatine  of  Belz.^  He  was  the  proprietary  at 
the  time  of  the  Anti-Reformation  ;  and  while  he  welcomed 
the  Brethren  to  all  his  domains,  they  instinctively  turned  to 
Lissa  and  made  that  town  their  rallying-place. 

Thither  came,  on  the  eighth  of  February,  1628,  the  two 
remaining  Bishops  of  the  Bohemian  and  Moravian  Provinces, 
Erastus  and  Cyrill,  the  latter  in  company  of  his  son-in-law, 
Amos  Comenius.  Bishop  Gertich  had  previously  established 
his  seat  at  Lissa  (1624),  and  in  his  house  both  Cyrill  and 
Comenius  found  a  home.^  These  three  Bishops,  in  conjunc- 
tion with  their  colleague  Turnovius,  who  seems  to  have  been 
a  resident  of  Thorn,  re-organized  the  Executive  Council,  of 
which  Gertich  became  the  President.  They  set  up  the  archives 
that  had  been  brought  from  Bohemia.  They  opened  a  publi- 
cation office  (1629),  which  was  put  in  charge  of  Matthias 
Theodore  Krokocinsky,  and  after  his  death  (1632),  of  Daniel 
Vetter,  whose  assistants  were  Krokocinsky's  sons.^  They  es- 
tablished a  Bohemian  parish  in  addition  to  the  two  already 
existing  and  inaugurated,  with  hearts  full  of  gratitude,  the 


*  Lissaer  Gymnasium,  p.  XXVI. 

'  Criegern's  Comenius,  p.  30. 

8  Mailer's  MS.  Notes.  Krokocinsky  had  had  charge  of  the  Kralitz  press 
in  Moravia ;  he  was  present  at  the  marriage  of  Comenius  at  Brandeis,  and 
came  to  Lissa  in  1627.  His  press  was  the  one  which  had  been  in  use  in  the 
Polish  Province  since  1605.  It  was  supplied  with  Greek  and  Hebrew  type, 
and  was  the  first  in  Poland  to  print  in  antique  letters. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  563 

worship  of  God  in  the  language  of  the  exiles.    This  memorable 
occasion  is  described  by  Comeuiiis  as  follows  : 

"  Our  chief  place  of  refuge  was  Lissa,  a  city  pointed  out  to 
us  by  the  finger  of  God  himself  It  constituted  a  Segor,  whither 
all  godly  Lots  took  their  way  ;  a  Pella,  whither  the  Lord  brought 
us  out  of  Jerusalem,  when  His  judgments  burst  upon  that  city. 
At  Lissa  we  enjoyed  a  public  and  peaceful  worship,  rejoicing  like 
Jonah  beneath  his  gourd,  when  it  sheltered  him  from  the  great 
heat  of  the  sun,  and  like  Paul,  when  he  was  saved  from  shipwreck 
and  hospitably  entertained  by  the  inhabitants  of  Malta.  We 
opened  our  worship  at  Lissa  with  souls  famishing  for  the  want  of 
God's  Word  and  with  voices  that  rang  out  for  joy.  Many  gentry 
and  common  people  and  nearly  fifty  of  our  ministers  were 
present."® 

Count  Leszcynski  had  done  his  part  to  make  Lissa  an 
ecclesiastical  centre.  In  1624  he  had  changed  its  school  into 
a  gymnasium  or  college,  and  by  a  patent,  dated  September  the 
twenty-eighth,  1626,  had  given  it  a  handsome  endowment, 
constituting  John  Rybinski  its  first  Rector  and  appointing 
three  other  teachers.^"  After  Ostrorog,  which  had  so  long 
been  the  chief  seat  of  the  Polish  Province,  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  Catholics  (1637),  Lissa  became  the  centre  of  the  entire 
Unitas  Fratrum.  The  Polish  archives  were  united  with 
the  Bohemian ;  the  library  was  presented  to  the  gymna- 
sium ;  and  the  Theological  Seminary  transferred  to  Lissa. 
The  town  grew  so  rapidly  that,  in  1631,  it  was  constituted  a 
city." 

Wlodawa,  one  of  Leszcynski's  estates,  on  the  Bug,  in 
Lithuania,  and  Shocken,  a  domain  of  Count  Andrew  Rej, 
who  was  a  member  of  the  Unity,  formed  other  important 
rallying-places.  These  two  noblemen  alone  received  on  their 
possessions  several  thousand  exiles.^^     The  rest  settled  in  the 


^  Comenius'  Manualnjk,  Amsterdam,  1658  (A  Hand-Book  of  the  Marrow 
of  the  Holy  Bible). 

^°  Lissaer  Gymnasium,  pp.  VI  and  XXX,  etc. 

'^  It  numbered  two  thousand  male  heads  of  families  and  had  a  population 
of  over  ten  thousand. 

^^  Lukaszewicz,  p.  148. 


564  THE    HISTORY    OF 

parishes  of  their  Polish  brethren.  But  they  did  not  amal- 
gamate with  them.  In  every  instance  they  began  a  separate 
organization. 

Such  an  influx  of  heretics  alarmed  the  Catholic  clergy. 
They  prevented  the  Brethren  from  gaining  access  to  the  royal 
cities ;  and  in  the  spring  of  1627  held  a  synod  at  Petrikau  in 
order  to  devise  repressive  measures.  One  of  these  was  a  peti- 
tion to  the  King,  to  be  presented  at  the  next  Diet,  beseeching 
him  "  not  to  permit  heretical  ungodliness  and  blasphemies  to 
bring  the  wrath  of  God  upon  the  fatherland."  ^^  Inspite  of 
such  eftbrts  new  churches  were  built,  in  course  of  time,  at  Lissa, 
Orzeszkowa,  Sieroslaw,  and  other  places. 

The  chief  seats  in  Hungary  were  at  Skalic,  a  frontier  town 
fifty-four  miles  north-west  of  Neitra,  where  a  church  was 
erected  in  1650  ;  at  Lednic,  to  the  north-east  of  Skalic ;  and 
at  Pucho,  on  the  Waag.  In  Transylvania  the  most  important 
centre  was  at  Saros-Patak,  the  residence  of  Prince  Rakoczy  ; 
in  Silesia  there  were  parishes  at  Karolath,  Kuttlau,  Militsch, 
and  Freistadt. 

It  thus  appears  that  there  existed  two  Provinces :  the  one, 
the  Polish,  with  perhaps  seventy  parishes  ;  the  other,  the  Pro- 
vince of  Bohemian-Moravian  exiles,  with  about  one  hundred 
parishes  scattered  through  Poland,  Hungary,  Transylvania, 
Silesia,  and  Prussia.^*  All  these  parishes  kept  up  the  ancient 
order,  ritual  and  discipline ;  established  parsonages  as  in  Bohe- 
mia and  Moravia ;  and  in  every  other  way  maintained  intact 
the  system  of  the  Unity.^^ 

Besides  the  two  Bishops  more  than  one  hundred  ministers 
came  to  Poland.^^  The  names  of  a  few  of  them  have  been 
preserved.  At  Lissa  labored  Paul  Fabricius,  John  Felin, 
John  Joram,  Matthias  Theodore  Krokocinsky,  Matthias  Pro- 
kop,  and  Daniel  Vetter,^^  together  with  Martin  Krusius,  a 

^^  Lukaszewicz,  p.  148. 

"  Gindely's  Comenius,  p.  483. 

^*  Regenvolscius,  p.  67. 

^®  Lukaszewicz,  p.  148. 

"  Daniel  Vetter,  or  Strejc,  was  the  fourth  son  of  George  Strejc  and  spent 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHUKCH.  565 

Bohemian  teacher,  who  was  subsequently  ordained  to  the 
priesthood  ;  at  Thorn,  Adam  Hartmann  ;  and  in  a  parish  near 
Sendomir,  John  Prokopius.  Of  the  clergymen  who  went  to 
Hungary  the  following  are  known  :  Fabin  Mezricky,  at  Fren- 
cin ;  John  Ephraim  Hradicky,  John  Sapor,  and  Lauriu,  at 
Puchow  ;  John  Soliu  and  the  notorious  Nicholas  Drabik,  at 
Lednic ;  John  Efronius  and  Paul  Vetter,  at  Skalic.^^ 

Synods  were  held,  as  of  old,  at  which  the  affairs  of  the 
Unity  and  its  schools  were  discussed,  measures  adopted  to 
counteract  the  persecutions  of  the  Jesuits,  and  steps  taken  to 
relieve  the  temporal  necessities  of  the  exiles/^  The  episcopal 
succession  was  carefully  kept  up.  On  the  seventh  of  March, 
1629,  Bishop  Gertich,  the  President  of  the  Council,  died  at 
Lissa,  aged  sixty -one  years.  His  successor  was  Bishop  Tur- 
novius.  But  he  too  was  called  to  his  eternal  rest,  a  few  weeks 
later,  on  the  eighth  of  April,  soon  after  his  return  to  Thorn 
from  the  funeral  of  his  colleague.  In  the  following  July  the 
Synod  convened  at  Lissa  and  elected  Paul  Paliurus ;  on  the 
sixth,  the  anniversary  of  John  Has,  he  was  consecrated  by 
Erastus,  Cyrill  and  Mikolajewski.^ 


his  youth  at  Namiest  and  Kralitz,  where  he  learned  the  art  of  printing. 
In  1620  he  was  appointed  instructor  in  the  Bohemian  language  to  King 
Frederick's  son.  Subsequently  he  accompanied  him  to  Holland,  where  he 
left  his  service  and  took  up  his  abode  at  Leyden.  Thence,  in  company  of 
John  Salmon,  he  undertook  a  voyage  to  Iceland.  On  his  return  to  Hol- 
land he  published  several  Bohemian  books,  and  subsequently  went  to  Lissa 
where  he  was  ordained  to  the  priesthood  and  took  charge  of  the  publication 
office  in  1632. 

^*  Miiller's  MS.  Notes.  John  Felin  was  transferred  from  Lissa  to  Puchow 
in  1650,  and  died  in  1662;  Hradicky  died  at  Puchow  in  1658  and  was  buried 
on  the  second  of  June,  Mezricky  preaching  his  funeral  sermon ;  Krokocin- 
sky  died  at  Lissa  in  1632 ;  Sapor  in  1649. 

"  The  proceedings  of  the  Synod,  from  1632  to  1636  are  given  in  the 
Dekreten, 

^°  Paliurus,  who  in  conjunction  with  Mikolajewski  presided  over  the 
Polish  Province,  was  born  in  Moravia  and  educated  at  German  and  Swiss 
universities.  His  first  appointment  was  as  Hector  of  the  school  at  Lob- 
senia ;  subsequently  he  labored,  for  twenty  years,  with  great  faithfulness  in 
the  parish  at  Grebocin.     The  translation  of  the  Polish  Bible,  published  at 


566  THE    HISTORY    OF 

The  cause  of  Protestantism  seemed  to  have  succumbed  to 
Ferdinand's  power  and  helplessly  awaited  the  execution  of  his 
Edict  of  Restoration;  but  in  1630  it  suddenly  revived.  Like 
an  eagle  from  his  northern  eyrie  Gustavus  Adolphus  came 
swooping  down  upon  Germany.  The  battle  of  Leipzig  (Sep- 
tember the  seventh,  1631)  changed  the  whole  current  of  the 
war.  Crushing  was  the  defeat  of  the  imperialists.  The  Elec- 
tor of  Saxony,  who  had  formed  an  alliance  with  the  Swedish 
King,  sent  an  army  into  Bohemia ;  Prague  was  taken ;  the 
Regent,  the  Archbishop,  the  Catholic  nobles,  fled  in  dismay ; 
the  Jesuits  were  banished  ;  the  Consistory  was  restored  ;  once 
more  the  true  faith  spread  its  benign  influences  throughout 
the  capital. 

On  the  twenty-first  of  November,  the  day  after  the  arrival 
of  the  Elector,  a  thanksgiving  service  took  place  in  the 
Thein  church.  To  the  same  sanctuary  were  reverently  con- 
veyed, in  a  common  coffin,  the  twelve  skulls  which,  for  ten 
years,  had  made  the  Bridge  Tow-er  a  ghastly  spectacle; 
and  after  a  memorial  oration  by  Martini,  removed  for  secret 
burial. ^^ 

Samuel  Martini,  of  Drazovin,  a  bigoted  Lutheran  and  im- 
placable enemy  of  the  Brethren,  was  appointed  Administrator 
of  the  new  Consistory-,  in  which  body,  through  his  influence, 
they  were  not  represented.  Nor  was  the  Bethlehem  Chapel 
restored  to  them.  Nevertheless  the  news  of  what  had  trans- 
pired at  Prague,  filled  their  hearts  with  joyful  praise  and 
awakened  the  hope  of  a  speedy  return  to  their  native 
country. 

Such  expectations  were  not  fulfilled.  For  six  months  only 
did  Protestantism  maintain  itself  at  Prague.  On  the  twenty- 
fifth  of  May,  1632,  Wallenstein,  whom  the  Emperor  by  the 
most  humiliating  concessions  had  induced  to  re-enter  his  ser- 
vice from  which  the  suspicions  of  the  Catholic  princes  had 

Dantzic  in  1632,  has  been  incorrectly  ascribed  to  him.  That  Bible  was  a 
mere  revision  undertaken  by  Mikolajewski  and  John  Turnovius,  of  an 
older  version.     Fischer,  II.  p.  184. 

2'  The  skulls  were  interred  in  the  St.  Salvator  church. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  567 

driven  him,  entered  the  city  in  triumph.  Again  were  the 
Evangelical  clergymen  banished ;  once  more  did  the  Arch- 
bishop and  the  Jesuits  return. 

Prior  to  these  unfortunate  changes,  on  the  thirtieth  of  April^ 
of  the  same  year,  Sigismund  the  Third,  the  Jesuit  King,  died 
at  Warsaw,  after  a  reign  of  forty-five  years.  Although  the 
policy  which  he  followed  during  this  long  period,  constituted 
the  real  origin  of  the  decline  and  fall  of  Poland,  the  prospect 
immediately  after  his  death  began  to  brighten.  He  was  suc- 
ceeded by  his  oldest  son,  Vladislaus  the  Fourth,  a  conscientious 
and  tolerant  monarch  who  tried  to  prevent  the  evils  which  he 
had  recognized  and  mourned  over  in  his  father's  time.  When 
swearing  to  observe  the  Pacta  Conventa  and  while  repeating 
the  words,  "  I  will  maintain  peace  with  the  Dissenters," 
Albert  Radziwill,  the  Chancellor  of  Lithuania,  interrupted 
him  and  said  :  "  Your  Majesty  surely  has  no  such  intention ! " 
Vladislaus  replied  :  "  What  I  swear  with  my  lips,  I  swear 
with  the  full  intention  of  carrying  out."^^  It  is  true  that  he 
could  not  prevent  the  machinations  of  the  Jesuits  and  that  the 
Protestants  continued  to  suffer  oppression ;  but  as  far  as  his 
power  went  he  faithfully  promoted  the  best  interests  of  his 
subjects  whatever  their  faith. 

In  the  same  month  in  which  he  ascended  the  throne  of 
Poland,  Gustavus  Adolphus,  the  hero  of  Sweden,  fell  at  Liit- 
zen  (November  the  sixteenth,  1 632).  This  was  a  severe  blow 
to  the  Protestant  cause.  In  as  much,  however,  as  his  Chan- 
cellor, Axel  Oxenstierna,  continued  the  war,  the  Brethren  still 
hoped  that  it  would  eventually  bring  about  their  restoration 
to  the  seats  of  their  fathers.  Of  such  hopes  the  frequent 
Synods  which  they  held  and  at  which  they  prepared  their 
Church  for  a  return  from  its  exile,  were  an  evidence. 

One  of  the  most  important  convened  at  Lissa  in  the  autumn 
of  1632.  The  first  subject  of  deliberation  was  the  episcopacy. 
While  in  the  act  of  preaching,  Cyrill,  on  the  thirtieth  of  May, 
1632,  had  been  stricken  with  paralysis  and  gathered  to  his 

^  Lukaszewicz,  p.  157. 


568  THE    HISTORY    OF 

fathers.^  Three  Bishops  survived :  Erastus,  Mikolajewski, 
and  Paliurus.  To  this  number  the  Synod  resolved  to  add 
four  more ;  three  for  the  Bohemian-Moravian  Province,  and 
one  for  the  Polish.  For  the  former  were  consecrated,  on  the 
sixth  of  October,  by  Erastus  and  his  two  colleagues :  Lauren- 
tius  Justinus ;  Matthias  Prokop,  a  man  of  singular  rectitude 
and  simplicity;  and  Amos  Comenius,  whose  fame  was  spread- 
ing far  and  wide :  for  the  latter,  Paul  Fabricius,  the  ex-asses- 
sor of  the  Prague  Consistory.^*  The  duties  of  President,  since 
the  death  of  Turnovius,  had  been  discharged  by  Erastus; 
now  he  was  formally  appointed  to  this  office.  Comenius  was 
constituted  archivist,  or  notarius,  and  superintendent  of 
schools.  As  new  members  of  the  Council,  and  therefore  as 
Assistant  Bishops,  were  set  apart  Hartmann,  Stadius  and 
Sapor.  Hartmann,  who  had  charge  of  the  church  and  school 
at  Thorn,  and  Stadius,  who  lived  at  Lissa,  were  commissioned 
to  prepare  young  men  for  a  theological  course  at  foreign  uni- 
versities.^ 

Publications  formed  another  subject  which  engaged  the  at- 
tention of  the  Synod.  Comenius  was  intrusted  with  the  edit- 
ing of  the  Ratio  Disciplince;  Stadius  with  the  preparation  of 
a  Bohemian  Concordance;  Hartmann  and  Joram  with  the 
further  translation  of  the  Loci  Communes  Theologici,  begun 
by  Bishop  Koneczny.  To  Hartmann  was  also  assigned  the 
collection  of  additional  materials  for  the  History  of  Persecu- 
tions.    The  original  Bohemian  manuscript  of  this  work  was 

^^  He  died  at  the  age  of  sixty-three  years.  His  brethren  mourned  for  him 
with  deep  sorrow  and  published  a  volume  containing  memorial  poems  in 
Polish,  Greek,  German,  Bohemian  and  Latin :  Lachrymae  super  insperato 
ex  hac  mortalitate  obitu,  etc.     Lukaszewicz  p.  148. 

^*  Justinus  was  born  in  1570  and  became  a  minister  of  the  Bohemian  Pro- 
vince ;  in  the  Anti-Reformation  he  found  a  refuge  in  Hungary,  where  he 
took  charge  of  a  parish.  Paul  Fabricius  was  born  in  1590  at  Straznic,  in 
Moravia;  when  driven  from  Bohemia  he  settled  at  Meissen,  in  Saxony, 
whence  he  came  to  Lissa. 

^^  In  1635  Hartmann,  at  the  particular  request  of  Prince  Radziwil),  who 
was  charmed  with  a  sermon  which  he  heard  him  preach,  accepted,  with 
permission  of  the  Council,  a  position  in  Lithuania ;  but  as  it  did  not  prove 
to  be  what  he  had  expected,  he  relinquished  it  in  the  following  year. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  569 

in  the  hands  of  the  Synod  which  resolved  to  publish  a  Latin 
translation.^® 

Another  important  Synod  took  place  at  Ostrorog  in  1633. 
The  episcopacy  again  claimed  attention.  Two  Bishops  had 
passed  away  since  the  last  meeting  :  Paliurus,  on  the  twenty- 
seventh  of  November,  1632,  at  Ostrorog,  aged  sixty -three 
years;  and  Mikolajewski,  on  the  fourth  of  April,  1633,  at 
Dembritz,  aged  seventy-three  years.  Both  of  them  belonged 
to  the  Polish  Province,  and  in  their  stead  were  consecrated, 
by  Erastus  and  his  colleagues,  on  the  seventeenth  of  April, 
Martin  Orrainius  and  John  Rybinski. 

Previous  to  his  consecration  Orminius,  a  native  of  Wier- 
uszewo,  had  labored  with  great  faithfulness  and  success  in 
various  parishes  of  Cujavia,  Prussia,  Great  Poland  and 
Lithuania.  Rybinski,  a  son  of  Bishop  Matthias  Rybinski, 
received  his  preparatory  training  at  Lissa  and  Thorn,  and 
completed  his  studies  at  Heidelberg  and  other  German  univer- 
sities. After  spending  some  time  in  Belgium,  where,  in  1618, 
he  was  present  at  the  famous  Synod  of  Dort,  he  visited  France 
and  England,  and  returned  to  Poland  in  1623.  He  became 
the  first  Rector  of  the  College  at  Lissa ;  and  after  his  ordina- 
tion to  the  priesthood,  in  1625,  filled  besides  the  office  of 
Polish  preacher.  His  scholarship  was  of  a  high  order ;  his 
proficiency  in  Hebrew,  Greek,  Latin,  and  several  modern  lan- 
guages extraordinary.  In  1629  he  left  Lissa  and  labored  as 
a  pastor  at  Kwilcz,  Grembocin,  and  Ostrorog.^^ 

The  temporal  condition  of  the  exiles  caused  anxious  deliber- 
ations. It  was  growing  worse.  Many  of  them  had  been 
obliged  to  sacrifice  all  their  property  and  could  find  no  means 
of  support.  A  legacy  of  four  thousand  Schock  Groschen  left,  in 
1630,  by  the  Baroness  Esther  Sadowsky  for  distribution  among 
them,  proved  timely  but  had  been  exhausted.^     To  the  aid 

^^  Dekrete  d.  B.  U.,  cited  by  Czerwenka,  II.  p.  651 ;  Regenvolscius,  pp. 
232  and  237  ;  MuUer's  MS.  Notes ;  Plitt's  Bischofthum. 

'"  Fischer,  II.  pp.  343  and  344.     Lissaer  Gymnasium,  pp.  VI.  and  VII. 

^^  Gindely's  Comenius,  p.  532.  Four  thousand  Schock  Groschen  were 
equivalent  to  about  |36,000. 


570  THE    HISTORY    OF 

which  the  Polish  Brethren  had  been  giving,  there  must  neces- 
sarily be  a  limit.  The  Synod  therefore  fell  upon  the  idea  of 
soliciting  the  Reformed  churches  of  Switzerland  for  help.  An 
appeal  was  prepared  by  the  Bishops  in  the  course  of  which 
they  said : 

"  The  offerings  which  you  will  give,  will  be  distributed  with 
such  care  that  each  recipient  will  consider  himself  obligated  to 
thank  you  through  us.  There  are  more  than  one  hundred  min- 
isters engaged  in  the  work  of  God  and  about  four  thousand  others, 
who  need  assistance.  Among  them  may  be  found  widows  and 
orphans ;  also  families  of  rank  and  formerly  of  such  wealth  as 
renders  it  almost  incredible  that  their  state  should  suddenly  have 
become  so  distressing,  or  that  they  should  be  left  in  it  by  their 
relations,  unless  upon  the  supposition  that  hatred  of  their  religion 
and  the  spirit  of  Antichrist  can  extinguish  even  natural  affec- 
tion."^'' 

With  this  letter  John  Abdon,  a  clergyman,  and  Paul  Stra- 
kowski,  a  layman,  were  sent  to  Switzerland.  They  brought 
back  an  insignificant  amount,  equivalent  to  but  a  few  hundred 
Polish  florins.  Hence  a  number  of  the  exiles  were  constrained 
to  leave  Great  Poland  and  seek  work  in  Little  Poland  and 
Lithuania.  In  the  following  year  (1634)  the  plague  broke 
out  and  carried  off  not  a  few  of  them.  At  a  later  time  the 
necessities  of  the  survivors  and  of  the  Unity  in  general  were 
again  relieved  through  a  legacy,  left  by  Baron  Nicholas  Ko- 
courovsky,  formerly  of  Kuttenberg.  His  entire  estate  fell  to 
the  Church.=^» 

Meantime  a  body  of  Lutherans,  whom  persecutions  had 
driven  from  Silesia,  arrived  at  Lissa.  The  Brethren  gave 
them  a  warm  welcome.  But  they  failed  to  reciprocate;  de- 
clined the  use  of  the  church  generously  offered  them  ;  and 
insisted  upon  having  one  of  their  own.  Count  Leszcynski 
yielded  to  their  importunities  and  instructed  Comenius  to  draw 
up  a  concession,  which  defined  their  relation  to  the  Brethren 
on  the  broad  and  liberal  basis  of  the  Consensus  Sendomiriensis. 
But  even  now  the  Lutherans  stood  coldly  aloof. 

''^  Lukaszewicz,  p.  149  and  Note  1,  where  the  entire  letter  is  given. 
^  Gindely's  Comenius,  p.  532. 


THE   MORAVIAN   CHURCH.  571 

Martini,  who  had  found  a  refuge  in  Saxony,  adopted  a  still 
more  reprehensible  course.  The  afflictions  weighing  upon 
him  and  all  the  exiles  in  common,  did  not  soften  his  bigoted 
heart.  In  quick  succession  he  published  three  polemical 
works  against  the  Unity  (1635,  1G36  and  1638);  and  not 
satisfied  with  this,  induced  the  Elector  to  banish  all  those  of 
its  members  settled  in  his  dominions  who  would  refuse  to 
accept  the  Lutheran  liturgy.  Some  yielded ;  others  forsook 
their  new  homes  and  joined  their  brethren  at  Lissa.^^ 

In  bright  contrast  with  such  outrages  practiced  by  Prot- 
estants upon  Protestants,  was  the  tendency  of  the  Synod 
which  met  in  that  town,  on  the  twenty-fifth  of  November, 
1636. 

A  Scotchman,  John  Dury,  deeply  impressed  with  the  injury 
done  to  the  cause  of  religion  by  the  dissensions  and  divisions 
prevailing  among  its  followers,  conceived  the  idea  of  bringing 
about  a  union  of  all  Evangelical  Churches.  To  this  purpose 
he  devoted  more  than  fifty  years  of  his  life,  traveling  over  the 
Continent  of  Europe  and  consulting  both  with  princes  and 
theologians.  Of  these  latter  many  favored  his  undertaking, 
which  was  warmly  sustained  by  several  bishops  of  the  Angli- 
can Church  also.^^ 

That  the  project  enlisted  the  ardent  sympathy  of  Comenius, 
may  well  be  supposed.  It  was  brought  before  the  Synod, 
which  body,  in  view  of  its  great  importance,  appointed  a  day 
of  prayer  and  fasting  throughout  the  Unity;  resolved  to  ad- 
vocate it,  especially  among  men  of  influence  ;  and  determined, 
in  case  a  general  congress  of  Protestants  should  convene,  to 
send  accredited  deputies.^ 

^^  Benham's  Comenius,  pp,  45  and  46  ;  Eegenvolscius,  p.  203.  About  this 
time  the  Polish  and  the  German  congregations  of  the  Brethren  worshiped 
in  the  church  built  in  1555 ;  the  congregation  of  Bohemian  exiles  in  the 
chapel  of  the  College ;  the  Lutherans  in  their  new  church.  Thirty  clergy- 
men in  all  were  living  at  Lissa. 

^'^  John  Dury,  often  called  Duraeus,  was  born  at  Edinburgh  either  in 
1595,  or  1596 :  began  his  work  in  1628 ;  and  died  at  Cassel,  September  the 
twenty-eighth,  1680. 

^^  Gindely's  Comenius,  p.  493. 


572  THE    HISTORY    OF 

In  the  same  year  in  which  this  Synod  convened  the  Unity 
lost  two  of  its  most  illustrious  nobles.  The  one  was  Count 
Raphael  the  Fifth  Leszcynski,  who  died  at  Lissa,  in  the  full 
assurance  of  eternal  life.  Coraenius  delivered  the  funeral 
sermon,  in  the  course  of  which  he  said : 

"  The  Count  was  a  pious  and  godly  man,  who  held  to  that  pure 
Evangelical  faith  which  is  firmly  founded  on  God's  Word  and  set 
forth  in  our  Bohemian  Confession,  whereof  he  was  a  mighty  patron. 
He  faithfully  promoted  the  glory  of  God,  protected,  supported 
and  in  every  way  furthered  the  interests  of  the  Church  and  the 
School.  The  public  worship  of  God  he  never  neglected  without 
cause,  much  less  a  participation  in  the  holy  Supper  of  the  Lord ; 
to  the  servants  of  Christ  he  listened  with  pleasure,  loved  and 
honored  them.  In  short,  whatever  his  hand  found  to  do  in  propa- 
gating the  cause  of  God  and  extending  the  Evangelical  faith, 
he  did  with  a  joyful  and  willing  mind  ;  and  received  a  rich 
reward.  I  will  not  multiply  words.  But  this  may  truthfully  be 
said  of  our  beloved  Count  and  Lord,  that  he  was  an  upright 
Eliakim,  God's  faithful  servant,  a  father  among  his  subjects,  a 
strong  pillar  of  his  own  noble  House,  of  his  country,  and  of  the 
Church  of  God.'"** 

On  leaving  Moravia,  Baron  Charles  von  Zerotin  had  taken 
up  his  abode  at  Breslau,  in  Silesia.  There  he  spent  the  re- 
maining years  of  his  illustrious  life,  occasionally  visiting  his 
estate  of  Prerau.  In  the  autumn  of  1636  he  felt  that  his  end 
was  drawing  near.  Not  in  a  strange  land,  but  on  his  native 
soil,  he  wished  to  die.  For  the  last  time  he  journeyed  to 
Prerau.  From  the  top  of  its  castle  a  large  part  of  Moravia  can 
be  seen.  Zerotin  ascended  the  tower  and  once  more  looked 
upon  the  country  which  he  loved  so  well.  The  valley  of  the 
March  stretching  far  away  to  the  Hungarian  frontier,  the 
fruitful  plain  of  the  Hanna,  with  Briinn  in  the  distance,  the 
Sudetic  mountains,  the  Carpathian  range,  Olmiitz,  Prossnitz, 
Fulneck,  and  many  other  towns  where  his  brethren  had  lived 
and  labored,  lay  before  him.  As  he  stood  and  gazed  upon  this 
familiar  landscape  his  heart  went  out  in  prayer  to  God,  invok- 
ing upon  Moravia  the  richest  blessings  for  all  time  to  come. 
Soon  after  he  died,  on  the  ninth  of  October.^^     His  remains 

^*  Lissaer  Gymnasium,  p.  XXVI. 
*^  Chlumecky's  Zerotin,  p.  864. 


^cantt^  C\i 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH.  573 

were  conveyed  to  Braudeis  on  the  Adler  and  entombed  in  the 
family  vault.^*^ 

^®  In  view  of  the  fact  that  the  remains  of  so  many  distinguished  men  of 
the  Unitas  Fratum  are  resting  in  neglected  graves,  or  scattered  and  even 
destroyed,  it  is  a  blessed  thing  to  know,  that  they  are  in  God's  keeping  and 
Avill,  through  His  power,  be  brought  to  light  on  His  great  day. 

Zerotin's  body  was  encased  in  a  copper  casket  on  which  was  engraved  a 
lengthy  Bohemian  inscription.  After  the  casket  had  been  deposited,  the 
vault  was  sealed  ;  and  for  eighty-eight  years  the  remains  slept  there  undis- 
turbed. In  1724,  when  his  name  and  career  had  been  almost  forgotten  at 
Brandeis,  one  of  its  inhabitants,  allured  by  dark  sayings  of  solid  silver  coffins 
hidden  in  the  vault,  broke  it  open  and  found  a  zinc  casket.  When  this  be- 
came known,  the  vault  was  officially  explored,  at  the  bidding  of  the  magis- 
trates and  the  Catholic  priest.  Eleven  zinc  and  two  copper  coffins  appeared, 
containing  eleven  bodies,  among  them  those  of  the  parents  of  Charles  Zero- 
tin,  as  also  a  large  number  of  jewels  and  other  valuables.  The  question  as 
to  who  should  own  these  coffins  and  jewels — that  they  should  be  left  in  the 
vault  was  an  idea  which  no  one  seems  to  have  entertained — brought  on  a 
law  suit  between  the  Catholic  priest  at  Brandeis  and  a  descendant  of  the 
Zerotin  family,  that  dragged  through  twenty-three  years  and  at  last  resulted 
in  the  following  decision :  Count  Lewis  von  Zerotin  was  to  receive  the 
jewels  and  other  valuables  upon  paying  500  florins  to  the  church  at  Brandeis ; 
this  church  was  to  receive  the  zinc  and  copper  coffins.  On  the  twelfth  of 
May,  1747,  this  decision  was  carried  out.  The  bones,  stripped  of  every- 
thing, were  placed  in  one  common  coffin  made  of  oak  and  remained  in  the 
vault.  About  1767  this  coffin  fell  to  pieces,  the  bones  dropped  out,  and  lay 
scattered  through  the  vault.  It  was  open  and  accessible  to  all.  At  a  later 
time  the  stones  of  Avhich  it  was  constructed  attracted  attention;  it  was  torn 
away;  with  its  stones  four  small  houses  were  built ;  and  what  was  left  of  the 
bones  of  the  Zerotin  family — many  bones  were  stolen,  others  lost — was 
buried  in  a  private  garden.     Chronik  von  Bohmen,  II.  pp.  483-486. 

On  our  visit  to  Brandeis  in  1879,  we  found  no  traces  whatever  of  the 
vault,  but  in  an  orchard,  the  property  of  a  peasant,  on  the  other  side  of  the 
garden-wall  mentioned  in  a  previous  note,  a  small  obelisk  surmounted  by  an 
urn,  and  showing  the  following  subscription,  which  is  evidently  of  modern 
origin :  "  From  the  bones  of  the  fathers  will  come  forth  a  blossom  that  will 
diligently  bloom,  and  out  of  their  deeds  will  grow  a  glorious  fruit." 

Charles  von  Zerotin  left  no  descendants.  His  two  daughters,  Bohunka 
and  Helena,  died  before  him  ;  his  wife  Catharine  von  Wallenstein  survived 
him.  She  was  buried  at  Treble.  Her  illustrious  brother  met  his  violent 
death  at  Eger,  February  the  twenty-fourth,  1634,  two  years  prior  to  the 
decease  of  her  husband. 


574  THE   HISTORY  OF 


CHAPTER  LI. 

The  Labors  of  Amos  Comenius  and  the  History  of  the  Unitas 

Fratrum  from  the  Synod  of  1636  to  the  Peace  of 

Westphalia.     A.  D.  1628-1648. 


Comenius  and  the  Lissa  College. — His  views  on  Education. — His  Corre- 
spondents and  Didactic  Works. — His  Janua  Linguarura,  Sermons,  and 
Pansophia. — A  great  literary  Scheme. — Visits  England. — Offered  the 
Presidency  of  Harvard  College  in  Massachusetts. — Lewis  de  Geer. — 
Comenius  at  Elbing.  —  Death  and  Election  of  Bishops. — The  Collo- 
quium Charitativum  at  Thorn. — Comenius  appointed  President  of  the 
Council. — The  Peace  of  Westphalia  and  its  Kesults. 

On  his  arrival  at  Lissa,  Amos  Comenius  found  employment 
in  the  College,  of  which,  in  the  course  of  a  few  years,  he 
became  the  Rector.^  At  his  instance  the  Synod  of  1635 
devised  for  it  a  more  complete  system  of  instruction.  Abra- 
ham   Scultetus'  work  on   Ethics  was    introduced  as  a  text- 

^  A  complete  account  of  the  labors  of  Comenius  would  fill  a  volume ;  we 
present  them  merely  in  so  far  as  they  form  a  part  of  the  history  of  the 
Unity.  From  this  point  of  view  the  most  important  source  is  Gindely's 
Comenius. 

The  Rectors  of  the  College  prior  to  Comenius  were :  Rybinski,  1624-1629 ; 
Andrew  Wengierski,  1629-1633  ;  and  Michael  Henrici.  The  year  in  which 
Comenius  took  charge  is  not  known,  but  Henrici's  rectorship  continued  for 
only  a  short  period. 

Andrew  Wengierski,  whom  we  have  so  frequently  cited  by  his  nom  de 
plume  of  Regenvolscius,  was  born  in  1600,  and  descended  from  a  noble  but 
impoverished  Polish  family.  He  received  his  education  at  Lissa,  Thorn 
and  several  Dutch  universities.  In  1629  he  returned  to  Poland,  and  was 
appointed  Rector  of  the  College,  as  also  preacher  of  the  Polish  congregation. 
Subsequently  he  entered  the  service  of  the  Reformed  Church,  and  became 
Superintendent  of  the  Lublin  District  in  Little  Poland.     In  1644  he  lost 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  575 

book ;  Comenius'  Janua  Linguarum  became  the  basis  for  the 
study  of  languages;  in  their  daily  intercourse  the  students 
were  to  use  the  Latin  tongue ;  religious  exercises  were  to  take 
place  every  morning  in  the  chapel.^  An  interesting  relic  is 
the  laws  of  the  College,  evidently  drawn  up  by  Comenius. 
They  show  that  the  Christian  religion  elevated  its  tone  and 
shaped  its  character.^ 

While  connected  with  this  school  he  began  to  develop  his 
views  on  education.  He  was  moved  to  do  this  both  by  the 
defects  of  the  existing  system  and  an  intense  love  for  his 
native  country  and  Church.  Amidst  a  thousand  discourage- 
ments he  ceased  not  to  hope  that  the  Bohemian  exiles  would 
return ;  that  the  Unity  of  the  Brethren  would  be  resuscitated 
in  its  ancient  seats-;  that  from  the  ruins  of  old  forms  would 
issue  the  dawn  of  a  new  time  for  the  Church  universal.  To 
prepare  the  rising  generation  for  this  better  era  was  his  stead- 
fast purpose.  He  meant  to  lay  the  foundation  of  an  educa- 
tional system,  simple  in  its  structure,  suitable  to  the  minds  of 
children,  exercising  their  faculties,  fitting  them  for  the  most 
important  avocations  of  life  and  preparing  them  for  their 
eternal  mission.  "This  noble  patriot  and  distinguished 
philanthropist,"  says  Zoubek,  "was  convinced  that  if  Bohemia 
and  Moravia  were  to  be  rejuvenated,  their  schools  must,  first 
of  all,  be  entirely  remodeled.  From  the  school  there  should 
proceed  a  new  people ;  from  the  family  a  new  school."  ^ 

The  fundamental  idea  underlying  his  projected  reform 
may  be  defined  in  his  own  language  as  follows :  "  Children 
must  learn  not  only  words,  but  also  objects  along  with  the 

all  his  property  in  consequence  of  the  invasion  of  the  Cossacks.  His 
valuable  library  was  totally  destroyed  ;  a  part  of  it  was  thrown  into  a  well, 
another  part  was  used  as  fuel  for  the  fire  at  which  the  marauders  roasted 
their  meat.  He  died  at  Orzeszkowo,  in  1649.  Lissaer  Gymnasum,  p.  vii; 
Krasinski,  II.  p.  288. 

"^  Zoubeck's  Comenius,  p.  xxvi,  etc. ;  Dekrete  d.  B.  U.,  cited  by  Czerwenka, 
p.  615 ;  Criegern's  Comenius,  pp.  34  and  35. 

*  Lissaer  Gymnasium,  Beilage  VI,  p.  xxxi,  where  these  laws  are  given 
in  full. 

*  Zoubek's  Comenius,  pp.  xix  and  xx ;  Reichel's  Geschichte,  p.  94. 


576  THE    HISTORY    OF 

words.  Not  the  memory  alone  ought  to  be  cultivated,  but 
likewise  the  reasoning  powers,  the  will,  the  affections.  This 
should  be  done  from  childhood  up.  Children  should  be 
taught  to  think  clearly  and  to  order  their  thoughts  properly ; 
at  the  same  time  an  affectionate  intercourse  with  them  should 
be  kept."^  Comenius  thus  became  in  matters  of  education, 
as  Laurie  calls  him,  "a  Sense-Realist — the  first  great  and 
really  consistent  Realist."^ 

He  began  to  labor  in  two  ways.  He  opened  a  correspond- 
ence with  learned  men  in  various  countries;  and  composed 
several  educational  works.  Among  his  correspondents  the 
most  enthusiastic  was  Samuel  Hartlib,  a  merchant,  scholar 
and  philanthropist  of  Loudon,  the  intimate  friend  of  John 
Milton  who  addressed  to  him  his  treatise  on  Education;^ 
among  his  works  the  most  important  were  "  The  Great 
Didactic,"  "The  Mother's  School,"  and  "The  People's 
School,"  all  written  in  Bohemian,  because  they  were  primarily 
intended  for  his  countrymen.^  That  work,  however,  which 
gave  the  best  exemplification  of  his  educational  principles  and 
contributed  most  largely  to  his  fame,  was  the  Janua  Linguarum 

*  Zoubek's  Comenius.     Benham's  Comenius,  p  39. 

*  Laurie's  Comenius,  p.  36. 

'  Hartlib  was  born  about  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century.  His 
father  was  a  Polish  merchant  of  German  extraction  settled  at  Elbing  in 
Prussia ;  his  mother  an  English  woman,  daughter  of  an  English  merchant 
of  Dantzic.  "Everybody  knew  Hartlib,"  writes  Masson  in  his  Life  of 
Milton.  "  By  the  common  consent  of  all  who  have  explored  the  intellec- 
tual and  social  history  of  England  in  the  seventeenth  century,  he  is  one  of 
the  most  interesting  and  memorable  figures  of  that  whole  period."  Laurie's 
Comenius,  pp.  39  and  40. 

*  In  1653  the  Didactic  was  reproduced  in  Latin  by  Comenius  himself,  and 
published  at  Amsterdam  in  1657.  It  was  translated  into  German,  Polish 
and  Croatian.  The  Bohemian  MS.  was  discovered  at  Lissa  in  1841,  but 
the  Austrian  censors  of  the  press  forbade  its  publication,  because  Comenius 
was  a  Bohemian  exile !  It  finally  appeared  in  1849,  through  the  exertions 
of  an  association  connected  with  the  Bohemian  Museum  at  Prague.  The 
Mother's  School  was  translated  into  German  and  Latin,  and  appeared  in 
1633,  1653  and  1657  ;  the  Bohemian  original  was  not  published  until  1856. 
Daniel  Benham  issued  an  English  translation  in  1858.  The  People's 
School  appeared  in  Latin,  in  1657,  at  Amsterdam ;  the  Bohemian  text  has 
not  yet  been  discovered. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH.  577 

Reserata,  or  "The  Gate  of  Languages  Unlocked."  It 
appeared  at  Lissa  in  1631,  and  consisted  of  one  thousand 
sentences,  presenting  a  summary  of  the  essential  parts  of  the 
Latin  language  and,  at  the  same  time,  a  bird's-eye  view  of 
the  whole  field  of  human  knowledge.  A  vocabulary  was 
appended.  This  book  met  with  a  success  which  is  almost 
unparalleled,  and  made  the  name  of  Comenius  known 
throughout  Europe,  in  various  parts  of  Asia,  and  in  the 
English  Colonies  of  America.  At  the  instance  of  the  Synod 
of  1635  he  prepared  a  Latin  and  Bohemian  edition;  others 
translated  the  work  into  German,  Polish,  Swedish,  Dutch, 
English,  Spanish,  Italian,  French,  Hungarian,  Greek,  Arabic, 
Turkish,  Persian  and  Mongolian.^ 

Comenius'  growing  fame  was  a  source  of  satisfaction  to  the 
Brethren.  It  spread  a  halo  around  their  Church,  whose 
activity,  sufferings  and  endurance  began  to  excite  universal 
attention  and  sympathy. ^"^  In  order  to  give  him  as  much 
time  as  possible  for  his  literary  labors  the  Synod  of  1636 
enacted :  that  as  Bishop  he  was  to  watch  over  the  discipline 
and  preach  to  the  Bohemian  congregation  at  Lissa ;  as  Rector 
to  have  the  general  oversight  of  the  College ;  while  all  the 
other  duties  of  his  office  were  to  be  committed  to  the  Assistant 
Bishop  Martin  Gertich.^^ 

In  his  sermons  Comenius  admonished  the  Bohemian  exiles 
as  a  father  and  comforted  them  as  a  friend.  In  one  of  these 
discourses  he  says :  ^^ 

'  In  some  of  these  editions  the  sentences  are  presented  in  parallel  columns 
in  two  languages ;  in  others  in  three;  in  still  others  in  four;  each  language 
having  a  vocabulary.  We  have  in  our  library  an  edition  of  1667,  in  Latin 
Bohemian  and  German ;  another,  of  1644,  in  Latin,  German,  French  and 
Italian.  Besides  these  editions  the  Malin  Library  contains  one  of  1643  in 
Latin  only;  one  of  1656  in  Latin  and  English  ;  one  of  1667,  in  the  same 
languages;   and  one  of  1805,  in  Latin  and  German. 

'°  Gindely's  Comenius,  p.  484. 

"  Ibid.     p.  487. 

^^  Twenty-one  of  his  Bohemian  sermons,  on  the  death,  resurrection  and 
ascension  of  Christ,  preached  in  1636  at  Lissa,  were  published  at  Amsterdam, 
in  1661 ;  the  extract  which  follows  is  taken  from  the  fifth  of  these  sermons. 
Criegern's  Comenius,  pp.  38  and  39. 
37 


578  THE    HISTORY    OF 

"  O  flock  driven  from  your  native  fields  for  Christ's  sake,  let  your 
hearts  rejoice!  Amidst  the  trials  which  have  come  upon  His  truth 
in  your  fatherland,  you  have  endured  to  the  end.  Let  the  cross 
of  Christ,  which  you  are  deemed  worthy  to  bear,  be  more  precious 
to  you  than  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world  in  their  glory  and  riches. 
Behold,  He  to  whom  you  have  been  faithful,  your  blessed  Lord, 
will  give  you,  in  fellowship  with  himself,  the  everlasting  kingdom  1 
Have  you  been  robbed  of  your  earthly  country? — the  heavenly 
awaits  you.  Are  you  looked  upon  as  the  footstool  and  refuse  of 
mankind? — He  is  preparing  for  you  a  place  with  Him  on  His 
throne.  Are  you  suffering  hardships,  hunger,  thirst  ? — He  will 
provide  for  you  the  table  of  bliss  that  you  may  eat  and  drink  in 
His  kingdom.  Blessed  therefore  is  he  who  abides  in  Christ; 
blessed  he  who  stands  fast  amidst  every  temptation." 

In  1635  Comenius  informed  the  Synod,  that  he  was  engaged 
in  preparing  a  Christian  Paiasophia,  that  is,  a  work  on  "  Uni- 
versal Knowledge"  from  a  Christian  point  of  view.  The 
Synod  heartily  wished  him  success.  His  Pansophic  project, 
which  was  intimately  connected  with  his  didactic  labors,  em- 
braced three  things :  first,  an  encyclopedic  grouping  of  human 
sciences  and  arts  in  their  totality;  second,  that  philosophy 
which  was  to  elevate  the  knowledge  of  these  sciences  and 
arts  to  the  highest  idea,  to  the  centre  of  all  things,  to  God ; 
third,  a  practical  part  which  should  bring  all  the  affairs  and 
relations  of  men  into  order  and  develop  them  to  a  complete 
harmony.  These  three  things,  in  an  inseparable  union  and 
mutually  supplementing  each  other,  should  be  carried  into 
practice  through  an  appropriate  and  well-ordered  system  of 
schools.'^  On  this  subject,  at  Hartlib's  request,  Comenius 
wrots  hira  a  long  epistle.  Hartlib,  without  the  consent  of 
Comenius,  published  it  at  Oxford  in  1637,  under  the  title 
Porta  Sapientice  Reserata,  or  '*  The  Gate  of  Knowledge  Un- 
locked," It  caused  a  profound  sensation  among  the  learned 
of  Europe;  many  approved  of  the  plans  which  it  set  forth, 
others  criticised  them.  In  order  to  meet  the  objections  of  the 
latter  Comenius  issued  an  additional  treatise  giving  a  more 
complete  exposition  of  his  views.^*     At  the  same  time  it  was 

''  Zoubek's  Comenius,  p.  xxvii. 

'*  Conatuum  pansophicorum  dilucidatio  in  gratiam  Censorum  facta,  pub- 
lished in  1638.  The  title  which  Comenius  himself  gave  to  the  epistle  pub- 
lished by  Hartlib  was  Prodrcymus  Pansophioe,  or  "  Precursor  of  Pansophy." 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  579 

apparent  to  him,  and  to  all  who  thought  with  him,  that  his 
Pansophic  ideas  "  could  be  carried  out  only  by  a  community 
or  college  of  learned  men,  and  that  this  college  would  have  to 
be  a  permanent  institution  for  the  furtherance  of  science,  and 
for  the  authoritative  promulgation  from  time  to  time  of 
scientific  status  quo."  ^^ 

The  immediate  result  of  these  Pansophic  publications  was 
a  large  increase  of  students  in  the  College  at  Lissa,  who 
flocked  from  all  parts  of  Poland  to  enjoy  the  instructions  of 
so  great  a  celebrity  as  Comenius  had  now  become,  and  an 
invitation  from  the  Government  of  Sweden  to  visit  that 
country  and  reform  its  schools.  This  invitation  he  declined. 
He  hoped  rather  to  secure  a  wealthy  patron  through  whose  aid 
he  could  devote  himself  to  a  magnificent  literary  scheme,  which 
he  now  devised,  and  employ  a  number  of  assistants  in  carrying 
it  out.*^  But  this  hope,  in  so  far  as  the  Polish  nobility  was 
concerned,  was  not  fulfilled.  Hence  in  1641  he  resigned  his 
rectorship  and,  with  the  concurrence  of  the  Executive  Council, 
accepted  an  invitation  which  Hartlib  had  worked  out  for  him 
from  the  British  Parliament,  to  come  to  England. 

Comenius  reached  London  on  the  twenty-first  of  September, 
and  found  that  the  King,  Charles  the  First,  had  gone  to 
Scotland  and  that  Parliament  had  been  prorogued  for  a  few 
weeks.  On  reassembling  in  October,  this  body  treated  him 
with  great  distinction,  told  him  that  a  Commission  of  learned 
men  would  be  appointed  to  confer  with  him,  and  proposed  to 
set  apart  the  revenues  and  buildings  of  a  college  in  London, 
or  Winchester,  or  Chelsea,  to   which  men  might  be  called 


'*  Laurie's  Comenius,  p.  41. 

16  Of  this  scheme  a  draft,  in  Comenius'  own  hand-writing,  is  extant.  He 
says:  "I  propose  to  render  the  study  of  the  sciences,  of  philosophy  and 
religion,  more  accessible  to  all,  and  to  make  it  more  useful  in  molding 
human  affairs."  To  this  end  he  projected  the  following  series  :  Eight  works 
treating  of  the  Latin  language ;  a  Pansophic  work  comprising  the  entire 
treasures  of  human  knowledge ;  a  Panhistoria,  comprising  Biblical  History, 
Natural  History,  the  History  of  Inventions,  of  extraordinary  Instances  of 
Virtue,  of  Eeligious  Ceremonies,  and  Universal  History;  and  a  work 
devoted  to  Universal  Dogmatics. 


580  THE    HISTORY    OF 

from  various  parts  of  the  world  and  in  which  they  could 
prosecute  their  researches,  thus  carrying  out  his  Pansophic 
scheme.' '^  The  hopes  of  Comenius  rose  high.  In  imagination 
he  saw  his  loftiest  ideals  realized.  But  suddenly  the  prospect 
grew  dark.  News  reached  London  of  the  breaking  out  of  the 
Irish  rebellion  and  the  massacre  of  the  Protestant  colonists. 
The  relation  between  the  King  and  Commons  became  more 
and  more  constrained ;  and  the  sittings  of  the  famous  Long 
Parliament  began.  England  was  on  the  eve  of  mighty  con- 
vulsions. National  affairs  absorbed  every  mind.  Comenius 
was  forced  to  confess  that  times  so  troubled  did  not  admit  of 
the  projects  which  he  had  in  view,  and  left  the  country  greatly 
disappointed  (1642). 

In  the  previous  autumn  Lewis  de  Geer,  a  rich  merchant 
and  philanthropist  of  Nordkoping,  in  Sweden,  had  oifered  to 
become  the  patron  of  his  literary  enterprises.  This  offer,  by 
permission  of  the  Executive  Council,  Comenius  now  accepted. 
While  on  the  way  to  Lissa  in  order  to  consult  with  his  col- 
leagues, prior  to  his  going  to  Sweden,  he  met,  probably  in 
Holland,  with  Governor  John  Winthrop  of  the  Massachusetts 
Colony,  who  tried  to  induce  him  to  come  to  America  and 
accept  the  presidency  of  Harvard  College,  which  had  been 
founded  at  Cambridge  in  1638.  This  overture  Comenius 
declined,  as  also  an  invitation  which  reached  him  from 
France  to  visit  that  country.'^  In  August  he  went  to  Sweden, 
where  he  consulted  with  his  patron,  was  presented  to  Queen 
Christina,  the  celebrated  daughter  of  Gustavus  Adolphus,  and 

1'  Laurie's  Comenius,  pp.  42  and  43. 

1*  Gindely's  Comenius,  p.  493.  Our  authority  for  the  interesting  fact  that 
Comenius  received  an  offer  of  the  presidency  of  Harvard  University,  as 
it  is  now  called,  is  Cotton  Mather  in  his  Magnalia  Christi  Americana,  or 
the  Ecclesiastical  History  of  New  England,  London,  1702.  Fourth  Book, 
containing  the  History  of  Harvard  College,  p.  128,  where  he  says:  "That 
brave  old  man,  Johannes  Amos  Commenius,  the  Fame  of  whose  Worth  hath 
been  Trumpetted  as  far  as  more  tlian  Three  Languages  (whereof  every  one 
is  Endebted  unto  his  Janua)  could  carry  it,  was  agreed  withal  by  our  Mr. 
Winthrop,  in  his  Travels  through  the  Low  Countries,  to  come  over  into 
New  England  and  Illuminate  this  Colledge  and  Country  in  the  Quality  of 
President :     But  the  Solicitations  of  the  Swedish  ambassador,  diverting  him 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  581 

formed  tlie  acquaiDtance  of  Axel  Oxenstierua,  John  Skyte, 
the  Chancellor  of  the  University  of  Upsala,  and  John 
Matthia,  Bishop  of  the  Lutheran  State  Church;  in  the 
following  October  he  began  his  literary  labors,  selecting  as  his 
place  of  residence  Elbing,  a  Prussian  town  on  the  Baltic  Sea. 
These  labors  were  carried  on,  in  conjunction  with  four  assist- 
ants, for  well-nigh  two  years. 

Meantime  an  unusual  event  was  maturing  in  Poland. 
Distressed  by  the  frequent  complaints  which  the  Protestants 
brought  ae-ainst  the  Catholics  and  the  stormv  scenes  that  in 
consequence  disgraced  the  Diet,  Vladislaus  the  Fourth  sug- 
gested the  idea  that  an  understanding  and  even  some  kind  of 
a  union  might  be  brought  about  between  the  Roman  Catholic 
and  Protestant  Churches.  This  project  received  the  support 
of  his  Chancellor,  George  Ossolinski,  and  was  strongly  urged 
by  Bartholomew  Nigrinus,  a  religious  adventurer,  by  birth  a 
Socinian,  then  a  Lutheran,  next  a  Calvinist,  and  finally  a 
Catholic,  who  assured  the  King  that  nothing  would  be  easier 
than  to  reconcile  the  Evangelical  Faith  with  Romanism. 
Vladislaus  consulted  the  Primate  of  Poland,  Archbishop 
Matthias  Lubienski,  and  Pope  Innocent  the  Tenth,  who  both 
gave  their  sanction ;  while  a  Catholic  Provincial  Synod, 
convened  at  Warsaw  in  1643,  warmly  espoused  the  scheme. 
A  Colloquy,  to  take  place  on  the  tenth  of  October,  1644,  at 
Thorn,  was  accordingly  decided  upon.  To  this  Colloquy, 
known  as  the  Colloquium  Charitativum,  the  Primate  issued 
letters  of  invitation.  The  letter  asking  the  Unitas  Fratrum 
to  take  part,  was  addressed  to  the  Rector  of  the  Lissa  Col- 
lege. He  referred  it  to  the  President  of  the  Council,  who 
convened  the  Synod.  This  meeting  Comenius  was  summoned 
to  attend.'^  It  opened,  at  Lissa,  on  the  fifteenth  of  April, 
1644.     His  presence  was  important.     New  bishops  were  to 

another  way,  that  Incomparable  Moravian  became  not  an  American."  At 
tliat  time  Mr.  Henry  Dunster  was  President,  who  "  fiU'd  the  Overseers  with 
uneasie  Fears,"  an  account  of  "  his  unhappy  entanglement  in  the  snares  of 
Anabaptism." 

^^  Benham's  Comenius,  p.  69. 


582  THE    PIISTOKY   OF 

be  consecrated.  lu  his  prime  and  in  the  midst  of  his  brilliant 
career  Rybinski  had  died,  at  Obrzycho,  on  the  thirteenth  of 
September,  1638;  while  Erastus,  having  reached  more  than 
three-score  years  and  ten,  had  been  called  away  at  Lissa,  on 
the  eighth  of  May,  1643;  and  Orminius  had  finished  his 
career  on  the  last  day  of  the  same  year,  at  Lissa.  In  order 
to  fill  these  vacancies  Martin  Gertich  and  John  Bythner  or 
Biittner  were  chosen.  They  received  consecration  at  the 
hands  of  Laurentius  Justinus  and  Comenins.  The  former 
had  succeeded  Erastus  in  the  office  of  President.^" 

In  response  to  the  invitation  to  send  representatives  to  the 
Colloquium  Charitativwn,  the  Synod  pledged  the  co-operation 
of  the  Uuitas  Fratrum,  provided  its  own  faith  was  not  to  be 
interfered  with. 

On  the  twenty-fourth  of  August  a  Union  Synod  of  the 
Brethren  and  Reformed  took  place  at  Orla.  Letters  were 
read  from  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg  and  the  Duke  of 
Courland,  from  several  Silesian  Princes  and  Prussian  cities, 
and  from  a  number  of  Protestant  Universities,  giving  their 
views  with  regard  to  the  proposed  Colloquy.  In  the  opinion 
of  all  assembled  more  time  was  necessary  in  order  to  prepare 
for  it;  and  a  resolution  passed  asking  the  King  to  appoint  a 
later  day.  To  this  request  he  assented  and  fixed  upon  the 
twenty-eighth  of  August,  1645.  Active  preparations  were 
now  made  on  all  sides.  In  spring  (1645)  the  Brethren  and 
the  Lutherans  convened  their  synods  simultaneously  at  Lissa. 
^he  Synod  of  the  Brethren  opened  on  the  twenty-third  of 
April,  and  elected  fourteen  lay  and  the  following  five  clerical 
delegates:  Bythner,  Comenins,  John  Felinus,  Benjamin 
Ursinus,  George  Vechner.  Two  days  later  this  Synod  pro- 
ceeded, in  a  body,  to  the  Lutheran  church  and  presented  to 

2°  Fischer,  II.  p.  344 ;  Quellen,  p.  453  ;  Plitt's  Bischofsthum ;  Regenvol- 
scius,  p.  323  and  392.  Martin  Gertich,  a  nephew  of  Bishop  Martin  Gratian 
Gertich,  was  born  at  Lasswitz  in  1691  ;  and  educated  at  Beuthen  and 
Thorn.  In  1640  he  was  appointed  German  preacher  at  Lissa,  ordained 
Assistant  Bishop  and,  as  we  have  said,  associated  with  Comenius.  Bythner, 
the  son  of  Bartholomew  Bythner,  was  born  in  1602,  educated  at  Thorn,  and 
subsequently  had  charge  of  the  parishes  at  Milenczyn,  Karmin  and  Debnica. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  583 

the  Lutheran  Syuod  a  memorial  proposing  union  at  Thorn, 
"as  one  host/'  against  the  common  foe.  In  due  time  an 
answer  was  returned.  It  was  fraternal  in  its  character. 
Union  with  the  Brethren  was  desirable;  their  memorial 
would  be  submitted  to  the  Theological  Faculty  at  Wittenberg 
for  its  judgment ;  if  this  should  prove  to  be  favorable  the 
Lutherans  would  convene  a  syuod  at  Fraustadt  and  establish 
a  perpetual  fellowship  with  the  Brethren ;  at  Thorn,  in  any 
case,  the  Lutherans  would  make  common  cause  with  them. 

The  opinion  of  the  Faculty  was  not  favorable.  Under  no 
circumstances  could  the  proposed  union  between  the  Lutherans 
and  Brethren  be  allowed,  not  even  temporarily  at  Thorn. 
Thus,  with  ranks  that  were  divided,  the  Protestants  came  to 
the  Colloquy. 

It  opened  on  the  appointed  day.  There  were  present  twenty- 
five  Catholic  delegates,  under  the  leadership  of  the  Bishop 
of  Samogitia;  twenty-three  delegates,  with  Gorajski,  the  Cas- 
tellan of  Kulm,  and  Bishop  John  Bythner  at  their  head, 
representing  the  Uuitas  Fratrum  and  the  Reformed  Church 
conjointly ;  and  twenty-eight  on  the  part  of  the  Lutherans. 
By  order  of  the  King,  George  Ossoliuski,  the  Chancellor  ot 
Poland,  presided,  with  John  Leszcynski,  the  Castellan  of 
Gnesen,  as  vice-president.  The  meetings  were  held  in  the 
Town-Hall.  Vladislaus  had  given  the  most  minute  instruc- 
tions in  relation  to  the  manner  of  conducting  the  Colloquy. 
First  each  Church  was  to  present  its  doctrines;  then  an 
understanding  was  to  be  reached  as  to  the  truth  or  falsity  of 
these  doctrines ;  and  finally  the  ceremonies,  or  rituals,  of  the 
four  Churches  were  to  be  discussed.  However  moderate  the 
purpose  may  be  called  which  these  points  aimed  at,  it  was  not 
reached.  Three  months  were  spent  in  fruitless  and  often 
childish  disputes.  The  Colloquy  closed  on  the  twenty-first  of 
November,  in  a  side  room  of  the  Town-Hall,  and  in  the 
presence  of  a  handful  of  members.  Thirty-six  sessions  had 
taken  place.^' 

^^  Lukascewicz,   p.   1 65-173 ;    Fischer,    II.  p.  544-247 ;    Krasinski,   II. 
chap.  XI. 


584  THE    HISTORY   OF 

In  the  very  nature  of  the  case  a  union,  or  even  an  under- 
standing, was  impossible.  Protestantism  and  Komanism 
could  coalesce  as  little  as  fire  and  water.  The  two  elements 
are  radically  discordant.  Indeed  an  agreement  just  to  both 
parties  was  never  seriously  thought  of.  The  Catholics  favored 
the  Colloquy  because  they  imagined  that  they  would  gain  an 
easy  victory  over  the  Protestants,  to  whom  they  were  willing 
to  grant  a  few  unimportant  concessions,  if  they  would  return 
to  the  mother-church ;  the  Protestants  were  ready  to  take 
part,  in  the  hope  that  their  status  in  Poland  would  be  restored. 

Much  against  his  will  Comenius  had  been  persuaded  to 
accept  his  election  as  delegate.  Although  ardently  desiring 
union  among  all  Christians,  he  had  no  confidence  in  the  suc- 
cess of  this  movement,  no  sympathy  with  the  sectarian  spirit 
animating  the  Protestants  even  while  preparing  for  the  Col- 
loquy, and  no  belief  in  the  sincerity  of  the  Catholics.  He 
therefore  did  not  take  an  active  part;  left  Thorn  on  the 
eighteenth  of  September;  and  returned  to  Elbing  deeply 
wounded  by  a  letter  which  he  had  received  from  Lewis  de 
Geer  censuring  him  for  his  absence.  It  was  only  at  the 
earnest  solicitations  of  Hotton,  de  Geer's  agent,  that  he  con- 
sented to  keep  up  his  connection  with  the  latter  and  resume 
his  literary  labors  at  Elbing.  Such  labors  engaged  his  atten- 
tion until  1648,  when  Bishop  Justinus,  the  President  of  the 
Council,  died  at  the  advanced  age  of  seventy-eight  years. 
Comenius  was  appointed  his  successor  and  removed  to  Lissa. 

In  1635  the  Elector  of  Saxony,  true  to  his  ignoble  policy, 
had  withdrawn  from  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  given  up  the 
idea  of  reestablishing  Protestantism  in  any  of  the  Austrian 
dominions,  and  concluded  a  separate  treaty  with  Ferdinand 
the  Second ;  and  now,  in  the  same  year  in  which  Comenius 
returned  to  Lissa,  the  general  Peace  of  Westphalia  brought 
that  war  to  a  close  (October  the  twenty-fourth).  Ferdinand 
the  Second  no  longer  figured  in  its  eventful  history  f^  but  if 
he  had  still  been  on  earth  and  swayed  the  negotiations  at 

^'^  He  died  Februuiy  15,  1637. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  585 

Osiiabriick,  the  Peace  could  not  have  been  more  disastrous  to 
Bohemia  and  Moravia.  These  two  countries  were  uncondi- 
tionally left  in  the  power  of  his  successor,  Ferdinand  the 
Third,  as  bigoted  a  Romanist  as  himself.  There  was  not 
made  a  single  stipulation  in  favor  of  their  exiled  sons  and 
daughters.  The  claims  of  the  Brethren  were  neglected ;  the 
promises  given  to  Comenius,  that  Sweden  would  care  for  the 
restoration  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum  to  its  native  seats,  were 
broken.  His  heart  was  almost  crushed.  The  whole  Church 
lamented  with  him. 

The  feelings  by  which  Comenius  was  agitated  in  this  dark 
period  of  his  life,  are  forcibly  expressed  in  several  of  his 
writings.     At  the  close  of  his  History  he  says  : 

"  Will  those  be  able  to  justify  their  actions  before  God,  who 
forgot  the  Evangelical  cause  and  the  ancient  compacts,  failed  to 
help  the  oppressed,  and  even  incited  the  enemy  against  their 
own  brethren  and  neighbors,  saying,  as  the  children  of  Edom 
said  of  Jerusalem,  'Rase  it,  rase* it,  even  to  the  foundation 
thereof?'  "  '^^ — He  refers  to  the  course  of  the  Elector  of  Saxony  in 
1635. — "Others" — the  Swedes,  French  and  Protestant  Germans 
— "  when  they  concluded  peace,  forgot  that  the  Bohemians,  who 
first  fought  so  manfully  against  Antichrist  and  continued  the 
struggle  for  centuries,  deserved  to  have  Protestants  contend  for 
them,  in  so  far  at  least,  as  to  prevent  the  light  of  the  Gospel  from 
being  utterly  extinguished,  as  it  now  is,  in  those  very  places 
where  it  was  first  kindled  and  put  upon  a  candlestick."^* 

As  soon  as  Comenius  heard  of  the  conditions  of  the  pro- 
posed Peace,  he  wrote,  either  to  Oxenstierna  or  Bishop 
Matthiii — the  letter  has  no  address — in  the  following  pointed 
words : 

"  The  oppressed  of  my  people  and  of  our  neighbors  entertained 
the  hope  that  you  were  instruments  raised  up  by  God  to  make 
an  end  of  our  spiritual  slaughterers.  In  regard  to  this  point 
they  received  numberless  promises  from  those  who  exercise 
influence  among  you.  It  was  said,  that  either  by  the  power  of 
the  sword,  or  through  peaceable  negotiations  at  the  end  of  the 
war,  we  would  be  remembered  and  together  with  all  the  exiles 

•^5  Psalm   137,7. 

^*  Comenii  Hist.,  §  127,  p.  45.  In  his  Introduction  to  the  8th  Book  of 
Lasitius,  p.  5,  he  also  speaks,  in  bitter  terms,  of  the  Peace  of  Westphalia. 


58G  THE    HISTORY    OF 

restored  to  our  former  state  and  condition.  Now,  however, 
we  see  that  we  and  they  have  been  forsaken.  What  can  the 
unfortunate  exiles  now  expect  of  you?  Where  are  all  your 
solemn  promises  ?  What  has  become  of  your  protestations  that 
you  were  seeking  nothing  except  the  liberty  of  the  oppressed  ? 
Are  a  few  casks  of  gold  a  worthy  reward  of  such  efforts,  while  so 
many  thousands,  yea  myriads,  of  souls  are  left  in  the  claws  of 
Antichrist  ?  Where  among  you  is  the  zeal  of  Moses  who,  when 
Pharaoh  was  willing  to  let  the  people  go  but  wanted  to  keep 
their  flocks  and  herds,  said  :  '  Our  cattle  also  shall  go  with  us ; 
there  shall  not  an  hoof  be  left  behind  ?  "  '^^ 

Again,  on  the  eleventh  of  October,  a  fortnight  prior  to 
the  signing  of  the  Articles  of  Peace,  he  addressed  a  letter 
to  Oxenstierna  in  which  he  said  : 

"  As  pleasant  as  it  formerly  was  for  my  countrymen,  who  are 
persecuted  for  the  Gospel's  sake,  to  hear  what  your  Excellency 
commissioned  me  and  others  to  make  known  to  them,  namely, 
that  we  would  never  be  forgotten — so  discouraging  it  now  is  to 
learn,  that  we  have  been  forsaken  and  sacrificed  in  the  negotia- 
tions at  Osnabriick.  Of  what  use  is  it  to  us,  deprived  as  we  now 
are  of  the  fruits  of  the  Peace,  that  next  to  God  we  looked  upon 
you  as  our  liberators,  that  you  won  the  victory  by  the  help  of 
our  tears,  if,  although  it  lay  in  your  power  to  deliver  us  from 
our  captivity,  you  surrender  us  anew  into  the  hands  of  our 
oppressors  ?  Of  what  use  is  it  that  we  have  been  admonished 
by  you  concerning  the  sacred  Evangelical  compacts  which  our 
forefathers  made  and  which  were  consecrated  with  the  holy 
blood  of  martyrs,  when  you  manifest  no  anxiety  that  our 
Kingdom  should  be  reopened  to  the  Gospel  ?....!  write  in 
the  name  of  many,  and  constrained  by  their  lamentations,  I  kneel 
at  your  feet,  at  the  feet  of  your  Queen  and  of  the  Directory,  and 
adjure  you,  by  the  wounds  of  Christ,  not  utterly  to  forsake  us 
who  are  persecuted  for  Christ's  sake."^® 

^  Gindely's  Comenius,  p.  506. 

'■^^  Gindely's  Comenius,  pp.  506,  507  and  5il. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  587 


CHAPTEE  LII. 

The   Unifas  Fratrum  from  the  Peace  of  Westphalia 

to  the  Destruction  of  Lissa. 

A.n.  1648-1656. 


Comenius  publishes  the  Eighth  Book  of  Lasitius. — Writes  the  Testament 
of  the  Dying  Mother. — His  hibors  as  Presiding  Bishop. — The  Condi- 
tion of  Poland. — Comenius  in  Transylvania. — Nicholas  Drabik,  the 
false  Prophet. — Loss  of  the  Church  at  Lissa. — The  Russians  come  to 
the  Aid  of  the  Cossacks. — War  with  Sweden. — Destruction  of  Lissa. — 
Czarniecki's  Army  in  Great  Poland. — The  Sufferings  of  the  Brethren. 
— Their  martyred  Ministers. — The  Membership  scattered — Retreats 
in  Silesia. — Experiences  of  Comenius. 

Amidst  the  sorrows  of  the  present  Comenius  sought  com- 
fort in  the  past.  He  had  found  in  Zerotin's  library  at  Breslau, 
the  manuscript  History  written  by  Lasitius.  This  work  he 
began  to  study;  and  in  1649  published  its  Eighth  Book,  as 
also  extracts  frorh  the  other  Books  together  with  a  summary 
of  their  contents.  He  prefixed  an  Introduction  and  added  a. 
lengthy  Conclusion.  The  entire  publication  was  to  be  a 
memorial  of  the  life  and  works  of  the  fathers.^ 


'  The  title  of  the  work  is  :  Lasitii  Historiae  De  Origine  et  Rebus  gestis 
Frat.  Boh.  Liber  Octavus.  (Lissa.)  1649.  This  Eighth  Book  contains  an 
account  of  the  constitution,  discipline  and  usages  of  the  Brethren.  A 
second  abbreviated  edition  appeared  in  1660  at  Amsterdam.  In  1869  the 
Bohemian  translation  which  came  out  at  Lissa  simultaneously  with  the 
Latin,  was  republished  at  Prague  by  the  Amos  Comenius  Association.  A 
German  translation  of  the  Introduction  and  Conclusion  was  published  at 
Frankfort  and  Leipzig,  in  1743,  under  the  title  :  J.  A.  Comenii  Erste  Liebe. 
Tliis  work  omits  whole  paragraphs  of  the  original  and  is  quite  unreliable. 


588  THE    HISTORY    OP 

Under  date  of  November  the  first,  1649,  Coraenius  had 
written  to  Oxenstierna  and  condoled  with  him  on  the  death 
of  his  wife ;  at  the  same  time,  as  his  letters  in  relation  to  the 
Peace  had  given  great  offence  to  the  Chancellor,  he  had  begged 
him  to  excuse  their  severe  language  because  it  had  come  from 
an  agonized  heart.  Now  he  sent  him  copies  of  his  new  work, 
in  the  hope  of  arousing  the  sympathies  of  the  Swedish  court 
on  behalf  of  the  Brethren.  Gifts,  to  a  very  moderate  amount, 
for  distribution  among  the  exiles,  were,  however,  the  only  re- 
sult. "From  that  time,"  says  Gindely,  "a  tone  of  lamenta- 
tion makes  itself  heard  throughout  all  the  correspondence  of 
Comeuius."  ^ 

Nothing  renders  more  transparent,  the  depth  of  his  sorrow 
and  the  fullness  of  his  faith,  than  a  short  work  which  he 
issued  in  the  following  year  (1650).  Jt  is  entitled  :  "  The 
last  Testament  of  the  dying  Mother,  the  Brethren's  Unity, 
who,  seeing  that  her  trunk  and  branches  are  decaying,  divides 
among  her  sous  and  daughters  the  treasures  which  have  been 
intrusted  to  her  by  God."  He  represents  the  Unity  as  a 
mother,  who  calls  her  children  and  sisters — the  other  Protest- 
ant Churches — around  her  death-bed  in  order  to  speak  to 
them  words  of  affectionate  admonition.  Kee])ing  up  this 
image  he  addresses  the  Brethren's  Church ;  the  Romish,  the 
Lutheran  and  the  Reformed  Churches;  all  the  Churches  con- 
jointly ;  and  finally  the  Bohemian  nation.  His  words  are 
instinct  with  love  and  set  forth  in  rich  colors  the  beauty  of  his 
catholic  spirit.'^ 

Comenius  did  not  allow  his  feelings  to  interfere  with  his 
work.  It  was  of  the  most  laborious  character.  Laying  aside 
his  literary  activity  he  devoted  himself  to  the  interests  of  the 
Unity  and  of  the  Bohemian  exiles.     He  faithfully  discharged 


The  extravagant  assertions  contained  in  the  Introduction  and  Conclusion  re- 
garding a  spiritual  decline  among  the  Brethren,  led  to  that  unhistoric 
view  of  which  we  have  spoken  in  a  previous  chapter. 

'^  Gindely's  Comenius,  p.  507. 

^  Published  in  Bohemian  at  Lissa,  1651.  Reichel's  Geschichte,  p.  124- 
144,  and  Cro-ger  II,  p.  395-412,  give  the  German  translation  in  full. 


THE   MORAVIAN   CHURCH.  589 

the  duties  of  his  episcopal  office ;  brought  about  a  close  fel- 
lowship between  the  Polish  and  Hungarian  parishes  ;  secured 
for  the  exiles  financial  aid  from  England,  Sweden  and  Hol- 
land ;  cared  for  the  impoverished  nobles  who  were  unable  to 
support  themselves ;  secured  positions,  especially  as  teachers, 
for  young  Bohemians  ;  and  induced  the  University  of  Oxford, 
where  the  sufferings  of  his  countrymen  had  excited  the  deep- 
est sympathy,  to  create  stipends  for  Bohemian  students. 
There  were  few  European  countries  in  which  exiles  could  not 
be  found  in  the  capacity  of  private  tutors,  public  teachers, 
artists,  or  clergymen.^ 

About  this  time  the  condition  of  Poland  was  alarming. 
The  last  days  of  Vladislaus  the  Fourth,  who  died  in  1648, 
were  distracted  by  a  revolt  among  the  Cossacks,  under  Chmiel- 
nicki,  which  spread  from  the  Ukraine  over  the  entire  south- 
eastern section  of  the  kingdom,  and  grew  more  terrible  the 
farther  it  progressed.  In  the  autumn  John  Casimir,  a  brother 
of  Vladislaus,  was  elected  to  the  throne.  But  he  showed 
himself  incompetent  and  became  extremely  unpopular.  His 
bigotry  filled  the  Protestants  with  suspicion,  irritated  as  they 
were  by  the  failure  of  their  attempt,  both  at  the  Diet  of  Con- 
vocation and  the  Diet  of  Election,  to  establish  their  rights 
through  additional  guarantees.  His  scandalous  relations  to 
the  wife  of  his  Vice-Chancellor,  Radziejowski,  turned  this 
powerful  noble  into  a  bitter  foe.  His  foolish  aspirations  after 
the  Swedish  crown  brought  war  and  misery  upon  Poland. 

In  spring  of  1650  Comenius  accepted  an  invitation  from 
the  widow  of  Prince  Rakoczy  and  her  son  Sigismund  to  re- 
organize the  schools  of  Transylvania.  On  the  way  to  that 
country  he  visited  the  Hungarian  churches,  spending  the 
Easter  festival  at  Skalic.  Their  ministers  earnestly  warned 
him  against  Nicholas  Drabik.  This  man  had  cast  off  the 
restraints  of  the  ministry  and  given  himself  out  as  a  prophet. 
Since  1643  he  had  been   forecasting  the  future;   dethroning 

*  Gindely's  Comenius,  p.  508.  A  number  of  Bohemians  settled  perma- 
nently in  England,  and  their  descendants,  often  with  anglicized  names,  are 
still  to  be  found. 


590  THE    HISTORY    OF 

monarchs ;  raising  up  new  dynasties  ;  distributing  kingdoms ; 
and  readjusting  the  political  systems  of  Europe.  He  was  an 
impostor  and  a  knave.  And  yet  he  had  gained  an  unfortunate 
influence  over  Comenius  whose  mystical  bent  of  mind,  inten- 
sified by  his  sorrows  and  hopes,  led  him  to  believe  that  in  so 
extraordinary  an  age  God  might  see  fit  to  restore  the  gift  of 
prophecy.  The  expostulations  of  the  Hungarian  clergy  were 
of  no  avail.  He  remained  firm  in  his  convictions  that  Drabik 
might  be  inspired  from  on  high. 

Comenius  spent  but  a  short  time  in  Transylvania.  Soon 
after  his  return  to  Lissa,  however,  the  Princess  Rakoczy  wrote 
to  the  Executive  Council  and  begged  that  he  might  be  allowed 
to  come  back,  as  she  wished  to  establish  a  college.  She  offered 
inducements  which  inclined  the  Council  to  grant  her  request. 
In  the  autumn  Comenius  took  up  his  residence  at  Saros  Patak. 
There  he  remained  for  nearly  four  years,  organizing  the  col- 
lege which  proved  only  a  partial  success,  discharging  his  duties 
as  presiding  Bishop,  and  engaged  in  literary  labors.  The  most 
celebrated  work  which  he  wrote  in  this  period,  was  his  Oi'bis 
P  ictus. ^ 

While  he  was  residing  in  Transylvania  his  brethren  at  Lissa 
passed  through  trying  experiences.  Raphael  the  Fifth  Lesz- 
cynski  was  succeeded,  as  lord  of  that  town,  by  his  third  son, 
Boguslaw,  who  was  pursued  with  representations  on  the  part 
of  his  Catholic  friends,  that  his  political  advancement  was  im- 
possible if  he  remained  a  Protestant.  At  last,  about  1652,  in 
order  to  gain  the  important  offices  of  Hereditary  Treasurer 
and  General  of  Great  Poland,  he  joined  the  Romish  Church. 
The  Catholics  rejoiced.  To  them  Lissa,  which  place  had  been 
growing  and  thriving  until,  in  the  language  of  Comenius,  "its 
marvelous  prosperity  left  all  other  towns  of  Poland  far  be- 
hind," was  a  perpetual  eye-sore.^     It  constituted  the  strong- 

^  The  Orbis  Pictus,  or  the  Pictured  World,  was  a  work  of  the  same  char- 
acter as  the  Janua,  but  improved  and  profusely  illustrated  with  wood-cuts. 
It  was  published  at  Nurnberg  in  1658,  and  met  Avith  great  success,  passing 
through  many  editions,  some  of  which  are  of  recent  date. 

•*  Lissaer  Geschichte,  p.  9. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  591 

hold  of  the  hated  Unity  and  the  most  influential  centre  of 
Polish  Protestantism.  For  years  it  had  excited  their  envy ; 
now  they  already  saw  it  within  their  grasp.  Great  therefore 
was  their  indiffuation  when  Count  Boaruslaw  renewed  the  re- 
ligious  privileges  granted  by  his  fathers.  But  the  Pomanists 
were  not  to  be  foiled.  They  fell  back  upon  an  expedient 
which  had  often  proved  successful.  The  Bishop  of  Posen 
laid  claim  to  the  church-edifice  owned  by  the  Brethren,  on 
the  plea  that  it  had  originally  been  Catholic  property.  This 
was  false  and  Leszcynski  resisted  his  claim.  But  the  tribunal 
before  which  the  case  was  brought,  decided  against  the  Count. 
The  Brethren  were  forced  to  give  up  their  sanctuary.  By  his 
permission,  however,  they  immediately  began  to  build  another. 
Its  corner-stone  was  laid  in  1652  and  the  edifice  was  finished 
in  1654.7 

In  the  latter  year  two  events  of  political  importance  took 
place.  The  Czar  of  Russia  came  to  the  aid  of  the  revolted 
Cossacks ;  and  Queen  Christina  resigned  the  Swedish  crown 
in  favor  of  her  cousin,  Charles  the  Tenth  Gustavus,  and  re- 
tired to  Rome  after  having  joined  the  Catholic  Church. 

Against  such  a  transfer  of  the  crown,  John  Casimir  pro- 
tested, asserting  that  he  was  the  rightful  successor  because 
his  father  had,  at  one  time,  been  King  of  Sweden.  The  result 
was  a  declaration  of  war  on  •  the  part  of  Charles  the  Tenth 
(1655),  and  the  invasion  of  Great  Poland  by  an  army  of  seven- 
teen thousand  men  under  Fieldmarshal  Wittenberg.  With 
these  invaders  the  Palatines  of  Kalisch  and  Posen  made  com- 
mon cause.  This  was  owing  to  the  intrigues  of  Radziejowski.'* 
Soon  after  a  second  Swedish  army  appeared.  At  its  head  was 
Charles  himself,  and  in  a  very  short  time  he  conquered  the 

^  Lissaer  Geschichte,  p.  11.  This  building  occupied  the  site  of  the  church 
of  St.  John,  now  belonging  to  one  of  those  Reformed  parishes  which  are 
known  as  the  Unitdtsgemeinden,  or  "  Congregations  of  the  Unity,"  of  which 
we  will  speak  in  a  later  chapter.  According  to  the  Lissaer  Geschichte,  the 
Brethren  had  a  second  church-edifice  at  Lissa,  but  we  have  found  no  furtlier 
account  of  it  in  any  of  the  sources. 

^  Krasinski,  II.  p.  276,  shows  that  the  accusation  of  Lukaszewicz,  that  the 
Protestants  mainly  caused  the  defection,  is  incorrect. 


592  THE    HISTORY    OF 

eutire  kingdom,  excepting  Polish  Prnssia  and  the  parts  over- 
run by  the  Cossacks  and  Russians.  John  Casimir  fled  to 
Silesia. 

Such  marvelous  success  demoralized  the  Swedish  troops, 
who  beo-an  to  plunder  churches,  convents  and  nunneries ;  to 
murder  priests  and  monks ;  and  to  commit  other  outrages. 
The  course  pursued  by  General  Wrzesowitz,  a  native  of  Bohe- 
mia, was  particularly  barbarous.  He  avenged  upon  the  Polish 
Catholics  the  sufferings  of  his  countrymen  in  the  Anti-Refor- 
mation. That  these  enormities  were  instigated  by  the  Evan- 
gelical party,  as  Roman  Catholic  writers  assert,  is  false ;  that, 
on  the  contrary,  the  Protestants  espoused  the  cause  of  Charles 
the  Tenth,  can  not  be  denied  and  in  view  of  the  wrongs  which 
they  had,  for  years,  been  suffering,  was  but  natural.  They 
knew  that  if  he  became  King  of  Poland,  their  privileges  would 
be  secured.  It  is  probable,  too,  that  the  Brethren,  and  espe- 
cially the  exiles  from  Bohemia,  were  among  his  most  ardent 
adherents.  From  one  point  of  view  such  conduct  may  be  re- 
garded as  treasonable ;  but  from  another  it  was  the  necessary 
outcome  of  unjustifiable  persecutions  and  of  a  latent  hope  that 
Sweden  would,  in  the  end,  be  instrumental  in  restoring  the 
Brethren  to  their  homes. 

It  was  not  long  before  the  Poles  awoke  from  their  disloyal 
lethargy.  The  haughty  bearing  of  Charles  offended  them. 
The  outrages  committed  by  his  army  roused  their  indignation. 
The  reverses  of  Casimir  excited  their  sympathy.  Toward  the 
end  of  1655,  at  Tyszowce,  a  little  town  in  the  palatinate  of 
Lublin,  several  nobles  entered  into  a  confederation  against  the 
Swedes.  This  confederation  John  Casimir  was  invited  to  join. 
He  did  so,  with  a  vow  to  the  Virgin,  that  if  prospered,  he 
would,  as  a  thank-offering,  convert,  in  other  words,  persecute 
the  heretics.^  The  magnates  immediately  began  to  raise  troops 
in  order  to  drive  the  invaders  out  of  the  country. 

Amidst  such  a  crisis — Poland  overrun  by  foreign  foes  and 
divided  ao-ainst  itself— that  blow  was  struck  from  which  the 


9  Krasinski  II.  p.  279. 


THE    MORAVIA X    CHURCH.  593 

Unitas  Fratrum  never  recovered.     God's  ways  are  past  find- 
ing out ;  His  footsteps  are  not  known. 

Ojie  of  the  places  garrisoned  by  the  Swedes  was  Lissa. 
They  were  no  doubt  admitted — it  is  said  by  the  advice  of 
Comenius — while  Count  Leszcynski  was  absent  in  Polish 
Prussia,  whither  he  had  gone  to  see  Charles  the  Tenth,  in  the 
interests  of  the  town  and  state.  In  the  beginning  of  April, 
1656,  he  returned,  but  found  that  his  well-meant  course  had 
evoked  no  little  indignation  among  his  fellow  nobles.  He  was 
decried  as  an  enemy  of  his  country  and  told  that  he  could  re- 
trieve his  character  only  by  leaving  Lissa.  On  the  twenty- 
third,  he  accordingly  j)roceeded  to  Breslau.  Four  days  later, 
on  the  twenty-seventh,  being  Saturday  after  the  Easter  Festi- 
val, a  body  of  confederate  troops,  under  Opalinski,  approached 
and  demanded  admittance.  This  was  refused;  again,  it  is  said, 
upon  the  advice  of  Comenius.  The  Poles  attacked  the  town, 
but  were  repulsed  by  the  Swedes  with  the  assistance  of  the 
citizens.  In  a  little  while  the  assault  was  renewed.  The 
Swedes  were  drawn  into  an  ambush,  driven  back  in  confusion, 
and  pursued  to  the  very  gates.  Forty  citizens  fell.  The 
Poles,  whose  loss  was  about  one  hundred,  retired  to  Storchnest; 
setting  fire  on  their  retreat  to  several  barns  and  wind-mills. 

The  next  morning  found  the  inhabitants  strangely  discour- 
aged. The  burial  of  their  dead  depressed  them  still  more. 
Many  began  to  speak  of  leaving  the  town.  Three  hundred 
wagons,  in  part  crowded  with  women  and  children  and  in  part 
laden  with  goods,  were  actually  sent  away.  About  two  o'clock 
the  report  spread,  that  a  body  of  infantry  was  marching  upon 
Lissa.  An  unaccountable  panic  immediately  broke  out.  The 
whole  population  grew  wild  with  fright.  Casting  away  their 
arms  the  citizens  gathered  their  families  around  them,  snatched 
up  their  valuables,  and  fled  in  hot  haste.  The  Swedish  garri- 
son, which  consisted  of  several  hundred  horse,  made  no  at- 
tempt to  quell  this  panic,  but  evacuated  the  town  and  pro- 
ceeded to  Fraustadt.  By  six  o'clock  in  the  evening  Lissa 
was  deserted.  The  Polish  troops  took  possession  of  it,  ate 
and  drank  their  fill,  and  then  retired.  The  next  day,  April 
38 


594  THE    HISTORY   OF 

the  twenty-ninth,  they  appeared  again  and  were  accompanied 
by  thousands  of  peasants,  with  carts  and  wagons,  from  the 
neighboring  villages.  In  a  short  time  the  whole  place  was 
sacked ;  and  while  the  peasants  hastened  away,  their  carts  and 
wagons  groaning  under  the  weight  of  their  plunder,  the  troops 
set  fire  to  the  town.  For  three  days  the  conflagration  raged, 
sweeping  away  the  Town  Hall,  the  College,  every  church,  in- 
cluding the  new  sanctuary  of  the  Brethren,  and  with  a  few 
exceptions,  every  private  dwelling.  Seventy  windmills,  in  the 
immediate  neighborhood,  were  laid  in  ashes.  It  was  a  fearful 
destruction;  an  appalling  catastrophe;  the  beginning  of  the 
end  of  the  ancient  Brethren's  Unity. 

Meantime  the  Polish  troops  pursued  the  fugitives.  Many 
were  robbed;  others  mutilated  in  the  most  horrible  manner; 
still  others  murdered  ;  many  women  were  ravished.^'' 

But  the  afflictions  of  the  Brethren  did  not  end  with  the  loss 
of  their  ecclesiastical  centre ;  still  heavier  trials  awaited  them. 
There  came  into  Great  Poland,  at  the  head  of  an  army  made 
up  principally  of  Wallachians  and  other  foreigners,  the  cele- 
brated General  Czarniecki.  He  \\'as  a  Pole  defending  his 
country  against  the  invader,  and  did  not  intend  to  oppress 
the  inhabitants.  But  his  soldiers,  who  had  as  yet  received  no 
pay,  fell  upon  them  without  mercy,  plundering  towns,  villages 
and  domains ;  and  treating  the  Protestants,  especially  the 
Brethren,  with  the  greatest  barbarity.  The  whole  country  was 
thrown  into  confusion.  Law  grew  powerless ;  licentiousness 
reigned  supreme.  Thousands  fled  before  the  storm.  Many 
fell  victims  to  the  ferocity  of  the  soldiers  or  the  hate  of  their 
Romish  neighbors.     A  number  of  Brethren  were  put  to  death 


1"  Lissaer  Geschichte,  pp.  12  and  13;  Lukaszewicz,  pp.  177  and  178  ;  Ben- 
ham's  Comenius,  pp.  100  and  101.  These  sources  do  not  agree  in  all  parti- 
culars. Our  narrative  is  based  upon  all  of  them,  but  especially  upon  a  con- 
temporaneous record,  in  Latin,  given  by  Lukaszewicz  in  a  note.  This  we 
suppose  to  be  an  extract  of  the  account  written  by  Comenius  himself  and 
entitled  Excidium  Lesnense  anno  1656  factum  fide  historica  narratum,  the 
manuscript  of  which  Miiller  recently  discovered  at  Lissa.  The  narrative 
was  published,  but  is  no  longer  extant  in  print. 


THE   MORAVIAN   CHURCH.  595 

at  Shocken.  The  ministers  suffered  the  worst  cruelties.  Two 
instances  are  on  record. 

At  Little  Lubin  John  Jacobides,  the  priest  of  the  parish 
Debnica,  and  two  of  his  acolytes,  Alexander  Wartenski  and 
Valerian  Zduncyk,  while  on  their  way  to  Karmin  in  order  to 
look  after  Bishop  By  timer,  were  seized,  cut  down  with  spades, 
and  thrown  into  a  hole,  where  they  miserably  perished ;  at 
Swiercznek,  the  head  of  Samuel  Kardus  was  forced  between  a 
door  and  the  door-post,  and  slowly  crushed  amidst  excruciating 
torments."  The  clergy  that  escaped,  among  them  Bishops 
Bythner  and  Gertich,  fled  to  Silesia;  many  of  their  people 
scattered,  some  going  to  the  same  province,  others  to  Saxony, 
Brandenburg  and  Holland.  For  two  whole  years  the  Breth- 
ren did  not  venture  to  hold  public  worship  in  Poland.  Their 
churches  were  either  closed,  or  destroyed.  In  Silesia  the  ref- 
ugees met  with  a  hospitable  reception  at  Carolath,  a  domain 
of  Baron  Schoneich,  at  Ursk,  the  estate  of  Baron  Kaunitz,  and 
at  Militsch.'^ 

When  Lissa  fell,  Comenius,  having  hastily  buried  some  of 
his  manuscripts,  took  refuge  in  the  house  of  a  nobleman  on  the 
confines  of  Silesia.  Thence,  after  a  brief  rest,  he  proceeded  to 
Breslau  and  from  Breslau  to  Frankfoi;t-on-the-Oder,  where 
he  arrived,  to  use  his  own  words,  "  almost  in  a  state  of 
nudity."  Not  deeming  himself  safe  at  Frankfort,  he  pushed 
on  to  Stettin  and  Hamburg.  In  this  latter  city  he  was  pros- 
trated, for  two  months,  by  a  severe  illness.  Meantime  he  re- 
ceived an  invitation  from  Lawrence  de  Geer,  a  son  of  his 
former  patron  and  a  resident  of  Amsterdam,  to  come  to  that 
city,  where  all  his  wants  should  be  cared  for.  This  invitation 
Comenius  accepted  as  soon  as  his  health  was  restored.  He 
reached  Amsterdam  in  August,  utterly  impoverished.  The 
conflagration  at  Lissa  had  devoured  his  whole  property,  includ- 
ing his  library  and  most  important  manuscripts.  Those  which 
he  had  buried,  he  subsequently  recovered ;  but  they  seem  to 


"  Fischer,  II.  pp.  285  and  286. 
^'^  Lukaszewicz,  pp.  178  and  179. 


596  THE    HISTORY   OF 

have  been  of  little  value  in  comparison  with  what  he  lost. 
His  entire  Pansophia,  nearly  completed,  and  a  Latin-Bohe- 
mian and  Bohemian-Latin  Thesaurus,  or  Dictionary,  which 
he  had  projected  in  early  manhood  and  at  which  he  had  been 
laboring  for  more  than  forty  years,  were  destroyed.^^ 

^^  Comenius  says  in  his  letter  to  Montanus  :  "  The  loss  of  this  work  I 
shall  cease  to  lament  only  when  I  cease  to  breathe.  Nothing  of  it  remains 
except  the  first  rudiments  of  the  work,  which  were  preserved  elsewhere — a 
collection  of  all  the  roots  of  the  Bohemian  language,  with  a  large  selection 
of  derivatives  and  compounds."  Benham's  Comenius,  p.  102.  The  Archives 
of  the  Unity  were  saved  and  conveyed  to  Ursk. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  597 


CHAPTEE  LIII. 

The  Resuscitation  of  the  Church  in  Poland.     Further 
Labors  of  Comenius.     A.D.  1657-1662. 


Return  of  the  fugitive  Ministers. — Discouraging  Condition  of  the  Parishes. 
— Lissa  rebuilt. — A  general  Resuscitation  in  Poland  and  yet  a  Decline 
of  the  Unity  in  general. — Meeting  of  the  Bishops. — Death  of  Bishop 
Gertich. — The  Government  of  the  Church. — Contributions  from  Eng- 
land and  elsewhere. — Polish  and  Bohemian  Bibles  printed. — What 
Comenius  did  for  the  Church  of  the  Future. — Confession  of  Faith. — 
Biblical  Manual. — Hymnals. — Enlarged  Edition  of  the  Ratio  Dis- 
ciplinse.  —  Comenius  commends  the  future  Unitas  Fratrum  to  the 
Church  of  England. — His  Parsenesis  addressed  to  the  same  Church. 

As  soon  as  the  storm  that  swept  over  Poland  had  somewhat 
abated,  the  devotion  with  which  the  Brethren  clung  to  their 
Church  again  became  apparent.  Their  Polish  parishes  had 
now  met  with  the  same  fate  as  those  in  Bohemia  and  Moravia ; 
while  a  large  part  of  their  Bohemian  exiles  had,  a  second 
time,  been  made  homeless.  Everything  "was  against  the 
Brethren.  They  might  well  have  given  up  all  hope  of  reor- 
ganizing. But  instead,  they  shook  themselves  from  the  dust 
with  the  manly  determination  to  "build  the  old  waste-places 
and  to  raise  up  the  foundation  of  many  generations."  In 
1657  their  fugitive  nobles  returned;  in  1658  some  of  their 
clergy.  Two  years  later,  in  1660,  when  the  Peace  of  Oliva 
had  been  concluded,  the  rest  came  back,  longing  to  resume 
their  appointed  work,^  * 

Nothing  could  have  been  more  discouraging  than  the  condi- 
tion of  things  as  they  found   them.     In   some   places   the 

'  Lukaszewicz,  p.  179. 


598  THE    HISTORY    OF 

churches  were  half  ruined  ;  in  others,  totally  destroyed.  The 
membership  remaining  in  Poland  had  greatly  decreased ;  not 
a  few  had  been  killed  during  the  war ;  many,Jn  sheer  despair 
of  better  times,  had  become  perverts  to  Rome  ;  while  those 
who  had  continued  faithful  were  impoverished.  Here  was  a 
parish  whose  church  the  Catholics  seized  on  the  plea  that  it 
had  originally  belonged  to  them ;  there  was  another  in  which 
they  forcibly  prevented  reorganization.  More  distressing  than 
all  this,  however,  was  the  fact  that  they  refused  to  acknowledge 
the  returning  Poles  as  their  countrymen  and  proscribed  them 
as  traitors  who  had  made  common  cause  with  the  Swedes.^ 

In  spite  of  such  discouragments  the  Bishops  and  ministers 
labored  patiently  to  restore  the  Unity.  Lissa  rose  from  its 
ashes  and  grew  more  prosperous  than  before  the  war.  Aided 
by  contributions  from  England,  Prussia,  and  other  Protestant 
countries,  the  Brethren's  church  was  rebuilt  and  dedicated  on 
the  eighteenth  of  September,  1658.^  The  influences  proceed- 
ing from  this  centre  made  themselves  felt  throughout  the 
country.  Many  parishes  were  reorganized.  In  some  cases 
several  were  combined  under  one  pastor;  in  others,  public 
worship  was  held  occasionally  by  visiting  ministers.*  The 
prospect  began  to  brighten.  In  Hungary,  Transylvania, 
Silesia  and  Prussia  the  Brethren  had  remained  undisturbed ; 
in  Poland,  to  some  extent  at  least,  they  renewed  their  days  as 
of  old.  Their  membership  in  that  country  still  numbered 
thousands;^  their  Synod  frequently  met;  their  College  at 
Lissa  was  rebuilt  and,  on  the  nineteenth  of  February,  1663, 
publicly  reopened  with  Adam  Samuel  Hartmann  as  its  Rector;^ 

"  Lukaszewicz,  pp.  179  and  180. 

'*  Fischer,  II.  p.  291.  The  tower  of  this  church  was  finished  nine  years 
later,  in  1667.     Lissaer  Geschichte,  p.  14. 

■*  Lukaszewicz,  p.  180. 

^  Statistics  are,  as  a  matter  of  course,  wanting ;  but  from  Fischer,  II.  p. 
334  it  appears  that  up  to  1690,  there  were  connected  with  Kurcewo,  which 
seems  to  have  been  the  centre  of  a  net-work  of  parishes,  several  thousand 
members.  And  yet  this  was  but  one  centre,  whereas  we  know  of  a  number 
of  others. 

^  Fischer,  II.  p.  350 ;  Lissaer  Geschichte,  p.  15  ;  Lissaer  Gymnasium,  p. 
XV.     Hartmann  had  been  the  Rector  prior  to  the  destruction  of  the  town. 


THE    MORAVIAN   CHURCH.  599 

SO  greatly  did  their  prosperity  revive  that  Coraeniiis  in  a  letter 
to  Nicholas  Gertich  could  speak  of  'Hhe  halcyon  days"  which 
the  Polish  parishes  were  enjoying/ 

And  yet  the  Unitas  Fratrum  as  such  had  received  a  fatal 
shock.  It  began  to  decline  and  lose  its  independent  character. 
In  1627  the  Reformed  of  Cujavia  had  united  with  the  Breth- 
ren :  now  the  Brethren  leaned,  more  and  more,  upon  the  Re- 
formed of  Lithuania  and  Little  Poland.  The  result  was  a 
process  of  assimilation  which,  little  by  little,  deprived  the 
Unity  of  essential  characteristics."^  Such  a  process,  however, 
developed  very  slowly.  The  history  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum 
in  its  ancient  and,  to  some  extent,  independent  form,  may  be 
said  to  stretch  down  to  its  renewal  at  Herruhut. 

It  would  appear  that,  soon  after  the  destruction  of  Lissa, 
the  three  Bishoj)s,  Coraeuius,  Bythner  and  Gertich,  had  a 
consultation  at  Breslau,  in  Silesia.^  Thereupon,  as  narrated  in 
a  former  chapter,  Comenius  went  to  Hamburg  and  eventually 
to  Amsterdam.  Bythner  seems  to  have  taken  up  his  abode  at 
Brieg,  twenty-seven  miles  south-east  of  Breslau,  where  a  large 
colony  of  fugitive  Brethren  gradually  gathered.'"  Gertich's 
place  of  residence  is  not  known.  He  died  on  the  tenth  of 
December,  1657.  Comenius  and  Bythner  thus  became  the 
sole  survivors  of  the  episcopacy.  Associated  with  them  were 
Assistant  Bishops :  Daniel  Vetter  with  Comenius  at  Amster- 

He  reentered  upon  the  duties  of  his  office  in  the  autumn  of  1662,  probably 
about  the  time  that  the  Synod,  at  its  convocation  at  Parcice,  determined  to 
reopen  the  College.  With  this  purpose  in  view  collections  were  instituted. 
There  are  few  seats  of  learning  which  have  outlived  as  many  calamities  as 
the  College  at  Lissa.  It  still  flourishes  after  a  most  checkered  existence  of 
more  than  two  centuries  and  a  half. 

'  Letter,  dated  November  the  sixteenth,  1666,  to  Bishop  Nicholas  Gertich. 
Gindely's  Comenius,  pp.  549  and  550  ;  Benham,  pp.  112  and  113. 

*  The  Brethren,  from  this  time  on,  were  often  called  "  Reformed,"  or  "  the 
Reformed  of  the  Bohemian  Confession." 

^  Biography  of  Nicholas  Gertich,  in  Herrnhut,  No.  52,  1884 ;  Lissaer 
Gymnasium,  p.  XI. 

^•'Herrnhut,  ihid ;  Gindely's  Comenius,  pp.534  and  538;  Benham,  p. 
108.  In  his  financial  statement,  adduced  by  Gindely,  Comenius  says: 
"  Brieg  is  now  the  principal  seat  of  the  dispersed  Brethren." 


600  THE    HISTORY   OF 

dam ;  Nicholas  Gerticli  with  Bythuer  in  Silesia.  Although 
the  Executive  Council  could  not  conduct  its  business  as  of  old ; 
yet  Comenius,  as  its  President,  kept  up  a  regular  correspond- 
ence with  Bythner,  and  these  two  Bishops  statedly  consulted 
with  their  Assistants.  In  this  way  the  government  of  the 
Church  was  carried  on  as  best  it  could. 

Nothing  affected  the  venerable  Presiding  Bishop  more 
deeply  than  the  impoverished  state  of  the  churches.  At  the 
consultation  with  his  colleagues  at  Breslau,  he  proposed  to  ask 
aid  of  England.  This  suggestion  was  accepted,  and  in  1657 
he  sent  Adam  Samuel  Hartmann  and  Paul  Cyrill  to  that 
country.  They  met  with  a  cordial  reception.  The  Privy 
Council,  with  which  body  they  had  an  interview,  sanctioned 
their  undertaking;  the  Faculties  of  the  Universities  at  Oxford 
and  Cambridge  warmly  recommended  it.  In  1658  and  1659 
five  thousand  nine  hundred  pounds  sterling  were  sent  to  Co- 
menius. The  only  condition  attached  to  this  generous  gift 
was — a  condition  which  he  had  undoubtedly  himself  sug- 
gested— that  one  thousand  pounds  should  be  reserved  for  the 
publication  of  Bohemian  and  Polish  Bibles,  "and  of  other 
wholesome  books  required  specially  at  the  present  time." 
The  remainder  was  applied  as  follows :  three  thousand  nine 
hundred  and  twenty  pounds,  or  about  nineteen  thousand  six 
hundred  dollars,  were  distributed  among  the  Polish  and  Bo- 
hemian Brethren ;  nine  hundred  and  eighty  pounds,  or  about 
four  thousand  nine  hundred  dollars,  among  the  Bohemian 
exiles  in  general. '^  Aid  came  from  other  sources  also.  Law- 
rence de  Geer,  Stephen  de  Geer,  the  Board  of  Marine  at  Am- 
sterdam, and  the  Earl  of  Pembroke — a  mystic  and  a  great 
admirer  of  Comenius — all  sent  their  offerings;  so  that,  in  1666, 
the  Bisho])  again  had  in  hand  six  thousand  Thaler.  This 
amount  also  he  distributed  among  the  impoverished  Brethren 
of  Poland  and  the  exiles  from  Bohemia,  allowing  the  former 


"  Gindely's  Comenius,  p.  530,  etc.,  and  Beylagen,  I.  pp.  537-540  ;  Ben- 
ham's  translation,  pp.  107-111.  Gindely  gives  from  an  original  MS.  in  the 
Bohemian  Museum  a  detailed  statement,  written  by  Comenius  himself,  of 
the  distribution  of  the  money. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  601 

seven-twelfths,  and  the  latter  five-twelfths  of  the  sum  total. ^^ 
It  is  evident  that  the  distribution  of  such  gifts  served  to 
cement  the  bond  of  sympathy  and  love  by  which  the  Brethren 
were  held  together.^^ 

The  amount  reserved  for  publications  Comenius  applied  so 
judiciously  that  he  was  enabled  to  send  to  Poland  two  thou- 
sand copies  of  the  Polish,  and  to  scatter  broadcast  among  the 
Bohemian  exiles  three  thousand  copies  of  the  Kralitz  Bible. 
There  remained  a  balance  sufficient  to  pay  for  the  printing  of 
several  other  works."  In  1661  he  caused  the  Unity's  press, 
which,  after  the  destruction  of  Lissa,  had  been  set  up  at  Brieg, 
to  be  transferred  to  Amsterdam.  This  press  became  an  im- 
portant agency  in  furthering  the  interests  of  the  Church. ^^ 

While  Comenius  cared  for  the  Brethren  of  the  present,  he 
kept  in  view  the  Church  of  the  future  also.  That  such  a 
Church  would  appear,  either  in  the  homes  of  his  fathers,  or 
in  a  strange  land,  he  confidently  hoped ;  and  in  order  to  pre- 
pare for  its  coming,  published  several  works  which  were  to 
preserve  the  doctrines,  ritual  and  constitution  of  the  ancient 
Unity. 

The  first  was  a  Confession  of  Faith  ;  the  second  a  Biblical 
Manual  in  Bohemian  for  the  use  of  the  exiles,  "as  a  shield  of 
faith  for  their  defence  and  a  staif  of  hope  for  their  support.'"^ 
Both  these  works  were  issued  in  1658.  In  the  following  year 
he  republished  the  Bohemian,  and  in  1661,  the  German 
Hymnal ;  in  order,  so  he  says  in  the  preface  to  the  latter, 
"that  pious  Christians  of  our  Church,  whether  they  sit  at 


^^  Letter  of  Comenius,  in  Gindely's  Comenius,  p.  550. 

'^  It  appears,  however,  from  the  letter  written  to  Nicholas  Gertich  by 
Comenius,  that  he  was  not  pleased  with  the  large  claims  which  the  Polish 
Brethren  occasionally  made. 

'*  Gindely's  Comenius,  Beylagen,  p.  530. 

^^  Gindely's  Comenius,  p.  539,  where  Comenius  says:  "As  our  printing 
office  was  destroyed  in  the  dreadful  warfares  in  our  native  land,  we  set  up 
one  for  the  use  of  the  Church,  which  cost  886  imperials."  Also  Criegern's 
Comenius,  p.  54. 

^®  Benham's  Comenius,  p.  43.  Of  the  Biblical  Manual  (Manualjk),  which 
work  has  become  very  scarce,  there  is  a  copy  in  the  Malin  Library,  No.  841. 


602  THE   HISTORY   OF 

home  or  wander  in  foreign  lands,  remembering  the  words  of 
the  Psalmist  (119:  54),  '  Thy  statutes  have  been  my  songs  in 
the  house  of  my  pilgrimage,'  may  hold  fast  to  God  and  rejoice 
in  the  Lord."  >^ 

The  most  important  of  such  publications  was  an  enlarged 
edition  of  the  Ratio  Discipllnce  (1660).  This  work  comprised, 
first,  a  Dedication  to  the  Church  of  England ;  second,  a  con- 
cise History  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum ;  third,  the  Batio  Disci- 
pllnce;  fourth,  copious  Explanatory  Notes;  and  fifth,  a 
Parsenesis,  or  Exhortation,  "to  the  Churches,  in  particular 
the  Anglican,  piously  solicitous  about  the  best  form  of  ecclesi- 
astical government."  '^  Both  the  Dedication  and  the  Exhorta- 
tion deserve  special  notice.  In  the  former  Coraenius  speaks 
"as  a  prophet;"  in  the  latter  as  "a  Church -father."^" 

The  Dedication  is  addressed  "  To  the  Anglican  Church 
heretofore  driven  about  by  manifold  storm-winds,  but  now 
seeing  before  her  a  haven  of  rest."  After  showing  from  his- 
tory, that  the  tribulations  and  judgments  of  the  past  were  all 
overruled  for  the  good  of  Christ's  Church,  he  goes  on  to  say : 

"  In  these  our  days  we  see  that  God  permits  nations  to  clash 
against  nations,  and  kingdoms  to  fall  upon  kingdoms ;  so  that 
the  whole  earth  trembles  for  fear,  and  cities,  churches,  schools, 
yea  all  public  and  private  afiairs,  are  in  a  state  of  destructive 
confusion,  over  which  the  pious  mourn.  Nevertheless  the  same 
God  who  brought  the  world  in  all  its  beauty  out  of  a  shapeless 
mass,  and  for  the  sake  of  His  Church  has  thus  far  preserved  it 
with  such  power  and  ruled  it  with  such  wisdom,  will  know  how 
to  draw  out  of  the  existing  tribulations  something  better  than  we 
can  conceive.  For,  according  to  His  own  promise,  the  Gospel 
will  be  brought,  by  those  Christians  who  have  been  justly  chas- 
tened, to  the  remaining  peoples  of  the  earth  ;  and  thus,  as  of  old, 

"  Comenius  gave  the  following  title  to  the  German  Hymnal :  "  Kirchen-, 
Haus-,  und  Herzens-Musika,  oder  der  Heiligen  Gottes  auf  Erden  Erlustig- 
ungs-Kunst  in  Singen  und  Gott  lobend  bestehend."    Malin  Library,  No.  461. 

^^  From  Zoubek  it  would  appear  that  the  Exhortation  was  originally 
published  separately,  in  1660,  entitled  "  Parsenesis  Ecclesise  Bohemicse  ad 
Anglicanam  de  Bono  Unitatis  et  Ordinis,"  and  dedicated  to  Charles  the 
Second.  The  copy  in  the  Malin  Library,  No.  806,  issued  in  the  same  year, 
1660,  combines  the  History,  the  Ratio,  and  the  Partenesis  in  one  volume. 

19  Reichel's  Geschichte,  pp.  107  and  108. 


THE    MORAVIAN   CHURCH.  603 

our  fall  will  be  the  riches  of  the  world,  and  our  diminishing  the 
riches  of  the  gentiles  (Romans  11  :  12).  Such  meditations  upon 
the  wonderful  counsels  of  Eternal  Providence  alleviate  the  pain 
which  I  feel  at  the  destruction  of  the  Church  of  my  people,  whose 
discipline  and  laws  are  here  described." 

In  a  subsequent  paragraph  he  says : 

"  I  do  not  wish  to  be  understood  as  meaning  that,  because  of 
my  loneliness  and  speedy  departure,  I  am  announcing  to  the 
Church  of  my  people  that  its  end  is  come.  I  know  that  the  Church 
universal,  founded  on  the  Rock  of  Eternity,  can  not  be  over- 
whelmed. But  experience  clearly  teaches,  that  particular 
Churches  are  sometimes  destroyed  by  the  hand  of  God  stretched 
out  in  wrath  ;  yet  does  this  come  to  pass  in  such  a  way,  that,  ac- 
cording to  His  good  pleasure,  other  Churches  are  either  planted 
in  their  stead,  or  the  same  Churches  rise  in  other  places.  .  .  . 
We  must  not  suppose  that  Elijah  sinned  when  he  gave  utterance 
to  his  lamentation  that  he,  he  only,  was  left  of  the  prophets  of 
the  Lord ;  for  in  the  midst  of  his  loneliness  and  sorrow  he  was 
divinely  encouraged  and  dii-ected  to  substitute  and  appoint  a 
successor  in  his  room  (1  Kings  19:  14-16).  The  same  consola- 
tion I  confidently  expect  of  the  Divine  Goodness ;  and  even 
though  the  Lord  should  let  me  go  out  of  the  world  without  such 
comfort,  I  will  nevertheless,  with  the  last  of  the  seven  martyred 
Maccabean  brethren,  beseech  Him :  '  That  in  me  and  my  brethren 
the  wrath  of  the  Almighty,  which  is  justly  brought  upon  all  our 
nation, may  cease,'  (2  Maccabees,  7  :  38).  But  should  this  wish 
also,  namely,  that  in  me  the  wrath  of  God  may  cease,  not  be  ful- 
filled, and  '  last  of  all,  after  the  sons,  our  mother  die  also '  (2  Mac- 
cabees 7  :  41),  what  shall  I  do  then?" 

In  answer  to  this  question  Comenius  goes  on  to  explain  that 
it  is  usual  for  such  as  have  no  direct  heirs  to  leave  their  pos- 
sessions to  others,  and  that  he  now  proposes  to  do  this.  Hence 
he  continues : 

"  To  whom  shall  I  leave  our  possessions  ?  And  have  we  any 
possessions,  when  everything  seems  to  be  lost  ?  Yes,  through 
God's  gift  and  grace  we  still  own  some  things  that  may  be  willed 
to  others  ;  nor  are  friends  and  enemies  wanting  to  whom  such 
things  may  be  left. 

To  our  enemies  we  leave  what  they  have  taken  from  us,  or  may 
yet  deprive  us  of — our  earthly  goods,  churches,  lands,  schools,  and 
the  like,  and  last,  if  the  Lord  of  all  things  should  see  fit,  the  lives 
of  our  remaining  brethren  ;  even  as  it  pleased  the  Crucified  Christ 
to  allow  his  garments  to  be  divided  among  the  soldiers  and  him- 
self to  be  robbed  of  life. 


604  THE    HISTORY    OF 

But  to  you,  our  friends  (the  Church  of  England),  we  leave  and 
commit,  according  to  the  example  of  the  same  Divine  Master, 
that  which  is  far  better,  our  dear  mother,  the  Church  herself. 
AVhether  God  will  deem  her  worthy  to  be  revived  in  her  native 
seats,  or  let  her  die  there  and  resuscitate  her  elsewhere,  in  either 
case  do  you,  in  our  stead,  care  for  her.  Even  in  her  death,  which 
now  seems  to  be  approaching,  you  ought  to  love  her,  because  in 
her  life  she  has  gone  on  before  you,  for  more  than  two  centuries, 

with  examples  of  faith  and  patience When  the  Lord 

allowed  the  country,  city  and  temple  of  his  ungrateful  people  to 
be  laid  waste,  it  was  nevertheless  His  will  that  the  base  of  the 
altar  should  remain  in  its  place,  so  that  their  repenting  and  re- 
turning posterity  might  be  able  to  build  on  the  same  spot  (Ezra 
3 :  3).  Now  if  we  have  received  from  God  anything  true,  pre- 
cious, just,  pure,  lovely  and  good,  any  virtue  or  any  praise — wise 
and  pious  men,  as  will  appear,  have  said  that  our  possessions  are 
of  this  sort— we  certainly  ought  to  take  care  that  such  gifts  may 
not  perish  with  us,  and  that  amidst  disorder  and  confusion  as 
these  now  exist,  the  foundations  of  our  Unity  may  not  be  so  en- 
tirely ruined  as  to  make  it  impossible  for  our  posterity  to  find 
them.  Hence  we  herewith  leave  the  gifts  which  we  have  received, 
to  you  and  deposit  them  with  you."  ^° 

These  extracts  beautifully  show  that  Comenius  entertained 
an  almost  prophetic  hope  of  the  renewal  of  the  Unitas  Fra- 
trum ;  that  he  commended  this  Church  of  the  future  to  the 
Anglican  Church  ;  and  that,  like  a  seer  inspired  to  utter  what 
he  does  not  himself  understand,  he  unconsciously  indicated 
the  spread  of  the  Gospel  in  heathen  lands  as  the  great  work 
which  would  be  intrusted  to  the  renewed  Unity. 

In  the  Exhortation,  with  which  the  work  closes  and  which 
is  again  addressed  to  the  Anglican  Church  particularly,  he 
holds  up  the  principles  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum  for  imitation. 
As  a  brief  summary  of  his  argument  we  give  the  following : 

The  constitution  of  the  Church  of  the  Brethren  is  not  schis- 
matic, but  apostolic ;  not  a  mere  outward  form,  but  animated  by 
an  inner  spirit  which  streams  forth  on  all  sides ;  not  disturbing  the 
State,  but  accommodating  itself  to  the  State,  without  thereby  re- 
linquishing the  independence  of  the  Church.  That  constitution 
comprises  something  of  every  form  of  government :  the  mon- 
archical, in  the  Episcopate ;  the  aristocratic,  in  the  Executive 
Council ;  the  democratic,  in  the  Synod.     The  second  of  these 

20  Dedicatiorium  alloqvium,  gg  13,  16,  17,  19,  20  and  21. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  605 

forms  Calvin  instituted  through  the  Presbyteries ;  the  first,  the 
Episcopate,  Bucer  adopted  in  England.  Whether  it  was  wise  to 
separate  these  three  forms,  the  disputes  which  arose  through  the 
separation,  will  shovv.  Perhaps  if  Solomon's  words  had  been 
heeded,  "  A  threefold  cord  is  not  easily  broken,"  such  ruptures 
would  not  have  taken  place. 

The  Church  of  the  Brethren  possesses  a  remedy  for  possible 
evils.  This  remedy  is  her  discipline,  by  which  simony,  avarice, 
pride,  contentions,  false  doctrines,  are  suppressed,  and  godliness 
is  furthered.  She  is  an  example  of  Christian  simplicity,  in  that 
she  avoids  doctrinal  disputes,  and  controversies  of  every  kind, 
works  for  peace,  or  labors  for  a  reformation  of  the  Church  uni- 
versal. 

Four  characteristics  will  distinguish  the  Church  universal,  when 
it  will  have  been  so  thoroughly  reformed,  as  to  represent  the 
Kingdom  of  Christ  upon  earth — a  kingdom  in  which  all  its 
people  will  take  part  in  the  blessings  of  salvation,  all  its  teachers 
be  guides  to  Jesus,  and  all  its  rulers  watch  over  the  order  estab- 
lished by  God.  These  four  characteristics  are  :  The  unity  of  the 
Spirit;  a  well  regulated  ecclesiastical  government;  good  disci- 
pline ;  and  being  filled  with  the  Spirit  of  Christ. 

Comenius  then  proceeds,  at  considerable  length,  to  develop 
these  characteristics,  illustrating  them  by  examples  taken  from 
his  History  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum,  to  which  work  he  contin- 
ually refers. ^^ 

That  which  he  aimed  at  in  I'epublishing  the  Ratio  DiscipliTwe, 
came  to  pass.  It  was  this  work,  in  the  form  in  which  it  pro- 
ceeded from  his  pen,  that  incited  Count  Zinzendorf  to  devote 
himself  to  the  resuscitation  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum  and  made 
him  familiar  with  its  constitution  and  principles.^^ 


^*  Parasnesis,  passim. 

^^  Zinzendorf  liimself  says,  Biidingische  Sammhmg  I,  pp.  640  and  641 : 
"  I  could  not  peruse  the  lamentations  of  old  Comenius,  addressed  to  the 
Anglican  Church — lamentations  called  forth  by  the  idea  that  the  Church  of 
the  Brethren  was  come  to  an  end,  and  that  he  was  locking  its  door — I  could 
not  read  his  mournful  prayer,  '  Turn  Thou  us  unto  Thee,  O  Lord,  and  we 
shall  be  turned,  renew  our  days  as  of  old,'  (Lament.  5 :  21,) — without  adopt- 
ing the  resolution :  I  will,  as  far  as  I  can,  help  to  bring  about  this  renewal. 
And  though  I  have  to  sacrifice  my  earthly  possessions,  my  honors,  and  my 
life,  as  long  as  I  live,  and  as  far  as  I  will  be  able  to  provide,  even  after  my 
death  for  such  a  consummation,  this  little  company  of  the  Lord's  disciples 
shall  be  preserved  for  Him  until  He  comes." 


606  THE    HISTORY    OF 

The  last  publication  brought  out  by  Comenius  in  the  hope 
of  such  a  renewal,  was  a  Catechism,  dedicated  ''To  the  godly 
sheep  of  Christ,  scattered  here  and  there,  in  particular  to  those 
at  F.  G.  G.  K.  K.  S.  S.  and  Z."  These  initials  designate  Ful- 
neck,  Gersdorf,  Gedersdorf,  Kl5ten,  Klandorf,  Stechwalde, 
Seitendorf,  and  Zauchtenthal,  towns  and  villages  of  Moravia, 
from  all  of  which  descendants  of  the  Brethren  came  to  Herrn- 
hut  and  took  part  in  building  up  the  Renewed  Unity .^'* 

^^  The  title  of  this  Catechism  is :  Die  Uralte  Christliche  Catholisohe  Reli- 
gion, in  kurtze  Frasr  nnd  Antwort  verfasset."  Amsterdam,  1661.  It  is 
found  in  Ehwalt,  p.  441,  etc. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH.  607 


CHAPTER  LIY. 

Perpetuation  of  the  Episcopacy.     Death  of  Comenius.     The 

Hidden  Seed  in  Bohemia  and  Moravia. 

A.  D.  1662-1670. 


Correspondence  between  Bythner  and  Comenius  about  the  Episcopacy. — 
Synod  of  Milenczyn. — Nicholas  Gertich  and  Peter  Figulus. — Document 
from  Comenius. — Consecration  of  the  new  Bishops. — Furtlier  Labors  of 
Comenius  at  Amsterdam. — Lux  in  Tenebris. — LTnum  Necessariuni. — 
Death  of  Comenius. — His  Work  and  Character. — Hidden  Seed  in 
Bohemia  and  Moravia. 

The  perpetuation  of  the  episcopacy  engaged  the  serious 

attention  of  both  the  surviving    Bishops.     On  the  fifteenth 

of  January,  1658,  Bythner  wrote  to  Comenius  and  informed 

him  that  Martin  Gertich  had  died  in  Silesia.     In  the  course 

of  his  letter  he  said  : 

"  I  beg  you  to  consider  the  propriety,  or  rather,  the  necessity 
of  appointing  a  third  bishop,  in  place  of  the  deceased,  selecting 
for  this  office  either  a  Bohemian  or  a  Pole  ;  so  that  our  order 
may  be  maintained  and  the  succession  which  has  been  uninter- 
ruptedly kept  up  in  our  Church  for  two  centuries,  may  not, 
when  we  die,  cease  and  become  extinct."  ^ 

This  succession   lay  near  to  the  heart  of  Comenius  and, 

under  date  of  August  the  twenty-third,  he  warmly  endorsed 

what  his  colleague  had  written. 

"  We  certainly  will  not  allow  that  good  thing  which  our 
Church  has  enjoyed,  to  die  with  us.  We  will  rather  pray  and 
labor  that  it  may  be  revived  through  the  power  of  Him  who 

alone  can  awake  from  the  dead See,  my  beloved 

brother,   how   far   we   have  declined.      Of   yours    (the   Polish 


1  Rieger,  VI.  pp.  739  and  740. 


608  THE    HISTORY    OF 

Bishops),  you  alone  are  left ;  of  mine  (the  Bohemian-Moravian 
Bishops)  I  alone  remain.  Nevertheless  as  long  as  there  is  a 
possibility  of  preventing  the  fall  of  our  order,  we  must  do  what 
we  can.  Let  it  not  appear  as  though  we  tempted  God,  who,  in 
ways  that  are  wonderful,  kills  and  makes  alive,  lays  us  in  the 
lowest  pit  and  delivers  from  it."  ^ 

Although  the  two  Bishops  were  in  such  accord,  their  pur- 
pose could  not  at  once  be  carried  out,  Comenius  having  in 
view  a  speedy  election,  urged  the  convocation  of  the  Syuod 
at  Brieg ;  By thner  deemed  this  impracticable  on  account  of 
the  war.  As  soon,  however,  as  the  Peace  of  Oliva  had  been 
proclaimed,  the  negotiations  were  resumed.  Among  the 
points  discussed,  was  the  question  whether  an  episcopal  con- 
secration performed  by  one  bishop  would  be  valid.  Comenius 
decided  that  it  would  be  valid,  although  not  canonical. 
"  For,"  he  wrote,  "  the  canons  require,  as  you  well  know, 
that  a  bishop  must  be  ordained  by  three,  or  at  least  by  two 
bishops."^  Accordingly,  being  too  infirm  to  undertake  a 
journey  to  Poland,  he  proposed  to  send  Daniel  Vetter,  his 
Assistant  Bishop,  and  let  him  act  in  his  stead. 

To  this  plan  Bythner  objected.  He  urged,  that  at  an 
episcopal  consecration  a  mere  Assistant  Bishop  would  not 
command  the  proper  consideration  ;  that  the  act  would  be  far 
more  impressive,  if  Comenius  himself,  in  some  way  even 
though  indirectly,  would  take  part  in  it ;  that  this  could  be 
done  by  sending  to  the  Synod  a  document  formally  sanction- 
ing the  consecration ;  that  such  a  course  would  be  in  accordance 
with  the  Constituiio7ies  Apostolicce,*  which  provided  that  if,  on 
account  of  persecutions  or  other  causes,  several  bishops  could 
not  meet  in  order  to  unite  in  an  episcopal  consecration,  they 
were  to  send  written  commissions  to  one  bishop  and  authorize 
him  to  perform  the  act  alone.^     This  proposition  Comenius 


'■*  Rieger,  VI.  740 ;  Gindely's  Comenius,  p.  534. 

^  Letter  of  September  the  twenty-eighth,  1660,  Rieger,  VI.  p.  741. 

*  The  reference  which  he  gives  is  to  Lib.  8,  Cap.  27. 

*  Letter  of  Bythner,  dated  November  the  fourth,  1661,  Rieger,  VI.  pp. 
742  and  743. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH.  609 

not  only  accepted,  but  in  his  reply  showed  its  correctness  by 
citing;  additional  testimony. 

The  two  Bishops  having  thus  agreed  upon  the  mode  of 
consecration,  Bythner  called  a  meeting  of  the  Synod.  It 
opened  on  the  second  of  November,  1662,  at  Milenczyn,  in 
Poland,  now  ]\lieltschin  in  the  Province  of  Posen,  about 
fifteen  miles  south-east  of  Guesen.  After  a  full  discussion  of 
the  case  it  was  resolved  to  elect  two  bishops  ;  one  for  the 
Polish  branch,  the  other  for  the  Bohemian-lNIoravian  in  spem 
contra  spem,  as  the  phrase  ran,  that  is,  "  in  hope  against  hope" 
of  a  resuscitation  of  this  latter  branch. 

For  the  former  the  choice  of  the  Synod  fell  u])on  the 
Assistant  Bishop  Nicholas  Gertich,  a  nephew  of  Bishop 
Martin  Gertich  and  a  grandson  of  Bishop  Martin  Gratian 
Gertich.^ 

Nicholas  Gertich  was  born  at  Lassw^itz,  on  the  seventeenth 
of  December,  1624,  and  educated  at  the  gymnasia  of  Lissa 
and  Beuthen,  and  at  the  University  of  Frankfort-on-the- 
Oder.  After  his  ordination  to  the  priesthood,  in  1647,  he 
labored  at  Lissa  until  the  destruction  of  that  town,  when  he 
fled  to  Silesia.  There  he  was  offered  the  position  of  second 
chaplain  to  George  the  Third,  Duke  of  Brieg,  who,  although 
his  subjects  were  Lutherans,  had  embraced  the  Reformed 
faith  and  established  what  may  be  called  a  small  court-church. 
This  position  Gertich  accepted.'' 

^  The  list  of  bishops  given  by  Regenvolscius  and  Gindely,  ends  with 
Bythner  and  Martin  Gertich  (1644);  the  subsequent  succession  to  the 
transfer  of  the  episcopacy  to  the  Renewed  Unitas  Fratrum  is  set  forth  by 
Bishop  Daniel  Ernst  Jablonsky  in  a  document  sent,  in  1717,  to  Dr. 
William  Wake,  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  at  this  prelate's  special 
request.  This  document,  entitled  "  De  Ordine  et  Successione  episcopali  in 
Unitate  Fratrum  conservato,"  was  subsequently  published  as  an  Appendix 
to  his  "Jus  Ecclesiasticum,"  by  Chancellor  Pfaff;  a  copy  of  it,  furnished  by 
Jablonsky,  is  in  the  Herrnhut  Archives,  and  the  substance  of  it  is  found  in 
the  Acta  Fratrum  in  Anglia,  p.  112-115.  Comp.  Koelbing's  Nachricht, 
p.  26. 

'  Fischer,  II.   p.  345 ;   Biography   in    Herrnhut,  No.   52,  1884,  which 
Biography  says  that  Gerticli  was  born  about   1610,  at  Lissa.     The  date 
given  above  is  found  in  Fischer  on  the  authority  of  Lukaszewicz. 
39 


610  THE    HISTORY    OF 

For  the  Bohemiau-Moravian  branch,  as  the  eventual  suc- 
cessor of  Comenius,  was  chosen  Peter  Figulus,  or  Jablonsky, 
by  birth  a  Moravian.  In  1628,  when  still  a  little  boy,  ho 
accompanied  Erastus,  Cyrill  and  Comenius  on  their  flight 
from  Slaupna  to  Lissa.  Comenius  took  a  deep  interest  in 
him,  and  gave  him  his  daughter  Elizabeth  in  marriage,  on 
the  nineteenth  of  October,  1649.  In  the-  same  year  he  Avas 
ordained  to  the  priesthood.  He  accompanied  his  father-in- 
law  on  several  of  his  journeys  and  transacted  literary  business 
for  him  in  Sweden.  In  1654  the  Countess  DonhofF  von 
Pomerelien,  at  Dantzic,  appointed  Figulus  her  chaplain ; 
three  years  later  he  took  charge  of  the  neighboring  church 
of  Nassenhuben.  During  his  ministry  at  that  place  the  entire 
parish  united  with  the  Brethren.  In  1658  he  joined 
Comenius  at  Amsterdam,  where  he  spent  two  years,  and  then 
returned  to  Nassenhuben.  At  the  Synod  of  Milenczyn,  the 
day  before  his  elevation  to  the  episcopacy,  Bythner  ordained 
him  an  Assistant  Bishop.^ 

The  fifth  of  November  was  set  apart  for  the  solemn  rite  of 
consecration.  Ifc  took  place  in  the  presence  of  the  whole 
Synod.  First  of  all,  the  following  document,  sent  by 
Comenius,  was  read  : 

■"  Grace  be  with  you  through  the  Holy  Ghost. 

Dearly  Beloved  Brethren  in  the  Lord : — With  all  my  heart  do 
I  wish  that  it  might  have  pleased  Divine  goodness  to  grant  unto 
the  Church  in  our  time  and  in  this  country  such  tranquillity  as 
it  enjoyed  in  the  days  of  our  fathers  ;  so  that  each  of  us,  with  the 
flock  intrusted  to  him,  could  live  in  security  and  serve  the  Lord. 
But  since  these  are  times  not  of  refreshing  but  of  chastening,  it 
becomes  our  duty  to  manifest  faith  and  patience  toward  God, 
however  heavy  the  cross  which  He  may  see  fit  to  lay  upon  us. 
Nor  is  it  proper  that  I  and  the  brethren  of  my  Bohemian  people 
should   be  envious  of  you    in    Poland,  because  the   Father  of 

^  Fischer,  II.  p.  345 ;  Lissaer  Gymnasium,  p.  XXXV.  From  this  latter 
authority  it  appears,  that  Jablonsky  was  the  original  name  of  the  family, 
but  that  Peter  Jablonsky,  in  the  course  of  his  exile,  adopted  the  name  of 
Figulus.  This  latter  his  older  son,  John  Theodore,  and  his  descendants, 
retained ;  his  younger  son,  Daniel  Ernst,  the  Bishop,  and  his  descendants, 
resumed  the  former. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  611 

spirits  chastens  you  more  g;ently  than  us.  We  will  rather  bear 
witness  to  the  fellowship  of  joy  which  pervades  our  hearts,  that 
you  are  allowed  to  abide  with  your  churches  in  your  fatherland 
and  to  set  them  an  example  in  doctrine  and  life  ;  while  we  see 
neither  the  end  of  our  dispersion  nor  a  limit  to  our  exile. 
Nevertheless  we  will  do  what  we  can  in  commending  each  other, 
through  diligent  intercessions,  to  God  and  in  performing  works 
meet  for  repentance. 

"  Beloved  brethren,  when  by  God's  permission  you  will  assem- 
ble in  His  name,  how  gladly  would  I  be  with  you  in  the  flesh, 
beholding  your  order,  and  the  steadfastness  of  your  faith  in 
Christ!  Most  especially  would  I  rejoice  to  be  present  at  that 
solemn  rite  whereby  new  pillars  will  be  erected  to  support  the 
ministerial  office  in  your  churches  which  still  remain,  and  in 
ours  which  are  scattered.  This  must  be  done,  so  that  the  order 
which  we  have  received  from  our  fathers  may  not  become 
extinct  with  us,  your  two  surviving  Bishops,  and  that  the  suc- 
cession which  our  ancestors  so  highly  esteemed  and  which  they 
recured  with  so  much  trouble  and  maintained  with  so  much 
labor,  may  not  be  interrupted.  I  remember  those  happy  days 
when  our  churches  were  governed  by  four,  five,  or  even  six 
bishops ;  now,  amidst  the  decline  of  all  our  affairs,  the  number 
of  your  overseers  has  been  reduced  to  two.  If  these  last  pillars 
were  to  fall  in  death,  everything  else  would  fall  with  them.  This 
must  be  prevented. 

"  Therefore  proceed  in  the  name  of  the  Lord,  and  choose  men 
to  whom  may  be  publicly  committed  the  care  of  the  churches. 
In  what  way  this  can  and  must  be  done,  in  order  that  it  may 
tend  to  edification,  is,  I  take  for  granted,  well  known  to  you. 
Nevertheless  I  will  inform  you,  that  I  have  recently  published 
the  sacred  canons  and  usages  of  our  Church,  so  that  the  divine 
gifts  granted  to  us  may  not  perish  with  us.^  Now  in  as  much  as 
this  book  has  been  well  received, — the  Latin  edition  having  been 
republished  at  Geneva  and  an  English  translation  having 
appeared— you  may  rest  assured  that  the  eyes  of  the  Churches 
will  be  directed  toward  the  remnant  of  our  Unity,  in  order  to  see 
whether  we  are  true  descendants  of  forefathers  so  distinguished. 
Therefore  let  us  give  diligence  that  we  may  never  leave  the 
right  road  of  good  order  and  holy  fellowship. 

"  The  question  arises,  in  what  manner  those  whom  you  will 
lawfully  choose,  can  receive  a  valid  ordination  ;  for  according  to 
ancient  ecclesiastical  statutes  a  bishop  must  be  consecrated  by 
three,  or  at  least  by  two  bishops,  whereas  there  is  but  one  among 
you.  This  question  I  answer  as  follows :  The  object  of  that 
ecclesiastical  statute  is  to  prevent  the  doing  of  anything  '  by 
partiality.'     If  it  were  left  to  one  man  alone  to  fill  ministerial 

®  Comenius  refers  to  his  new  edition  of  the  B<atio  Disciplinse. 


612  THE    HISTORY   OF 

offices,  especially  the  episcopal,  he  might  '  prefer  one  before 
another,'  and  if  he  were  not  tenderly  conscientious,  be  a  '  re- 
specter of  persons.'  This  evil,  however,  does  not  threaten  us ; 
because  among  us  a  bishop  is  not  appointed  by  one  man,  but 
chosen  by  many.  Now  if  a  bishop  has  been  lawfully  elected  by 
all  (the  accredited  members  of  the  Synod),  why  should  he  not 
afterward,  in  the  name  and  presence  of  all,  be  consecrated  by 
one  bishop?  It  is  from  the  Church  that  the  consecrator  has 
received  the  authority  to  ordain;  and  it  is  in  the  presence  of  the 
Church  as  a  witness  that  he  fiiithfully  exercises  this  authority. 
Such  a  position  holds  good,  in  particular,  when  other  bishops 
are  absent,  by  reason  of  persecutions,  illness,  or  other  hindrances, 
and  yet  in  the  spirit  are  present,  giving  their  sanction  and 
imparting  their  benediction.  In  the  ancient  Church  there  are 
wanting  neither  canons  in  regard  to  such  a  proceeding  nor  ex- 
amples of  it ;  as  my  beloved  brother  and  colleague  will,  if 
necessary,  explain  to  you. 

"  Standing  upon  this  ground,  why  should  I  not  appropriate  to 
myself  the  words  of  the  Apostle,  in  the  fifth  chapter  of  his  first 
Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  although  they  were  originally  used 
in  a  different  connection,  and  say  :  'I  verily,  as  absent  in  body, 
but  present  in  spirit,  have  judged  already,  as  though  I  were 
present,'  concerning  those  men  whom  Christ  will  lead  you 
unanimously  to  elect  to  the  episcopal  office,  that  in  your  presence 
and  by  your  overseer  who  is  with  you,  my  colleague  in  the 
episcopate,  they  shall  be  consecrated  according  to  apostolic  usage, 
with  the  laying  on  of  hands  and  prayer,  in  the  name  and  by  the 
power  of  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord  ?  I  also  herewith  send  to  them 
a  consecratory  blessing,  according  to  the  authority  which  Christ 
and  His  Church  have  given  to  me.  But  especially  do  Thou, 
Oh  Thou  Chief  Shepherd  and  Bishop  of  the  Bishops,  Jesus 
Christ,  own  and  consecrate  these  Thy  servants,  grant  unto  them 
the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  that  they  may  go  and  bring  forth 
fruit,  and  that  their  fruit  may  remain ! 

Amen.     Amen.     Amen. 

"  In  the  way  of  a  conclusion  and  seal  to  this  my  letter,  let 
there  be  read  aloud  the  last  part  of  the  Apostolic  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews,  even  the  seventeenth  verse  of  the  thirteenth  chapter: 

'  Obey  them  that  have  the  rule  over  you,  and  submit  yourselves : 
for  they  watch  for  your  souls,  as  they  that  must  give  account ; 
that  they  may  do  it  with  joy,  and  not  with  grief;  for  that  is  un- 
profitable for  you !' 

"Also  what  is  said  in  the  twenty-first  verse  of  the  brethren  from 
Italy :  '  They  of  Italy  salute  you.' 

"  For  while  I  write,  there  are  visiting  me  two  of  those  ancient 
saints  (the  Waldenses)  from  whom  our  forefathers  received  not 
only  an  edifying  example  of  faith  and  patience,  but  also  the 
authority  of  the  apostolic  succession  ;  thus  kindling  their  light  at 


THE    MORAVIAN   CHURCH.  613 

the  light  which  that  people  had,"  At  the  present  time  the  Lord 
is  chastening  them  even  more  severely  than  He  chastens  us.  He 
has  permitted  a  cruel  persecution  and  dispersion  to  come  upon 
them.  Therefore,  dear  brethren,  cry  most  fervently  to  God  on 
their  behalf;  then  may  we  hope  that  we  will  be  included  in  their 
intercessions  rising  from  the  midst  of  the  blood,  the  sweat  and  the 
sighs  of  martyrdom. 

May  God  graciously  hear  the  fiery  aspirations,  the  prayers  and 
supplications  of  all  His  saints ! 

Amen.     Amen.     Amen. 

Farewell !  Pray  for  me  in  my  old  age  and  poor  service  of 
Christ,  even  as  I  daily  intercede  with  the  Lord  on  your  behalf. 

Given  at  Amsterdam,  with  a  weak  hand,  this  second  day  of 
April,  1662,  in  the  seventy-first  year  of  my  age. 

John  Amos  Comenius." 

When  this  document  had  been  read,  Bythner  consecrated 
Gertich  and  Figulus  to  be  Bishops  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum. 
The  Synod  adjourned  with  praise  and  thanksgiving  to  God. 

Two  years  later,  in  1664,  Bythner  transferred  his  seat  from 
Brieg  to  Schocken.  But  there  he  met  with  so  much  enmity 
on  the  part  of  the  Catholics,  that  he  removed  to  Lissa  (1667). 

Gertich  continued  to  labor  at  Brieg  until  1664,  when  his 
patron,  George  the  Third,  died,  and  the  dukedoms  of  Brieg 
and  Liegnitz  having  been  united,  he  was  transferred  to  Lieg- 
nitz  where  he  subsequently  rose  to  be  first  chaplain.  In  addi- 
tion to  the  duties  of  this  position  he  attended  to  his  episcopal 
work. 

Figulus  carried  on  hLs  pastorate  at  Nassenhuben  for  two 
years  longer,  and  then  accepted  the  office  of  court-preacher  at 
Memel,  in  which  town  he  also  ministered,  it  would  seem,  to  a 
congregation  of  Bohemian  Brethren." 

Comenius  remained  at  Amsterdam,  laboring  not  only  for 
his  brethren,  but  likewise  for  mankind  in  general.  At  that 
time  Amsterdam  was  noted  as  the  centre  of  religious  toleration. 

'^°  One  of  the  Waldenses  visiting  Comenius  was  the  celebrated  Jean  Leger, 
the  historian  of  his  people.  The  above  letter  of  Comenius  is  found  in 
Eieger,  VI.  p.  743-749. 

11  Lissaer  Gymnasium,  p.  XXXV ;  Lukaszewicz,  quoted  by  Fisclier,  II.  p. 
345,  who,  however,  doubts  the  correctness  of  Lukaszewicz's  statement. 
Memel  is  a  Prussian  seaport  at  the  north  end  of  the  Kurische  HaflF,  where 
the  Dange  flows  into  the  Baltic  Sea. 


614  THE    HISTORY    OF 

Nothing  equal  to  it  could  be  found  anywhere  else  in  Europe. 
Protestants  and  Catholics,  Arminians  and  Calvinists,  Unita- 
rians, Cartesians,  and  followers  of  other  philosophical  systems, 
went  their  several  ways  unhindered.  Although  Comenius 
showed  himself  to  be  outspoken  in  his  faith  and  firm  in  his 
adherence  to  the  Holy  Scriptures,  he  enjoyed  general  esteem 
and  was  venerated  as  a  benefactor  of  his  race/^  A  circle  of 
literary  friends  gathered  around  him.  It  was  commonly  said, 
that  his  residence  in  Amsterdam  conferred  honor  upon  the 
city ;  and  as  a  token  that  this  honor  was  appreciated  the  City 
Council  adopted  a  formal  resolution  asking  him  to  republish 
his  didactic  works.  So  flattering  a  request  he  hastened  to 
fulfill.  In  1657  appeared  his  Opera  Didadica  Omnia,  in 
four  folio  volumes,  dedicated  to  the  magistrates  of  Amsterdam. 

Comenius  was  not  exempt  from  the  experience  which  all 
great  men  make.  His  fame  provoked  envy ;  and  envy 
watched  for  an  opportunity  to  traduce  and  vilify. 

Such  an  opportunity  now  presented  itself.  Amidst  the 
mental  conflicts  into  which  he  was  plunged  by  the  destruction 
of  Lissa  and  his  own  exile,  the  tempter  drew  near  and  induced 
him  to  commit  the  mistake  of  his  life.  He  received  a  letter 
from  Nicholas  Drabik  demanding  that  he  should  translate  his 
prophecies  into  Latin  and  publish  them  to  the  world.  Come- 
nius hesitated ;  but  Drabik  threatened  him  with  the  judgments 
of  God  if  he  should  refuse  to  comply.  At  last,  after  consult- 
ing some  of  his  friends  who  encouraged  him  to  undertake  the 
work,  he  reluctantly  consented  and,  in  1657,  issued  a  volume 
entitled  Lux  in  Tenebris,  or  "  Light  in  Darkness,"  embracing 
not  only  the  prophecies  of  Drabik,  but  also  those  of  Christo- 
pher Kotter  and  Christiana  Poniatowski,  both  of  whom  wore 
deceased.^^ 

'^  In  1660  and  1661  he  published  several  energetic  treatises  against 
Zwicker,  a  Socinian,  who  had  the  audacity  to  say  publicly  of  him  that  he 
was  in  sympathy  witli  the  belief  of  the  Socinians. 

"  The  first  edition  came  out  in  1657,  with  additions  published  in  1659  ; 
a  new  and  smaller  edition  appeared  in  1663 ;  and  a  large  and  complete  one 
in  1665,  with  the  portraits  of  the  seers.  All  these  editions  are  in  the  Malin 
Library.     Others  appeared  at  various  times.     The  work  is  very  rare. 


THE    MORAVIAN   CHURCH.  615 

Kotter  was  a  fanatic  who  claimed  to  have  visions  relatinor 
to  the  fall  and  restoration  of  Bohemia.  He  lived  at  Sprottau, 
in  Silesia.  Comenius  became  acquainted  with  him  in  1626 
and  wrote  down  his  prophecies,  which  the  divines  of  Branden- 
burg accepted  as  supernatural.^* 

Christiana  Pouiatowski,  the  daughter  of  Julian  Poniatow- 
ski  and  ward  of  Comenius,  was  a  godly  and  simple-hearted 
woman,  subject  to  attacks  of  illness  that  threw  her  into  a  mes- 
meric state,  in  which  her  diseased  imagination  developed  what 
she  honestly  believed  to  be  revelations  from  God.'^ 

The  appearance  of  the  Lux  in  Tenehris  was  the  signal  for 
pouring  upon  Comenius  a  torrent  of  ridicule  and  reproach. 
In  this  ignoble  effort  two  Dutch  Professors,  Arnauld  and  Des 
Marets,  took  the  lead,  and  were  joined  by  all  his  enemies  and 
opponents.  His  own  clergy  in  Hungary  were  deeply  mortified 
and  implored  him  to  break  off  his  connection  with  Drabik. 
And  indeed  a  public  examination  to  which  they  subjected  this 
imposter,  and  at  which  he  grossly  contradicted  himself,  shook 
the  confidence  of  Comenius  not  a  little ;  nevertheless  he  could 
not  persuade  himself  that  Drabik  was  an  intentional  deceiver.^^ 
If  the  circumstances  of  the  age  in  which  Comenius  lived, 
the  startling  events  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  the  fearful 

"  Kotter  was  imprisoned  in  1627  and  finally  banished.  He  died  in 
Lusatia,  in  1647. 

^*  Her  revelations  related  to  political  events  and  a  speedy  restoration  of  the 
Protestants  to  Bohemia.  She  wrote  to  Wallenstein  and  foretold  his  violent 
death,  at  which  prediction  he  scoffed.  In  1629  she  fell  into  a  cataleptic 
state,  was  supposed  to  be  dead,  and  laid  out  for  burial.  The  next  morning 
she  awoke.  After  that  her  visions  ceased.  She  continued  to  believe  in  their 
reality,  but  did  not  speak  of  them,  in  order  to  avoid  offence.  In  1632  she 
married  Daniel  Vetter,  became  a  faithful  wife,  the  mother  of  five  children, 
and  died  of  the  consumption  in  1644. 

'^  Of  the  examination  instituted  by  the  ministers  at  Skalic,  Lednic  and 
Pucho,  a  full  report  was  given  to  Bishop  Bythner  by  Felin,  in  July,  1660,  the 
MS.  of  which  is  now  in  the  Bohemian  Museum  and  has  been  reproduced  by 
Gindelyin  his  article  on  Comenius,  pp.  519-529.  in  1671  Drabik  was 
arrested  as  a  traitor  to  the  imperial  government,  and  after  having  confessed 
that  his  revelations  were  a  gross  imposture,  burned  alive,  amidst  slow  tor- 
ments, at  Pressburg.  He  was  eighty-three  years  of  age.  (Jomenius  did  not 
live  to  see  this  fearful  issue. 


616  THE    HISTORY    OF 

plagues  which  added  to  its  horrors,  the  upheaval  of  social 
order,  and  the  convulsions  that  shook  kingdoms,  be  taken  into 
account ;  if  the  profound  impression  be  remembered  which 
the  Camisard  prophets  of  both  sexes  produced  in  France; 
if  the  perplexity  be  weighed  into  which  learned  theologians 
were  brought  by  the  men  in  other  parts  of  Europe  who  claimed 
to  be  seers ;  if  to  all  this  be  added  a  mystical  bent  of  mind 
and  a  constant  swaying  between  hopes  and  fears,  in  the  case 
of  Comenius  himself ; — his  "  amiable  fanaticism,"  as  John 
George  Miiller  aptly  calls  it,  excites,  at  the  bar  of  an  unpre- 
judiced judgment,  neither  wonder,  ridicule,  nor  blame.  We 
regret  the  error,  but  revere  the  man. 

Moreover  for  the  harm  which  may  have  been  done  by  the 
publication  of  the  Lux  in  Tenebris,  there  was  made  full  com- 
pensation in  the  last  work  which  he  issued  and  which  brought 
his  literary  career  to  a  beautiful  close.  This  work  is  entitled  : 
Unum  Necessarium,  or  "  The  One  Thing  Needful,  namely,  to 
know  what  Man  needs  in  Life,  in  Death,  and  after  Death  : 
all  of  which  John  Amos  Comenius,  a  Sire,  in  his  seventy- 
seventh  year,  exhausted  by  the  Unnecessary  Things  of  Earth, 
and  striving  for  the  One  Thing  Needful,  sets  forth  for  the 
Consideration  of  the  World."  ^^  This  treatise  delineates  his 
real  character,  gives  expression  to  his  sterling  faith,  makes 
transparent  the  purity  of  his  heart,  and  burns  with  that  enthu- 
siasm for  the  good  and  the  true  which  warmed  his  whole  life. 
He  has  left  no  richer  legacy.  It  is  a  solemn  farewell  spoken 
to  the  world  by  a  grand  old  man ;  it  is  an  aged  saint's  antici- 
pation of  coming  glory. 

"  The  Unum  Necessarium  appeared  in  1668,  and  was  dedicated  to  Eupert 
the  Palatine  of  the  Rhine.  Various  subsequent  editions  have  appeared. 
A  part  of  the  work  was  translated  into  Bohemian  and  published  in  1765. 
In  1690  a  German  translation  was  issued  at  Liineburg,  and  another,  in 
1755,  at  Frankfurt  and  Leipzig.  In  the  tenth  chapter  of  this  work  Comenius 
speaks  of  the  sorrow  and  trouble  which  the  Lux  in  Tenebris  caused  him. 
He  says  that  he  was  led  into  an  unusual  labyrinth ;  that  it  was,  and  is,  not 
easy  to  escape  from  it ;  that  all  he  can  do,  is  to  commit  this  whole  matter 
into  the  keeping  of  God  ;  that  as  often  as  he  sees  God  do,  or  hears  Him  say, 
what  he  does  not  understand,  he  must  be  permitted  to  exclaim  with  David : 
"  I  was  dumb  ;  I  opened  not  my  mouth." 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH.  617 

Two  years  after  the  publication  of  this  work,  while  engaged 
in  preparing  for  the  press  his  Pansophic  manuscript,  which 
he  had  reproduced,  the  hoary  exile  was  called  to  his  heavenly 
fatherland,  where  he  found  a  solution  for  all  the  enigmas  of 
his  earthly  wanderings,  and  now  sees  no  longer  through  a 
glass  darkly,  but  face  to  face. 

Comenius  died  on  the  fifteenth  of  November,  1670,  in  the 
seventy-ninth  year  or  his  age ;  on  the  twenty-second  his  re- 
mains were  buried  in  the  French  Reformed  church  of  Naar- 
den.  The  figure  8,  designating  the  number  of  the  grave, 
which  was  near  the  chancel-railing  a  little  to  the  left  of  the 
pulpit,  constituted  the  only  epitaph  on  his  tombstone.  That 
church  now  forms  a  part  of  the  military  barracks  of  Naarden. 
No  memorial  of  any  kind  marks  the  tomb  of  one  of  the  great- 
est men  of  the  seventeenth  century.  His  mortal  dust  sleeps 
beneath  the  floor  of  a  room  used  for  making  cartridges  and 
filling  shells.i^ 

^^  For  many  years,  the  day  on  which  Comenius  died,  the  church  in  which 
he  was  buried,  and  the  grave  inclosing  his  remains,  remained  unknown. 
About  1872,  Mr.  de  Eoeper,  a  lawyer  of  Naarden,  since  deceased,  found 
among  his  father's  papers  the  church-register,  the  sexton's  account  book,  and 
other  documents  relating  to  the  French  Keformed  parish.  That  register 
contained  a  record  of  the  burial  of  Comenius  and  the  number  of  his  grave. 
After  a  very  long  search  Mr.,  de  Eoeper  at  last  met  with  an  aged  woman 
who  remembered  the  church.  It  proved  to  be  a  part  of  the  barracks.  By 
permission  and  with  the  aid  of  the  commanding  officer  he  instituted  a  care- 
ful examination  and  finally  discovered  the  tombstone  marked  8,  correspond- 
ing with  the  number  given  in  the  record,  which  reads  as  follows  :  "  No.  8. 
Johannes  Amos  Commenius.  C'est  apparement  le  fameux  Autheur  du 
Janua  Linguarum ;  enterre  le  22  November,  1670."  The  tombstone  was 
removed  and  is  now  in  the  possession  of  Madame  de  Eoeper.  In  1879  we 
visited  this  lady,  who  still  takes  a  deep  interest  in  the  investigations  com- 
menced by  her  late  husband  ;  saw  the  stone,  which  is  a  large  square  slab  of 
slate  ;  and  were  admitted  to  the  barracks  where  her  secretary  and  a  Mora- 
vian clergyman  of  Zeist,  both  well  acquainted  with  the  locality,  pointed  out 
the  part  of  the  floor  beneath  which  is  the  grave  of  Comenius.  A  rough, 
unpainted  table,  with  benches  on  both  sides,  stands  on  the  spot.  In  1742 
Matthaeus  Brouveridus  Van  Nidett,  the  author  of  several  learned  works, 
and  in  1750  Mons.  Louis  Guerre,  Capitaine  des  Invalides,  and  an  Elder 
of  the  French  Eeformed  Church,  were  buried  in  the  same  grave  with  Come- 
nius.    From  the  sexton's  account  book  we  learned,  that  he  received  from 


618  THE    HISTORY    OF 

It  is  sad  to  think  of  such  a  grave.  And  yet,  in  the  hearts 
of  every  generation  since  his  death,  have  the  works  which  he 
performed  in  the  interests  of  education,  science,  phih)sophy 
and  religion,  built  a  more  enduring  monument  than  bronze  or 
marble  can  produce  and  given  him  a  name  that  is  immortal. 
He  could  look  back  upon  his  life  with  the  glorious  conviction, 
that  he  never  undertook  anything  which  had  not  the  good  of 
his  fellow  men  and  the  honor  of  God  in  view.  Well  may 
Herder  call  him  "a  noble  priest  of  humanity."  His  was  a 
sublime  purpose — to  bring  mankind  to  a  consciousness  of  it- 
self, of  what  it  is,  of  its  unity  and  dignity ;  and  in  harmony 
with  the  Divine  will  to  lead  the  whole  race,  and  every  indi- 
vidual member  of  it,  to  happiness  enduring  forever.'"  In 
some  respects  he  was  in  advance  of  his  time ;  some  of  his  as- 
pirations are  yet  to  be  fulfilled.  Indeed,  as  Criegern  correctly 
says,  the  grand  principles  which  he  enunciated  may  well  serve 
to  instruct  and  admonish  all  ages.  Protestants  and  Catholics 
unite  in  honoring  him.  Even  the  Jesuit  Balbin  recognizes 
his  worth  and  speaks  in  his  praise.  It  is  left  to  writers  like 
Pierre  Bayle,  in  his  Historical  and  Critical  Dictionary  ;  Ade- 
lung,  in  his  History  of  Fools ;  and  others  of  the  same  class ; 
to  defame  Comenius  and  turn  his  loftiest  aims  into  ridicule.^" 

What  he  did  for  the  Church  of  his  fathers  has  been  set 
forth  in  the  course  of  our  narrative,  but  may  be  summed  up  in 
these  words :  he  was  the  Jeremiah  of  the  Ancient  and  the  John 
the  Baptist  of  the  Renewed  Unitas  Fratrum. 

Comenius  was  a  man  of  patriarchal  appearance  and  imposing 


the  Domine,  fifteen  florins  for  his  services  at  the  funeral  of  Comenius. 
Naarden  is  situated  on  the  Zuyder-Zee,  twelve  miles  south-east  of  Amster- 
dam ;  it  constitutes  the  key  to  the  water  communications  of  Holland  and  is 
strongly  fortified. 

^^  Zoubek,  p.  xliii. 

"^^  As  a  specimen  of  Adelung's  treatment  of  Comenius  the  following  may 
serve :  He  says,  that  Comenius  was  a  charlatan,  of  very  limited  understand- 
ing and  equally  limited  learning,  who  did  not  really  mean  to  improve  the 
system  of  education,  but  to  make  himself  prominent  through  his  chimerical 
Pansophia  and  use  it  as  a  bait  for  catching  money.  Adelung's  Geschichte 
der  menschlichen  Narrheit  appeared  at  Leipsic,  in  1785. 


JOHN  AMOS  COMENIUS. 


''    '  rH 


.^^•'^ 


joh:\"  ajvios   comeniits. 


THE   MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  619 

figure.  His  chin  was  long ;  his  forehead  high ;  his  eye  soft 
and  sad  ;  his  whole  countenance  showed  that  he  never  forgot 
the  sufferings  of  his  people  and  that  as  regarded  himself  he 
felt  what  he  once  wrote :  "  My  whole  life  was  merely  the  visit 
of  a  guest ;  I  had  no  fatherland."  His  character  is  beauti- 
fully outlined  by  Palacky  :  ''  In  his  intercourse  with  others 
Comenius  was  in  an  extraordinary  degree  friendly,  conciliatory 
and  humble ;  always  ready  to  serve  his  neighbor  and  sacrifice 
himself.  His  writings  as  well  as  his  walk  and  conversation 
show  the  depth  of  his  feelings,  his  goodness,  his  uprightness 
and  fear  of  God.  He  never  cast  back  upon  his  opponents 
what  they  meeted  out  to  him.  He  never  condemned,  no 
matter  how  great  the  injustice  which  he  was  made  to  suffer. 
At  all  times,  with  fullest  resignation,  whether  joy  or  sorrow 
was  his  portion,  he  honored  and  praised  the  Lord."  ^^ 

In  the  period  following  the  Anti -Reformation  to  the  death 
of  Comenius,  a  "Hidden  Seed"  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum  re- 
mained in  Bohemia  and  Moravia.  This  seed  consisted  of  such 
Brethren  as,  for  various  reasons,  did  not  emigrate.  The 
bigotry  of  Ferdinand  the  Third,  who  reigned  from  1637  to 
1657,  was  intense ;  and  he  continued  to  suppress  every  vestige 

'•''  Comenius,  nach  Palacky,  pp.  40  and  41.  His  literary  activity  was  as 
tonishing.  He  Avrote  at  least  one  hundred  works ;  probably  more.  A  correct 
list  of  them  has  not  yet  been  produced. 

With  his  wife,  Elizabeth  Cyrill,  Comenius  had  five  children,  one  son, 
Daniel,  and  four  daughters.  His  wife  died  in  1648.  On  the  seventeenth 
of  May,  1649,  he  married  Johanna  Gaiusowa,  at  Thorn,  with  whom  he  ap- 
pears to  have  had  no  children.  This,  according  to  our  narrative,  was  his 
third  marriage  ;  according  to  Gindely  and  the  Lissaer  Gymnasium,  he  was 
married  but  twice.  From  the  union  of  his  daughter  Elizabeth  with  Peter 
Figulus,  sprang  Daniel  Ernst  Jablonsky,  his  grandson,  through  whom  the 
episcopal  succession  was  transferred  to  the  Renewed  Unity.  Gindely's 
Comenius,  pp.  535  and  536  ;  Lissaer  Gymnasium,  p.  XXXV. 

Several  pictures  exist  of  Comenius.  A  very  fine  portrait  adorns  the  wall 
of  the  room  in  which  the  Chief  Executive  Board  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum 
meets,  at  Berthelsdorf,  in  Saxony.  This  portrait  was  secured  from  his 
grandson.  Bishop  D.  E.  Jablonsky.  It  has  been  engraved.  Another  picture 
of  him  is  the  work  of  the  celebrated  English-Bohemian  artist  Wenzel 
Hollar.  A  good  bust  of  Comenius  has  recently  been  produced  by  Reichel, 
of  Neuwied  in  Prussia. 


620  THE    HISTORY   OF 

of  Evangelical  religion.  His  successor,  Leopold  the  First, 
walked  in  his  footsteps,  forbidding  even  family-worship  in 
such  houses  as  were  suspected  of  Evangelical  tendencies,  and 
allowing  no  Protestant  to  settle  and  acquire  property  in  any 
part  of  Bohemia  or  Moravia.  Nevertheless,  in  secret,  espe- 
cially among  the  peasantry,  the  faith  of  the  Brethren  was 
maintained.  To  extinguish  absolutely  the  spark  of  life  which 
still  glowed,  both  the  government  and  the  Romish  clergy 
found  to  be  impossible.^^  A  detailed  history  of  this  Hidden 
Seed,  in  the  first  fifty  years  of  its  existence,  can  not,  however, 
be  given.  We  can  only  say,  in  general,  that  religious  worship 
was,  as  far  as  possible,  kept  up  by  stealth,  sometimes  in  the 
cottages  of  peasants  or  castles  of  lords,  and  sometimes  in  the 
recesses  of  forests  or  mountains.^^  The  Brethren  of  the 
Hidden  Seed  were,  moreover,  visited  by  ministers  of  their 
Church  from  Silesia  and  Hungary,  who  dispensed  the  sacra- 
ments. Such  ministers  came,  in  particular,  from  Skalic. 
Comenius  too  did  what  he  could  to  foster  the  Hidden  Seed,  by 
secretly  sending  to  Bohemia  and  Moravia  copies  of  his  Cate- 
chism, Hymnal,  and  other  works  relating  to  the  Unitas  Fra- 
trum.  For  this  service,  which  was  exceedingly  perilous,  he 
employed,  about  1663,  John  Kopulansky.^^  The  offerings 
transmitted  by  the  Brethren  in  Bohemia  to  their  exiled  friends, 
formed  another  bond  of  union  between  the  two.^^ 

In  1650,  1652  and  1670,  new  emigrations  took  place. 

^^  Church  Register  of  Augustin  Schulz,  minister  of  the  Bohemian  parish 
in  Berlin,  in  the  eighteenth  century. 

^^  Holyk  has  described  religious  meetings  held  by  secret  Lutherans,  at 
which  he  was  himself  present ;  the  meetings  of  the  secret  Brethren  were 
conducted  in  the  same  way.     Daum's  Verfolgungen,  p.  77,  etc. 

2*  Cranz,  pp.  88  and  89. 

^^  Lukaszewicz,  p.  150,  who  mentions  among  the  means  of  support  upon 
which  the  exiles  had  to  depend,  "  das  was  ihnen  heimlich  ihre  Glaubens- 
briider  in  Bohmen  und  Miihren  dann  und  wann  zusandten." 


THE   MORAVIAN   CHURCH.  621 


CHAPTER  LV. 

The  Polish,  Hungarian  and  Silesian  Remnant  in  the  Half 

Century  prior  to  the  Renewal  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum. 

A.  D.  1671-1722. 


John  Casimir  resigns.— Michael  Korybut  and  John  Sobieski. — Death  of 
Figulus  and  Nicholas  Gertich.— Bishop  Hartmann.— Bohemian  Ele- 
ment disappears  at  Lissa. — Death  of  Bythner. — Bishop  Zugehor. — 
Elector  of  Brandenburg  favors  the  Brethren.— Scholarships  at  Berlin, 
Frankfort,  and  Heidelberg.— Bishop  Hartmann  in  England.— Scholar- 
ships at  Oxford.— A  Bishop  proposed  for  England.— Death  of  Hart- 
mann.—Bishop  Jiilich.— Death  of  Zugehor.— Bishops  Daniel  Ernst 
Jablonsky  and  John  Jacobides.— Jablonsky's  Work.— The  State  of 
Poland.— Lissa's  second  Destruction.—  Struggle  of  the  Protestants  for 
their  Rights.— Jablonsky  publishes  these  Eights. — A  General  Union 
Synod  agreed  on.— Synods  of  the  Brethren  at  Heiersdorf  and  Zullichau. 
— Bishops  Opitz  and  Cassius.— Synod  at  Thorn.— Jablonsky  and  the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury.— Collections  in  England  ordered  by  the 
Privy  Council.— General  Union  Synod  at  Dantzic— Other  Synods.— 
The  Tragedy  at  Thorn.— Lissa  rebuilt.— The  Brethren  in  Poland, 
Hungary  and  Silesia  disappearing.— The  Unitatsgemeinden  and  their 
Episcopate. 

The  peace  with  Sweden,  as  well  as  that  with  Russia  and 
the  Cossacks,  cost  John  Casimir  a  part  of  his  territory.  He 
grew  weary  of  reigning,  laid  aside  the  crown  and  retired  to 
France.  His  successor  was  Michael  Korybut.  As  usual  the 
rights  and  privileges  of  the  Evangelical  party  were  ratified  at 
the  Diet  of  Election  (1669) ;  but  this  was  an  empty  form  of 
which  neither  the  Catholic  clergy  nor  the  royal  tribunals  took 
any  further  notice.  For  four  brief  years  Korybut  occupied 
the  throne  and  then  died  (1674).     He  was  followed  bv  John 


622  THE    HISTORY    OF 

Sobieski,  whose  brilliant  achievements  against  the  Turks 
made  him  the  hero  of  his  time.  Although  averse  to  religious 
persecutions  and  desirous  of  giving  the  Protestants  their  full 
due,  he  could  neither  put  a  stop  to  the  Romish  reaction  nor 
hinder  the  unjust  oppression  which  it  produced. 

Amidst  such  circumstances  the  Polish  Brethren  endeavored, 
in  the  years  following  the  decease  of  Comenius,  to  maintain 
their  Church. 

Figulus  having  died  at  Memel,  on  the  twelfth  of  January, 
1670,  and  hence  preceded  Comenius  to  eternity — whose  heart 
was  deeply  stricken  by  this  loss  which  frustrated  his  hope  of  a 
successor  in  the  Bohemian-Moravian  episcopate — and  Nicholas 
Gertich  having  passed  away  at  Liegnitz,  on  the  twenty-fourth 
of  May,  of  the  following  year ;  the  sole  Bishop  who  survived, 
was  John  Bythner.  In  1673  the  Synod  gave  him  a  colleague 
in  the  person  of  Adam  Samuel  Hartmann.  He  was  conse- 
crated by  Bythner,  at  Lissa,  on  the  twenty-eighth  of  October.^ 

Hartmann  was  an  eminent  scholar  and  labored  with  singular 
zeal  to  preserve  the  remnant  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum.  Born 
at  Prague,  on  the  seventh  of  September,  1621,  the  son  of  that 
incumbent  of  the  Bethlehem  Chapel  Avhom  Leichtensteiu  had 
banished,  he  studied  at  the  Universities  of  Frankfort,  AVitten- 
berg  and  Leipzig,  was  ordained  to  the  priesthood  and  installed 
as  Rector  of  the  College  at  Lissa,  in  1653.  In  addition  to  his 
classical  and  theological  lore,  he  had  mastered  five  modern 
languages.  On  his  elevation  to  the  episcopacy  he  resigned  the 
rectorship,  in  order  to  devote  himself  entirely  to  the  interests 
of  the  Church.^ 

Meanwhile  Lissa  went  on  prospering.  In  one  respect,  how- 
ever, its  character  began  to  change.  The  Bohemian  element 
disappeared  more  and  more,  and  the  German  prevailed.  Sub- 
sequent to  the  year  1700  the  language  of  the  exiles  was  no 
longer  used  in  public  worship.  The  last  clergyman  who 
preached  in  that  tongue  was  John  Tobian.^ 

^  Jablonsky's  De  Ordine  et  Successione,  Acta  Fratrum,  p.  114. 
^  Fischer,  II.  pp.  345  and  346 ;  Lissaer  Gymnasium,  p.  XV. 
^  Lissaer  Geschichte,  p.  15 ;  Fischer,  II.  pp.  160  and  161. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  623 

It  was  at  Lissa  that  the  two  Bishops  had  their  seat.  Their 
associated  work  came  to  an  end  in  1675,  in  which  year  Byth- 
ner  died,  on  the  second  of  February,  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
three  years.  A  learned  man ;  set  to  govern  the  Church  in  a 
time  of  sore  tribulations;  he  maintained  his  position  with 
heroic  courage,  and  never  grew  weary  of  traveling  from  parish 
to  parish,  often  amidst  great  dangers,  encouraging  the  Brethren 
and  strengthening  them  in  the  faith.  To  his  efforts  chiefly 
the  renewed  Unitas  Fratrum  owes  that  unbroken  succession 
which  it  has  inherited.^ 

It  was  with  the  object  of  keeping  up  this  succession  that,  on 
his  death-bed,  he  nominated  John  Zugehor  for  the  episcopacy. 
This  nomination  found  favor  with  the  Synod.  On  the  occa- 
sion of  its  meeting  at  Dantzic  in  the  following  year  (1676), 
Zugehor  was  elected  and  consecrated  by  Bishop  Hartmann, 
August  the  thirteenth,  in  the  church  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul.^ 

For  the  next  fifteen  years  these  two  Bishops  conjointly 
stood  at  the  head  of  the  Unity,  laboring  for  its  welfare,  striv- 
ing to  establish  its  churches,  and  endeavoring  to  promote  the 
cause  of  its  College  and  schools. 

Hartmann  was  successful  in  enlisting  the  aid  of  foreign 
princes.  In  1674  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg  instructed  his 
ambassador  at  the  Polish  court  to  give  the  Bretliren  financial 
support;  in  1683  he  commissioned  his  councilor  Ursiuus  to 
come  to  an  understanding  with  Hartmann  in  relation  to  four 
scholarships  which  had  been  created,  for  students  of  the  Unity, 
in  a  gymnasium  at  Berlin  and  in  the  University  of  Frankfort- 
on-the-Oder ;  and  in  the  following  year  he  induced  the  Elector 
of  the  Palatinate  to  institute  four  additional  scholarships  in 
the  University  of  Heidelberg.^ 

*  Fischer,  II.  p.  345.  Bythner's  principal  literary  work  was  a  postil  in 
Polish,  now  one  of  the  rarest  books  in  that  language. 

^Jablonsky's  De  Ordine  et  Successione,  Acta  Fratrum,  p.  114.  John 
Zugehor  was  born  at  Lissa  and  ordained  to  the  priesthood  prior  to  the 
Swedish  War,  in  the  course  of  which  he  fled  to  Silesia.  On  his  return  he 
labored  at  Lissa  and  subsequently  at  Zychlin.  In  1673  he  was  ordained  to 
be  an  Assistant  Bishop. 

*  Lissaer  Gymnasium,  p.  XXXVII. 


624  THE   HISTORY   OF 

No  less  encouraging  was  Hartmanu's  success  in  rea waking 
the  sympathies  of  England.  He  visited  that  country  in  1680, 
bearing  a  commission  from  the  Synod,  and  appealed  for  aid. 
This  appeal  was  commended  by  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury 
and  the  Bishop  of  London,  and  resulted  in  the  creation,  for 
the  benefit  of  students  of  the  Unity,  of  three  scholarships  in 
the  University  of  Oxford ;  which  ancient  seat  of  learning  con- 
ferred upon  Hartmann  himself  the  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Philosophy.^ 

In  1657,  when  coming  to  England  for  the  first  time,  his 
brother  Paul  accompanied  liira  and  remained  in  that  country, 
Paul  rose  to  be  chaplain  of  Christ  Church  College  at  Oxford, 
and  subsequently  became  rector  of  the  parish  of  Shellingford, 
near  Farrington.  Now  the  idea  was  broached,  that  this  Paul 
Hartmann  might  be  invested  with  the  episcopate  of  the  Unitas 
Fratrum,  and  superintend,  in  addition  to  his  other  duties,  the 
Brethren  who  had  made  England  their  home.  Bishop  Hart- 
mann had  several  consultations  on  the  subject  with  the  An- 
glican prelates ;  "  but  through  some  impediments,  the  thing 
did  not  come  to  pass."  ^ 

On  his  return  he  transferred  his  seat  to  Memel  and  took 
charge  of  the  Bohemian  parish  at  that  place.  In  1690  he  set 
out  again  for  England,  in  order  to  visit  his  brother.  At  Rot- 
terdam he  fell  ill  and  died  on  the  twenty-ninth  of  May,  1691. 

His  death  was  a  heavy  blow  to  the  Unity.  When  Bishop 
Zugehor  received  the  sad  intelligence,  he  took  steps  to  have  a 
successor  appointed.  The  Synod  responded  to  his  wish,  and 
elected  Joachim  Jiilich,  whom  he  consecrated,  at  Lissa,  on  the 
twenty -sixth  of  June,  1692.^     Jiilich  made  that  town  liLs  seat; 

'  Lissaer  Gymnasium ;  Fischer,  II.  p.  346 ;  Rieger,  VI.  p.  738.  In  the  di- 
ploma Hartmann  was  fully  acknowledged  as  a  Bishop  of  the  Unitas  Fra- 
trum. During  the  reign  of  James  the  Second  the  scholarships  came  to  an 
end,  in  1685  ;  Charles  the  Second  seems  to  have  favored  the  Unity  in  many 
ways.  Benham,  p.  Ill,  speaks  of  what  seems  to  be  a  second  appeal  made 
by  Paul  Hartmann  in  1683. 

^  Jablonsky's  De  Ordine  et  Successione,  Acta  Fratrum,  p.  114. 

^  Ihid.  Jiilich  was  born  at  Weissholz,  in  Silesia.  His  father,  Dr.  John 
Jiilich,  fled  to  Poland  in  the  Thirty  Years'  War.     Jiilich  graduated  at  the 


THE   MORAVIAN   CHURCH.  625 

Zugehor  continued  to  reside  at  Zychlin  until  his  death,  Novem- 
ber the  twenty-ninth,  1698. 

The  Synod  which  met  at  Lissa  in  the  following  year 
adopted  Jiilich's  proposition  to  elect  two  bishops.  Daniel 
Ernst  Jablonsky  and  John  Jacobides  were  chosen.  On  the 
tenth  of  March,  1699,  they  received  consecration  at  the  hands 
of  Bishop  Jiilich. 

Jablonsky  deserves  a  more  extended  notice.  He  was  the 
son  of  Bishop  Peter  Figulus  and  the  grandson  of  Amos 
Comenius,  and  was  born  at  Nassenhuben,  on  the  twenty-sixth 
of  November,  1660.  After  having  received  a  preparatory 
training  at  the  College  of  Lissa,  he  entered  the  University  of 
Frankfort-on-the-Oder  and,  in  addition  to  a  theological  and 
classical  course,  took  up  the  study  of  the  oriental  languages 
with  great  enthusiasm.  In  1680  he  accompanied  Bishop 
Hartmann  to  England,  and  spent  three  years  at  Oxford, 
enjoying  the  privileges  of  one  of  the  scholarships  of  the 
Unity.  His  first  charge  was  a  newly  organized  Reformed 
church  at  Magdeburg.  In  1686  he  accepted  a  vocation  to 
the  German  parish  at  Lissa  and,  in  the  same  year,  was 
installed  as  the  Rector  of  its  College.  The  fame  of  his  learn- 
ing, eloquence  and  zeal  spread  far  and  wide.  In  1691  he 
was  appointed  court-preacher  at  Kdnigsberg  and,  two  years 
later,  called  to  fill  the  same  position  at  Berlin,  where  he 
enjoyed  the  favor  of  King  Frederick  the  First  and  of  his  son, 
Frederick  William  the  First.  Jablonsky's  labors  in  the  latter 
city  embraced  a  period  of  forty-eight  years,  until  his  death. 
He  rose  to  be  a  councilor  of  the  consistory,  a  church-councilor, 
and  president  of  the  Royal  Academy ;  and  received  from  the 
University  of  Oxford  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity.  His 
efforts,  in  which  he  was  supported  by  Leibnitz,  to  bring  about 
a  union  between  the  Lutherans  and  Reformed,  were  unsuc- 
cessful.    He  died  on  the  twenty-fifth  of  May,  1741,  in  the 


University  of  FVankfort ;  was  ordained  to  the  priesthood  in  1657  and  took 
charge  of  the  German  church  at  Lissa.     In  1675  he  was  ordained  to  be  an 
Assistant  Bishop. 
40 


626  THE    HISTORY    OF 

eighty-first  year  of  his  age,  the  fifty-eighth  of  his  ministry, 
aud  the  forty-second  of  his  episcopate.^" 

When  he  was  asked  to  accept  the  episcopate,  he  had  scruples 
touching  his  residence  in  a  foreign  country  and  his  consecra- 
tion by  only  one  bishop ;  and  under  date  of  January  the 
second,  1699,  wrote  to  his  friend,  Doctor  John  Ernst  Grabe, 
of  the  Anglican  Church,  in  London,  asking  his  advice.  In 
regard  to  the  latter  point  Doctor  Grabe  satisfied  him  fully ; 
in  regard  to  the  former  he  found  that  two  bishops  would 
reside  in  Poland ;  that  his  brethren  would  be  satisfied  with 
whatever  part  he  could  take  in  the  oversight  of  their  phurches; 
and  that  he  was  to  be  consecrated  chiefly  in  order  to  prevent 
the  succession  from  dying  out."  And  yet,  after  the  death  of 
Bishop  Jiilich  (November  the  fourteenth,  1703),  Jablonsky 
became  the  virtual  head  of  the  remnant  of  the  Unity,  and 
with  great  zeal  and  untiring  faithfulness  promoted  its  interests 
in  Poland,  Hungary  and  Prussia.'" 

This  he  did  in  various  ways.  He  held  frequent  Synods  to 
strengthen  the  things  which  remained,  that  were  ready  to  die. 
He  endeavored  to  bring  about,  for  mutual  protection,  a  closer 
union  among  the  Protestants  of  Poland.  He  exerted  his 
influence  at  the  Prussian  court  to  such  a  degree  that  Frederick 
the  First,  following  the  example  of  his  father,  the  Great 
Elector,  became  an  ardent  supporter  of  the  Brethren,  helped 
them  financially,  and  secured  for  them  four  scholarships  at 
the  University  of  Ueyden,  in  addition  to  those  founded  at 

^^  Lissaer  Gymnasium,  p.  XVI.,  etc.  At  one  time  Jablonsky  suggested 
the  Anglican  episcopacy  and  liturgy  as  a  bond  of  union  between  the 
Lutherans  and  Reformed;  and  corresponded  with  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury  on  the  subject.  "When  this  became  known  in  Germany,  it  gave 
great  offence.  In  addition  to  his  Historia  Consensus  Sendomiriensis,  and 
the  work  mentioned  in  Note  16,  he  published  a  new  edition  of  the  Hebrew 
Bible  (1699)  and  of  the  Talmud  (1715-1721),  as  also  a  Collection  of  Ser- 
mons in  five  volumes. 

"  Eieger,  VI.,  pp.  752,  etc. ;  Acta  Fratrum,  p.  114. 

^^  The  Lissaer  Gymnasium,  p.  XVIL,  says  :  "  Er  benutzte  die  Gelegen- 
heit  (of  his  being  court-preacher  at  Berlin)  fiir  die  B5hmischen  Beformlrten 
aller  Orten  in  Polen,  Preussen  und  Ungarn  in  jeder  VVeise  zu  wirken." 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  627 

Frankfort,  Heidelberg  and  Berlin/^  At  the  same  time  he 
was  the  connecting  link  through  which  the  episcopal  succes- 
sion of  the  Ancient  Unitas  Fratrum  was  transferred  to  the 
Renewed.^* 

While  Jablonsky  labored,  in  these  ways,  for  the  Church  of 
his  fathers,  the  immediate  superintendence  of  its  parishes  was 
committed  to  Bishop  Jacobides,  who  had  his  seat  at  Lissa. 

Momentous  events  were  transpiring  in  Poland.  After  the 
death  of  Sobieski  (1696),  Frederick  Augustus,  Elector  of 
Saxony,  a  Lutheran,  secured  the  crown  by  becoming  a 
Romanist.  But  Charles  the  Twelfth,  the  young  hero  of 
Sweden,  snatched  it  from  his  head  and  gave  it  to  Stanislaus 
Leszcynski,  lord  of  Lissa  (1704).  Under  the  mild  sway  of 
this  new  monarch  the  Confederation  of  Warsaw  was  estab- 
lished, which  granted  the  Protestants  full  liberty  to  found 
churches  and  schools,  and  exempted  them  from  the  jurisdiction 
of  Romish  tribunals.  Unfortunately,  however,  Stanislaus  was 
not  acknowledged  by  the  entire  nation.  To  the  calamities 
entailed  by  the  invasion  of  the  Russians  and  Saxons  were 
added  the  horrors  of  civil  strife.  A  time  of  dire  tribulation 
began.  Many  a  fair  domain  was  laid  waste  ;  many  a  village 
made  desolate;  many  a  town  sacked.  Upon  Lissa  the  demon 
of  war  again  laid  a  merciless  hand.  Twice  it  was  spared 
through  the  intervention  of  the  King  of  Prussia  whose  sym- 
pathy Jablonsky  succeeded  in  rousing ;  on  several  other 
occasions  it  escaped  by  paying  a  heavy  ransom ;  at  last  its  fate 
could  no  longer  be  averted  and  the  day  of  its  second  destruc- 
tion came  on.  It  was  the  twenty-ninth  of  July,  1707.  Early 
in  the  morning  a  body  of  Russians,  under  command  of  Colonel 
Schultz,  attacked  the  town,  pillaged  its  houses,  abused  its  in- 
habitants most  barbarously,  and  then  rode  through  the  streets 

'^  Lissaer  Gymnasium,  p.  XXXVII.  These  scholarships  continued  until 
the  nineteenth  century. 

1*  On  the  thirteenth  of  March,  1735,  Jablonsky,  with  the  concurrence  of 
Bishop  Sitkovius,  his  colleague  in  Poland,  consecrated  David  Nitschmann  ; 
and  on  the  twentieth  of  May,  1737,  Jablonsky  and  Nitschmann,  again  with 
the  concurrence  of  Sitkovius,  consecrated  Count  Zinzendorf 


628  THE    HISTORY   OF 

throwing  about  balls  of  burning  pitch.  In  a  short  time  the 
whole  place  was  wrapped  in  flames.  This  conflagration  was 
even  more  fearful  than  the  first.  In  four  hours  Lissa  was 
swept  from  the  face  of  the  earth.  Not  a  few  of  its  people 
perished  in  the  flames ;  the  rest  fled  saving  nothing  but  their 
lives.  Stretched  on  the  grass,  near  the  charred  remains  of  a 
windmill,  lay  Schultz  enjoying  the  horrible  spectacle.^^ 

However  appalling  this  new  catastrophe  was,  the  Brethren, 
encouraged  by  Jablonsky  and  Jacobides,  did  not  lose  heart. 
In  unison  with  their  fellow  Protestants  they  began  a  persistent 
and  manful  struggle  for  their  rights.  It  was  a  struggle 
which  excites  unqualified  admiration ;  at  the  same  time  it  led 
them  to  lean  upon  the  Reformed  more  heavily  than  ever,  and 
helped  to  put  an  end  to  their  independence. 

In  1708  Bishop  Jablonsky  published  a  work  setting  forth 
the  rights  and  privileges  of  the  Polish  Protestants.^^  Its 
purpose  was,  to  let  the  world  see  the  ground  upon  which 
they  stood,  and  thus  to  excite  a  general  interest  in  the  cause 
which  had,  for  so  many  years,  been  upheld  by  the  Evangelical 
party  and  antagonized  by  the  Roman  Catholics.  The  defeat 
of  Charles  the  Twelfth  at  Pultawa,  in  the  following  year 
(1709),  and  the  consequent  return  of  Frederick  Augustus  to 
the  throne,  although  an  unexpected  disaster,  did  not  quench 
the  courage  of  the  Protestants. 

In  April,  of  1710,  representatives  of  the  Brethren  and  the 
Reformed  met  at  Warsaw  and  agreed  to  call  a  Union  Synod. 
To  this  convocation  the  former,  assembled  at  Heiersdorf  in 
the  following  June,  chose  six  delegates  and  instructed  them  to 
bring  about,  if  possible,  a  confederation  among  the  Evangelical 
churches  of  Poland  and  to  devise  means  by  which  they  could 
regain  their  civil  and  religious  liberties.^'^  Other  meetings  of 
the  Synod,  under  the  presidency  of  Jablonsky,   took  place. 

^^  Lissaer  Gymnasium,  p.  XXXVIII.;  Lissaer  Geschichte,  pp.  16  and  17. 

^*  Jura  et  Libertates  Dissidentium  in  Eeligione  Christiana  in  Regno 
Polonise  et  M.  D.  Lithuaniae  ex  Legibus  Regni  et  aliis  Monumentis 
authenticis  excerpta.    Anno  Christi  1708.    Berolini.    Ex  typographia  regia. 

^''  Lukaszewicz,  pp.  182  and  183. 


THE   MORAVIAN   CHURCH.  629 

In  1712,  he  convened  it  at  Ziillichau,  iu  Brandenburg,  be- 
cause tlie  bitter  feud  which  had  broken  out  between  the  King 
and  the  nobles  rendered  a  meeting  in  Poland  impracticable. 
On  that  occasion — Bishop  Jacobides  having  died  in  1709 — 
Solomon  Opitz  was  elected  to  the  episcopacy  and,  on  the 
eleventh  of  July,  consecrated  by  Jablonsky.^^  In  the  autumn 
of  the  same  year  the  Synod  met  at  Thorn,  and  chose  a  third 
bishop,  in  the  person  of  David  Cassias,  who  was  consecrated 
by  Jablonsky  and  Opitz,  on  the  fourth  of  November.^^ 

At  this  convocation  representatives  both  of  the  Reformed 
and  Lutherans  were  present,  so  that  it  assumed  the  character 
of  a  Union  Synod  preparatory  to  the  General  Synod.  The 
steps  to  be  taken  in  order  to  secure  the  rights  of  the  Prot- 
estants were  discussed  ;  Jablonsky  was  commissioned  to  pre- 
pare, in  conjunction  with  the  Lutheran  delegates,  a  petition 
to  the  Diet  setting  forth  the  grievances  of  the  Evangelical 
party ;  a  common  fund  for  the  benefit  of  suffering  parishes 
was  agreed  on  ;  and  it  was  left  to  Jablonsky  to  appoint,  after 
consultation  with  the  Lutherans,  the  time  for  the  meeting  of 
the  General  Synod.^" 

In  the  interests  of  the  fund  he  opened  a  correspondence 
with  Doctor  William  Wake,  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
and  sent  Christian  Sitkovius  to  England  in  order  to  present 
the  cause  in  person.  It  met  with  favor;  and  on  the  tenth  of 
March,  1715,  was  brought  to  the  notice  of  the  Privy  Council. 
This  body  adopted  the  following  minute : 

"  Upon  a  Representation  on  this  Day  made  to  his  Majesty,  by 
the  most  Reverend  Father  in  God,  William  Lord  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  of  the  deplorable  Condition  of  several  Episcopal 
Protestant  Churches  in  Poland  and  Transylvania,  occasioned  by 
the  long  Continuance  of  War  in  those  Countries,  and  other 
Miseries  that  have  befallen  them,  his  Majesty,  in  Commiseration 

^*  Acta  Fratrum,  p.  115. 

i«  Ibid. 

'^^  Lukaszewicz,  pp.  183  and  184;  Con.  Send.,  p.  156-165  The  following 
were  the  representatives  of  the  Unity  present  at  the  Synod  of  Thorn  : 
Bishops  Jablonsky  and  Opitz,  Benjamin  Vigilantius,  Paul  Cassius,  Samuel 
Majowski,  David  Cassius,  Francis  Samuel  Priifer,  Samuel  David  Sitkovius, 
John  Samuel  Musonius,  and  seven  lay  delegates. 


630  THE    HISTORY   OF 

of  the  said  poor  Sufferers,  is  graciously  pleased,  with  the  Advice 
of  his  Privy  Council,  to  order,  as  it  is  hereby  ordered,  That  the 
Lord  High  Chancellor  of  Great  Britain  do  cause  Letters  Patent 
to  be  prepared,  and  passed  the  Great  Seal  in  the  usual  Manner, 
for  the  Collection  of  the  Charity  of  all  well-disposed  Per.-^ons,  for 
Relief  of  the  said  poor  Sufferers,  throughout  Great  Britain,  or 
such  Part  thereof  as  their  Agents  shall  devise." 

Upon  the  strength  of  this  order  the  King,  George  the  First, 
issued  his  letters  patent,  recommending  to  all  the  Archbishops 
and  Bishops  of  England  and  Wales,  that  they  should  "  give 
a  particular  Direction  to  all  the  Parsons,  Vicars  and  Curates, 
of  all  and  every  Parish  for  the  Advancement  of  this  so  charit- 
able and  good  Work ; "  and  appointing  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  the  High  Chancellor  of  Great  Britain  (Lord 
Cowper),  the  Archbishop  of  York,  the  Bishops  of  London, 
Carlisle,  Sarum,  Norwich  and  Bristol,  to  be  Trustees  for  the 
advancement  of  said  charity.^'  Liberal  donations  were 
received,  but  to  what  extent  is  not  known. 

Jablonsky  carried  on  a  further  correspondence  with  the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury  and,  in  1717,  sent  him  his  De 
Ordine  et  Successione  Episcojpali  in  Unitate  Fratrum  Bohe- 
moriim  conservato.  In  a  letter  to  Count  Zinzendorf,  dated 
October  the  thirty-first,  1729,  he  mentions  the  occasion  which 
called  forth  this  work.  "In  England  about  twelve  years 
ago,"  he  says,  "  certain  enemies  of  all  Evangelical  Churches 
asserted  and  even  published  through  the  press,  that  the  Bohe- 
mian Brethren  had  never  had,  and  had  not  then,  lawful 
bishops.  The  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  Doctor  William 
Wake,  thereupon  wrote  to  me  and  asked  for  information  on 
this  subject.  I  replied  by  giving  him  a  circumstantial  account 
of  our  succession  with  which  account  the  Lord  Archbishop 
declared  himself  to  be  perfectly  satisfied."  ^^ 

Through  the  intervention  of  the  Russian  Czar  the  feud  be- 
tween Frederick  Augustus  and  the  Polish  states  was  brought 
to  an  end  in  1716.  This  pacification,  however,  instead  of 
furthering  the   interests  of  the  Protestants,  restricted   their 

^^  Acta  Fratrum,  pp.  22  and  23. 
*^  Kolbing's  Nachricht,  p.  26. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHUKCH.  631 

liberties  still  more.  Nor  did  they  succeed  iu  effecting  a 
change  at  the  Diet  held  the  next  year. 

On  the  second  of  September,  1718,  the  long  projected 
General  Union  Synod  of  the  Brethren,  Reformed  and 
Lutherans,  convened  at  Dantzic.  Christopher  Arnold,  the 
Lutheran  Superintendent  in  Great  Poland,  was  chosen  Presi- 
dent, and  Count  Bonawentuna  Kurnatowski,  a  member  of  the 
Brethren's  Church,  Director.  Bishop  Jablonsky  was  not 
present. 

The  principal  enactments  were  the  following :  First,  the 
petition  to  the  Diet,  dra^vn  up  by  Jablonsky,  is  approved  ; 
second,  the  Protestants  of  Poland  are  to  act  in  unison ;  third, 
representatives  of  the  three  Churches  are  to  be  appointed  in 
all  the  provinces,  in  order  that  through  them  this  compact 
may  be  furthered ;  fourth,  deputies  are  to  be  sent  to  the 
Protestant  courts  of  Europe  asking  their  intervention  on  be- 
half of  the  Evangelical  party .^ 

The  petition  was  presented  in  October.  But  so  little  did  it 
avail  that  the  only  Protestant  who  seems  to  have  been  a 
member  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  was  expelled;  while 
Zebrowski,  a  prebendary  of  Wilna,  preached  before  the  Diet 
a  sermon  in  which  he  ascribed  all  the  sufferings  that  had  come 
upon  Poland,  by  reason  of  wars  and  pestilences,  to  its  scanda- 
lous toleration  of  the  Protestants.  Nevertheless  they  still 
persisted  in  contending  for  their  rights  and,  in  the  course  of 
the  next  few  years,  held  three  more  Union  Synods  at  Dantzic. 
A  course  so  determined  and  fearless  brought  about  intense 
bitterness  among  the  Roman  Catholics,  which  culminated  in 
the  tragedy  of  Thorn  (1724).^*  This  event  roused  all  Europe. 
Instructions  were  given  by  England,  Prussia,  Sweden,  Den- 
mark, and  Holland,  to  their  several  ambassadors,  to  remon- 
strate with  the  Polish  government  on  its  treatment  of  the 

'^  Lukaszewicz,  pp.  185, 186  and  187. 

"  A  riot  deliberately  provoked  by  the  students  of  the  Jesuit  College  was 
made  the  pretext,  contrary  to  all  law  and  all  the  evidence  offered  at  the 
trial,  for  the  execution  of  the  aged  burgomaster  of  Thorn  and  of  nine  other 
of  its  most  distinguished  citizens. 


632  THE    HISTORY   OF 

Protestants.  But  their  condition  was  not  ameliorated  ;  on 
the  contrary  they  were  made  to  suffer  all  the  more  because  of 
the  interference  of  these  powers. 

In  the  seventeen  years  that  had  elapsed  since  the  fall  of 
Lissa,  this  town  had  risen,  for  the  second  time,  like  a  phenix 
from  its  ashes.  Liberal  gifts  from  Prussia  and  other  Conti- 
nental countries  were  sent  to  the  Brethren,  so  that,  with  what 
they  received  from  England,  they  had  at  their  disposal  a  large 
amount  of  money.  On  the  old  site,  where  amidst  crumbling 
walls  and  blackened  timbers  Solomon  Opitz  had  held,  on  the 
twenty-fifth  of  September,  1707,  the  first  religious  service 
after  the  conflagration,  they  rebuilt  their  College,  church  and 
parsonages.  The  injunction  laid  upon  this  undertaking  by 
the  Bishop  of  Posen,  and  persisted  in,  despite  the  remonstrance 
of  Frederick  the  First,  was  withdrawn  in  1715,  after  the 
King  had  ordered  the  commandant  of  Rastenburg,  in  East 
Prussia,  to  retaliate  in  kind  upon  the  Roman  Catholics  of  that 
town.^^ 

During  this  whole  period,  however,  the  Brethren  of  Poland 
and  Polish  Prussia  were  continually  decreasing.     In  1715  the 


^'^  Lissaer  Geschichte,  p.  17  ;  Lissaer  Gymnasium,  pp.  XXXVIII  and 
XXXIX.  The  buildings  put  up  at  that  time  are  still  standing,  within  a 
large  yard  planted  with  trees  and  surrounded  by  a  wall.  They  are  the  St. 
John's  church,  two  parsonages  and  the  old  college.  The  last  named  edifice 
is  now  used  as  a  parochial  school,  the  college  having  been  transferred  to 
the  Leszcynski  palace.  We  visited  Lissa  in  1879,  and  in  the  vestry  of  the 
church  saw  some  of  the  chalices  and  altar  cloths  of  the  early  Brethren 
that  had  been  saved  from  the  fires.  In  1790  the  ill-fated  town  was  destroyed 
by  a  third  conflagration,  which  originated  through  an  accident;  but  the 
buildings  belonging  to  the  Brethren  were  saved.  At  the  present  day  the 
Jewish  element  predominates  at  Lissa.  In  tlie  vestry  of  the  St.  John's 
church  we  also  saw  the  old  wall-closet  in  which  the  Lissa  Folios  were 
found.  These  Folios,  as  has  been  said  in  another  connection,  were  saved, 
in  1656,  from  the  first  conflagration  and  conveyed  to  Ursk,  in  Silesia; 
subsequently  they  were  taken  to  Carolath;  and  finally  transferred  to 
Breslau.  There  they  remained  for  several  decades.  About  the  year  1720 
they  were  brought  back  to  Lissa,  where  they  were  kept  until  their  transfer 
to  Herrnhut.  Some  of  the  documents  were  lost  at  Berlin,  after  the  death 
of  Jablonsky,  who  had  taken  them  to  that  city  when  writing  his  Historia 
Consensus  Sendomiriensis.     Lukaszewicz,  p.  407,  Polish  edition. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  633 

number  of  their  parishes  had  been  reduced  to  about  fifteen.^^ 
Those  that  remained,  assumed  more  and  more  of  a  Reformed 
character.  In  the  reign  of  Stanislaus  Augustus  Poniatowski, 
who  ascended  the  throne  in  1763,  a  few  isolated  churches, 
with  which  was  connected  au  insignificant  membership  in- 
cludinof  about  ten  noble  families,  formed  the  remnant  of  the 
Polish  branch  of  the  Unity .^''  Toward  the  end  of  the  eight- 
eenth century  even  this  remnant  had  been  practically  absorbed 
by  the  Reformed;  it  ceased  to  have  a  legal  existence  in  1817, 
when  Frederick  William  the  Third,  of  Prussia,  constituted 
the  Unirte  Kirche — the  Evangelical  Union  of  Lutherans  and 
Reformed — the  established  Church  of  his  realm.  Down  to 
that  year  ordination  vows  still  included  a  promise  to  uphold 
the  Consensus  Sendomirieusis.^ 

In  the  same  way  the  parishes  in  Hungary,  Transylvania  and 
Silesia,  gradually  lost  their  independence  and  were  absorbed 
by  other  Churches.     Of  this  decline  the  details  are  wanting. 

And  yet,  even  at  the  present  day,  there  is  found  in  what 
w^as  formerly  Poland  an  interesting  memorial  of  the  Ancient 
Unitas  Fratrum.  This  memorial  consists  of  five  so-called 
Unitdtsgemeinden — churches  of  the  Reformed  type  connected 
with  the  Unirte  Kirche,  but  legitimately  descended  from  the 
Polish  branch  of  the  Unity  and  keeping  up  its  episcopate.  It 
is  an  episcopate  which,  in  modern  times,  has  been  revived 
through  the  instrumentality  of  the  Renewed  Unitas  Fratrum. 
Down  to  the  year  1841  it  remained  unbroken.  In  that  year, 
Samuel  David  Hanke,  the  last  Bishop,  or  Senior,  of  the  Uni- 
tdtsgemeinden died,  without  having  consecrated  a  successor.-^ 

'®  Acta  Fratrum,  p.  22. 

^'  Lukaszewicz,  p.  204. 

^®  Ibid. ;  Miiller's  Reports.  Pastor  Cassius,  of  Orzeskowa,  used  the  form 
of  the  Unitas  Fratrum,  at  baptisms,  as  late  as  the  year  1838. 

^*  The  Bishops  subsequent  to  the  time  of  David  Cassius,  down  to  1841, 
were  the  following:  Paul  Cassius,  Christian  Sitkovius,  Frederick  William 
Jablonsky,  John  Theophilus  Eisner,  John  Alexander  Cassius,  Paul  Lewis 
Cassius,  Christian  Theophilus  Cassius,  John  Lewis  Cassius,  John  Benjamin 
Bornemann,  and  Samuel  David  Hanke.  Lukaszewicz,  p.  384-387.  Polish  ' 
edition. 


634  THE    HISTORY    OF 

Thereupon,  at  the  suggestion  of  Frederick  William  the  Fourth, 
of  Prussia,  their  superintendent,  Doctor  Siedler,  was  conse- 
crated a  Bishop,  by  Bishops  Peter  Frederick  Curie,  Levin 
Reichel  and  John  Martin  Nitschmaun,  on  the  sixteenth  of 
June,  1844,  at  Herrnhut,  in  Saxony.  In  the  course  of  time 
Siedler  severed  his  connection  with  the  Unifdtsgemeinden, 
which  were  again  left  without  a  bishop.  Accordingly  they 
elected  Doctor  Charles  Gobel  to  that  office  who,  on  the  six- 
teenth of  May,  1858,  at  Gnadenberg,  in  Prussia,  received 
consecration  at  the  hands  of  John  Martin  Nitschraann  and 
other  Moravian  Bishops.  Gobel  ordained  an  assistant  bishop ; 
but  died  without  consecrating  a  bishop.  The  result  was  that  the 
Unitdtsgememden,  for  the  third  time,  sought  aid  of  the  Mora- 
vian Brethren.  On  the  twenty-first  of  October,  1 883,  Doctor 
Eugene  Borgius  was  consecrated,  at  Herrnhut,  by  Bishops 
Henry  L.  Reichel,  Frederick  W.  Kiihu,  and  Gustavus  B. 
Miiller. 


THE    MORAVIAN   CHURCH.  635 


CHAPTER  LYI. 

The  Bohemian  and  3foravian  Hidden  Seed  which  developed  into 
the  Renewed  Unitas  Fratrum.     A. D.  1671-1722. 


Condition  of  the  Brethren  not  Ameliorated. — The  Hidden  Seed  in  General. 
— Its  Bohemian  Centres. — Jacob  and  John  Pechatschek. — Moravian 
Centres. — The  Kutschera  and  Schneider  Families. — New  Signs  of  Life. 
— Evangelical  Literature — Wenzel  Kleych. — Churches  of  Grace. — 
Fruits  of  the  Testimony  of  the  Fathers. — Awakening  in  Bohemia  and 
Moravia. — Samuel  Schneider  at  Zauchtenthal  and  His  Dying  Testi- 
mony.— George  Jaeschke  at  Sehlen  and  His  Dying  Prophecy. — The 
Prospect  Dark. — Christian  David. — His  Missionary  Tours  to  Moravia. 
— Augustin  and  Jacob  Neisser  Emigrate. 

In  the  last  thirty  years  of  the  seventeenth  century  the  his- 
tory of  the  Seed  which  remained  in  Bohemia  and  Moravia,  is 
less  obscure  than  in  the  earlier  period  of  its  existence.  Narra- 
tives have  come  down  to  us  from  the  refugees  who  took  part 
in  the  resuscitation  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum.  It  is  true  that 
such  narratives  are  not  complete.  Amidst  the  secret  emigra- 
tions which  were  going  on  and  at  a  time  when  the  oppressor 
still  lived,  caution  was  necessary  and  details  might  have  been 
fraught  with  danger.  Nevertheless  there  are  glimpses  given 
which  enable  us  to  see  a  Hidden  Church  preparing  for  its  re- 
demption. 

The  condition  of  the  Brethren  and  other  Protestants  was 
not  ameliorated.  Leopold  the  First  continued  to  lay  upon 
them  heavy  burdens ;  while  the  Jesuit  Missionaries  were  un- 
ceasing in  their  eiforts  to  intensify  the  darkness  in  which  Bo- 
hemia and  Moravia  had  been  shrouded.  From  north  to  south, 
from  east  to  west,  thev  traversed  these  countries,  searchino;  for 


636  THE    HISTORY    OF 

Evaugelical  books,  spying  out  religious  meetings,  demanding 
to  see  the  certificates  of  auricular  confession.^  That  amidst 
such  circumstances  the  Hidden  Seed  did  not  perish,  was  the 
Lord's  doing  and  it  is  marvelous  in  our  eyes. 

The  parishes  to  which  the  Brethren  belonged  were  occasion- 
ally in  charge  of  humane  and  well-disposed  priests  whom  they 
won  by  gifts,  so  that  uo  notice  was  taken  of  their  books  and 
religious  services.  Instances  occurred  in  which  they  even  re- 
ceived timely  hints  of  the  coming  of  the  Jesuit  Missionaries. 
But  as  a  general  thing  they  were  treated  with  great  harshness 
and  if  detected  in  their  practices,  severely  punished.  And 
yet  they  lived.  Nor  could  their  life  be  crushed.  It  was  in 
God's  keeping.  He  had  heard  the  prayer  of  Comenius  on  the 
mountain-top.  A  seed  of  righteousness  was  preserved  in  the 
homes  of  the  Brethren  ;  and  in  God's  own  time  there  should 
grow  from  it  a  tree  in  whose  refreshing  shade  their  children 
should  rest,  and  their  children's  converts  from  all  parts  of  the 
earth. 

In  Bohemia,  Landskron  and  Leitomischl  were  centres  of 
the  Hidden  Seed.  Its  older  generation  remembered  the  con- 
gregations that  thronged  the  chapels  at  Lititz,  Landskron, 
Hermanitz,  and  Rothwasser,  listening  to  the  pure  Gospel, 
singing  the  songs  of  Zion,  and  celebrating  the  Supper  of  the 
Lord.  To  that  generation  belonged  an  aged  father,  Jacob 
Pechatschek,  distinguished  by  his  fervent  faith  and  holy  walk.^ 
Among  his  own  people  he  was  a  preacher  of  righteousness  ; 
cherished  the  traditions  of  the  past ;  and  delivered  them  to  his 
descendants.     He  took  a  particular  interest  in  his  grandson, 

^  The  certificates  of  auricular  confession  testified  that  the  bearer  had  been 
at  the  confessional.  They  were  particularly  required  in  connection  with 
the  confession  at  Easter.  Hence  the  secret  Protestants  were  accustomed  to 
buy  such  certificates  of  their  Catholic  friends,  inducing  these  to  attend  the 
Easter  confession  two  or  three  times,  each  time  selecting  a  diflTerent  priest 
and  obtaining  a  new  certificate.  Eisner's  Verfolgungsgeschichte,  p.  505. 
On  moral  grounds  this  practice,  although  it  was  the  outcome  of  an  un- 
righteous oppression,  cannot  be  defended. 

^  Narrative  of  Zacharias  Hirschel,  a  refugee  from  the  vicinity  of  Lands- 
kron.    Croeger,  II.  p.  434. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH.  637 

John  Bittman,  instructed  him  in  the  true  knowledge  of  God 
and  made  him  acquainted  with  the  history  and  constitution  of 
the  Brethren.^ 

His  son,  John  Pechatschek,  trod  in  his  footsteps.  Upright 
and  godly  he  enjoyed  the  respect  of  all  who  knew  him.  At 
social  gatherings  he  bore  himself  "  as  a  priest  of  God  among 
his  people."  Living  to  a  great  age  he  transmitted  the  tradi- 
tions of  the  Brethren's  Church  to  his  children's  children.  At 
times  he  spoke  of  its  resuscitation,  which  the  next  generation 
would  live  to  see.  Another  patriarch  in  that  neighborhood, 
who  fostered  the  Hidden  Seed,  was  John  Schallman. 

In  Moravia  its  principal  centres  were  at  Zerawic,  Fulneck, 
Zauchtenthal,  Kunwald,  and  in  that  whole  fruitful  region 
along  the  Oder  known  as  the  Kuhldndl,  or  Kine-land. 

Near  Zerawic  lived  a  family,  by  the  name  of  Kutschera.* 
The  mother  of  that  household  was  descended  from  a  priest  of 
the  Unity;  her  husband  was  the  son  of  another  priest,  who 
had  had  charge  of  the  parish  of  Zerawic  and  was  still  living  in 
the  vicinity,  having  in  some  wonderful  way  escaped  the  perils 
of  the  Anti-Reformation.  This  venerable  sire  took  delight 
in  telling  his  grandson,  Tobias  Kutschera,  of  the  old  times,  of 
the  work  of  the  Brethren,  and  of  the  principles  of  their 
Church.  The  chapel  in  which  he  had  been  accustomed  to 
preach  was  still  standing.  His  brother,  who  lived  to  be  a 
very  aged  man,  held  three  religious  services,  every  Sunday, 
in  the  house  of  Tobias  Kutschera's  parents.  Such  gatherings 
were  continued  long  after  the  death  of  these  fathers,  until  a 
severe  persecution  broke  out,  which  forced  the  Brethren  to 
meet  only  in  very  small  numbers  and  with  the  utmost  secrecy. 

Round  about  Fulneck  and  in  the  Kuhlandl  the  Hidden 
Seed  was  very  numerous.  The  most  prominent  family  con- 
nected with  it  bore  the  name  of  Schneider  and  lived  at  Zauch- 

*  This  John  Bittman  was  born  in  1673,  escaped  from  Bohemia  in  the  first 
quarter  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  died,  as  a  member  of  the  Brethren's 
Church  at  Rixdorf,  near  Berlin,  in  1769,  aged  96  years. 

*  Narrative  of  Tobias  Hirschel,  a  refugee,  who  died  at  Rixdorf,  in  1757. 
Croeger,  II.  pp.  435  and  436. 


638  THE    HISTORY    OF 

tenthal.'^  At  the  head  of  this  family  stood  Martin  Schneider, 
a  cotemporary  of  Amos  Comenius  and  a  man  of  strong  foith. 
He  had  witnessed  the  destruction  of  the  Church ;  now  he 
labored  to  preserve  its  memory  and,  as  far  as  possible,  main- 
tain its  principles.  At  his  house,  as  well  as  in  other  homes, 
secret  services  were  held,  sometimes  by  clergymen  from  Skalic, 
more  frequently  by  Schneider  himself.  On  such  occasions  he 
used  the  Hymnal  of  the  Brethren,  read  an  Evangelical  sermon, 
and  instructed  the  young  in  the  catechism  of  Amos  Comenius. 
His  fearlessness  exposed  him  to  danger.  He  was  frequently 
cast  into  prison,  and  on  one  occasion  would  have  been  burned 
at  the  stake,  had  not  the  lord  of  the  domain  interfered  in  his 
behalf.  He  lived  to  an  extreme  old  age ;  and  his  five  sons 
handed  down  to  the  next  generation  the  reminiscences,  the 
godly  lessons,  the  pious  hopes  which  they  had  heard  from  his 
mouth. 

In  the  first  quarter  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  Hidden 
Seed,  both  in  Bohemia  and  Moravia,  showed  signs  of  new  life. 
Such  life  can  be  traced  back  to  several  sources.  It  flowed,  in 
the  first  place,  from  that  Evangelical  literature  which  began 
to  spread  in  richer  streams  than  at  any  previous  time  since  the 
Anti-Reformation. 

At  Lazan,  on  the  domain  of  Leitomischl,  lived  Wenzel 
Kleych.  He  was  born  in  1678  of  parents  descended  from  the 
old  stock  of  the  Brethren's  Church.  Its  traditions  were  dear 
to  his  heart.  He  nourished  them  by  reading  every  work  that 
he  could  find  relating  to  the  subject.  Of  Evangelical  books 
in  general  he  was  passionately  fond.  This  brought  upon  him 
severe  persecutions,  and  he  resolved  to  seek  a  country  where 
he  could  breathe  the  atmosphere  of  religious  liberty  and  follow 
his  literary  inclinations  in  peace.  One  night,  in  the  year 
1705,  he  and  his  wife  Catharine,  forsaking  their  rich  farm  and 
taking  along  but  twenty  Thaler,  escaped  from  Lazan,  with 
their  two  little  children  whom  they  carried  on  their  backs, 


*  Narratives  of  the  Schneider  family,  Croeger,  II,  p.  438,  and  G.  E.  B.,  pp. 
9  and  10. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  639 

and  made  their  way  to  Zittau,  iu  Saxony.  There  they  eked 
out  an  existence  by  gardening,  spinning  and  washing.  In 
time  they  became  more  prosperous,  and  Kleych  ventured  to 
begin  a  project  which  he  had  long  entertained.  He  published 
a  devotional  work — Motesichy^s  Manual — in  the  Bohemian 
language  for  secret  distribution  in  his  native  country  (1708). 
This  enterprise  proved  so  successful,  that  he  resolved  to  devote 
himself  altogether  to  the  spread  of  Evangelical  literature  in 
Bohemia,  Moravia,  and  Hungary.  He  issued  a  new  edition 
of  the  Bohemian  New  Testament  and  caused  a  large  number  of 
other  religious  works  to  be  reprinted.  His  undertakings  kept 
the  press  of  Hartmann  and  Stremel,  at  Zittau,  busy.  Not 
content  with  being  a  publisher  he  essayed  authorship ;  com- 
piled a  new  Hymnal ;  and  wrote  several  original  works.  In 
the  parsonage  at  Teschen,  in  Silesia,  he  stored  his  books;  and 
had  them  conveyed,  by  night,  across  the  frontier  to  Bohemia 
and  Moravia,  with  such  success  that,  in  all  the  years  in  which 
he  carried  on  this  business,  not  a  single  lot  was  confiscated. 
Kleych  stood  high  in  the  esteem  of  the  Protestant  ministers  of 
Silesia  and  Hungary.  From  the  Imperial  Government  he 
eventually  secured  a  license  to  sell  his  books  in  the  church- 
yard at  Teschen.  While  traveling  in  Hungary,  in  1737,  God 
called  him  to  his  eternal  reward.^ 

Kleych's  labors  were  a  blessing  to  the  Brethren  in  Bohemia 
and  Moravia.  The  more  opportunities  they  had  to  read  devo- 
tional works,  and  especially  the  Word  of  God,  the  more  they 
grew  in  knowledge  and  grace.  But  they  were  obliged  to  exer- 
cise the  utmost  caution.  A  new  crusade  against  Evangelical 
literature  was  inaugurated  and  many  books  were  burned.  In 
not  a  few  instances,  however,  such  violence  recoiled  upon  the 
Jesuits.  In  order  to  ascertain  why  Evangelical  writings  were 
destroyed,  Catholics  began  to  read  them ;  and  were  led  to  see 
the  errors  of  Rome  and  to  recognize  free  grace  in  Jesus  Christ.^ 

Another  source  of  new  life  appeared  in  Silesia,  where,  ac- 

^ Mailer's  MS.  Notes;  Pescheck's  Exulanten,  p.  112. 
^  Augnstin  Schulze's  Narrative,  in  the  Church-Register  of  his  Bohemian 
parish  at  Berlin  ;  Eisner's  Verfolgungsgeschichte,  p.  506. 


640  THE    HISTORY    OF 

cording  to  the  stipulations  of  the  Peace  of  Westphalia,  so 
called  "  Churches  of  Grace  "  had  been  opened  at  Schweidnitz, 
Glogau,  and  Jauer.  In  these  sanctuaries  Protestants  were 
allowed  to  worship  God  in  peace.  And  now,  in  1706,  came 
Charles  the  Twelfth,  at  the  head  of  his  victorious  Swedes;  con- 
eluded  the  pacification  of  Altranstadt  in  consequence  of  which 
Frederick  Augustus  renounced  the  crown  of  Poland  ;  and 
forced  the  Emperor,  Joseph  the  First,  to  restore  to  the  Prot- 
estants one  hundred  and  twenty-nine  Silesian  churches  as  also 
to  open  six  additional  "  Churches  of  Grace."  ^  These  churches 
— at  Freistadt,  Hirschberg,  Landshut,  Militsch,  Sagan,  and 
Teschen — were  put  in  charge  of  ministers  educated  in  the  in- 
stitutions of  Herman  Francke  at  Halle  and  became  centres  of 
Evangelical  power.  Not  only  was  all  Silesia  moved  ;  but  as 
several  of  the  "  Churches  of  Grace  "  stood  near  the  frontier, 
their  quickening  influences  were  felt  in  Bohemia  and  Moravia 
likewise.  Teschen,  the  parish  in  which  John  Adam  Stein  metz 
labored  with  apostolic  zeal,  constituted  a  place  where  the  soul 
of  many  a  Protestant,  coming  secretly  from  a  dry  and  thirsty 
land,  was  refreshed. 

The  testimony  borne  by  the  fathers  of  a  former  generation 
formed  the  last  source  of  new  life.  About  1720,  on  the 
domains  of  Landskron  and  Leitomischl,  an  awakening  began 
which  spread  throughout  that  whole  region.  The  village  of 
Hermanitz  was  the  centre  of  this  movement.  Before  long, 
however,  a  persecution  broke  out  which  was  owing,  in  part, 
to  unfortunate  extravagances  into  which  the  Brethren  fell. 
This  persecution  was  severe.  They  were  imprisoned  and 
whipped  until  their  bodies  ran  with  blood;  or  they  were 
harnessed  to  ploughs  and  with  cruel  blows  forced  to  drag 
them  through  the  soil.  So  great  a  panic  ensued  that,  for  a 
number  of  years  until  1730,  all  outward  signs  of  the  awaken- 
ing disappeared.     In  secret  it  continued  to  ripen  and  even- 

*  Joseph  the  First  succeeded  his  father,  Leopold  the  First,  in  1705,  but 
died  six  years  later,  in  1711,  and  was  followed  by  his  brother,  Charles  the 
Sixth,  during  whose  reign  the  Unitas  Fratrum  was  renewed.  The  six 
additional  ''Churches  of  Grace"  were  opened  in  1709. 


THE    MORAVIAX    CHURCH.  641 

tually  yielded  a  harvest  which  the  Renewed  Unitas  Fratrum 
gathered  in.^ 

In  Moravia  the  signs  of  life  were  marked.  The  work 
which  Martin  Schneider  had  inaugurated,  his  grandson, 
Samuel  Schneider,  continued.  A  hero  of  faith  and  burn- 
ing with  zeal,  he  exhorted,  comforted,  and  warned  his  people, 
from  day  to  day.  As  he  rejoiced  in  hope,  was  patient  in 
tribulation,  and  continued  instant  in  prayer ;  so  he  encouraged 
them  to  stand  fast  and  endure,  looking  for  the  time  of  their 
redemption.  Religious  services  were  statedly  held  in  his 
house.  At  the  close  of  these  services  it  was  his  custom  to 
offer  a  brief  prayer  and  then  to  dismiss  the  assembly  with  the 
following  benedictory  hymn,  which  he  seems  to  have  chanted 
alone : 

"  Geht  hin,  die  ihr  gebenedeit 

Und  in  Christo  auserwiihlet  seid, 

Geht  hin  in  Freude  und  Fried' ; 

Gott  richt  all'  eure  Tritt ! 

"  Gesegnet  sei  euer  Ausgang, 
Gesegnet  sei  euer  Eingang, 
Gesegnet  all  euer  Thun, 
Durch  Christum,  Gottes  Sohn  !  "  '" 

In  close  fellowship  with  Schneider  were  Melchior  Kunz, 
Andrew  Beyer,  Matthew  Stach,  John  and  David  Zeisberger, 
all  of  Zauchtenthal ;  the  Jaeschke  and  Neisser  families,  of 
Sehlen  ;  the  Grasman  family,  of  Senftleben  ;  and  the  Nitsch- 
mann  family,  of  Kunwald." 

"  Samuel  Schneider's  fervent  testimony  and  venerable 
appearance  I  will  never  forget,"  writes  David  Nitschmann, 
his  nephew  who  as  a  boy  of  six  years  attended  the  secret 
meetings,  visited  him  during  his  last  illness,  and  was  present 

^  Zacharias  Hirschel's  Narrative. 

"^  "  Depart  ye  that  are  blessed  and  chosen  in  Christ,  depart  in  joy  and 
peace ;  God  direct  all  your  steps ;  blessed  be  your  going  out,  blessed  be 
your  coming  in,  blessed  be  all  your  works,  through  Christ,  the  Son  of 
God."     Croeger,  II.  p.  438. 

1'  All  these  individuals  and  families  became,  more  or  less,  prominent  in 
the  history  of  the  Renewed  Unitas  Fratrum. 
41 


642  THE    HISTORY    OF 

when  he  died.^^  It  was  the  fourth  of  March,  1710.  In  the 
days  previous  Schneider  had  repeatedly  professed  his  trust  in 
Christ,  rejoiced  in  His  grace,  and  longed  to  be  forever  with 
the  Lord.  "  There,"  he  had  said,  "  1  will  see  His  beloved 
apostles  and  the  prophets  who  foretold  His  coming.  Yea  I 
will  see  all  those  who  became  martyrs  for  His  sake,  the  whole 
cloud  of  confessors  and  witnesses  who  loved  not  their  lives 
unto  the  death. — Whose  end  consider !  "  And  now  he  lay 
calm  and  peaceful,  waiting  for  the  summons  to  depart. 
Among  those  that  visited  him  was  Lamser,  the  Catholic 
priest,  who  proposed  to  administer  extreme  unction.  "The 
Holy  Ghost  has  anointed  and  sealed  me  unto  eternal  life," 
replied  Schneider,  "  the  unction  which  you  wish  to  give  me  is 
therefore  unnecessary."  In  great  astonishment  the  priest 
asked  whether  he  thought  that  he  could  be  saved  without 
extreme  unction.  Pointing  to  the  sun  Schneider  rejoined : 
"  As  surely  as  your  Reverence  sees  that  sun  shining  in  the 
heavens,  so  sure  am  I  of  my  salvation."  "  We  will  let 
■extreme  unction  be,  Schneider,"  continued  the  Father,  "  but 
tell  me,  is  it  true  that  you  are  not  a  good  Catholic  and  have 
no  respect  for  the  saints?"  "Much  has  been  said  against 
me,"  was  the  answer  of  the  dying  man,  "  and  much  have  I 
suffered  without  cause;  but  as  regards  the  saints,  I  have 
always  endeavored  to  walk  in  their  footsteps  and  to  follow 
their  example."  Lamser  dropj^ed  the  subject,  took  leave  of 
Schneider,  and  said  to  the  bystanders,  as  he  left  the  room, 
^'  Let  me  die  the  death  of  this  righteous  man  !"^^ 

Another  distinguished  witness  was  George  Jaeschke,  of 
Sehlen.  The  memory  of  the  Church  of  his  fathers,  who  in 
the  persecutions  of  the  sixteenth  century  had  been  forced  to 
flee  from  Bohemia  to  Moravia,  was  enshrined  in  his  heart  of 
hearts.  He  never  ceased  to  pray  for  its  resuscitation,  to  com- 
fort the  faint-hearted,  to  warn  the  careless.  With  the  Brethren 
at   Fulneck,    Zauchtenthal,  Sch5nau,  Kunwald,  Senftleben, 

'^  MS.  in  Herrnhut  Archives  entitled  :  Originale  Nachricht  von  dem 
Ausgang  der  fiinf  Kirchenmiinner,  written  by  David  Nitschmann,  suruamed 
the  Syndic,  and  Frederick  Neisser. 

"  Ihid. 


THE    MOPvAVIAN    CHURCH.  643 

and  Seitendorf,  he  kept  up  a  close  fellowship.  They  met 
sometimes  in  one,  and  again  in  another  village,  edifying  one 
another  in  the  Lord  and  consulting  on  the  state  and  prospects 
of  the  Hidden  Seed. 

Jaeschke's  daughter  Judith  was  married  to  George  Neisser, 
and  they  had  five  sons;  Jaeschke  himself  married  a  second 
time  in  his  old  age,  and  this  union  was  blessed  with  one  son, 
Michael,  whom  he  tenderly  loved. 

In  1707,  feeling  that  the  time  of  his  departure  was  at  hand, 
he  set  his  house  in  order  and  with  a  testimony  glorious  as 
that  of  a  seer  of  old  closed  the  work  of  his  life.  At  his  sum- 
mons there  gathered  around  his  bed,  his  son  Michael,  six 
years  old,  and  his  five  grandsons.  In  words  instinct  with 
love  he  besought  them  to  remain  true  to  Christ ;  and  then 
broke  out  into  a  prediction  that  thrilled  their  souls.  He 
said  :  "  It  is  true  that  our  liberties  are  gone  and  that  our 
descendants  are  giving  way  to  a  worldly  spirit  so  that  the 
Papacy  is  devouring  them.  It  may  seem  as  though  the  final 
end  of  the  Brethren's  Church  had  come.  But,  my  beloved 
children,  you  will  see  a  great  deliverance.  The  remnant  will 
be  saved.  I  do  not  know  positively  whether  this  deliverance 
will  come  to  pass  here  in  Moravia,  or  whether  you  will  have 
to  go  out  of  Babylon ;  but  I  do  know  that  it  will  transpire 
not  very  long  hence.  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  an  exodus 
will  take  place,  and  that  a  refuge  will  be  offered  in  a  country 
and  on  a  spot  where  you  will  be  able,  without  fear,  to  serve 
the  Lord  according  to  His  holy  Word.  When  that  time  of 
deliverance  comes,  be  ready,  and  give  diligence  that  you  may 
not  be  the  last,  or  remain  behind.  Remember  what  I  have 
told  you.  And  now  as  to  this  my  little  son,  he  is  to  be  the 
property  of  Jesus.  I  commend  him  into  your  keeping,  and 
especially  into  yours,  Augustin.  Take  care  of  him,  and  when 
you  go  out  from  this  country,  on  no  account  leave  him  be- 
hind." Thereupon  he  laid  his  patriarchal  blessing  upon 
Michael  and  each  of  his  grandsons,  and  soon  after  died  in 
peace,  aged  eighty-three  years.'* 

"  Narrative  of  the  Neisser  family.     Croeger,  G.  E.  B.,I.  pp.  8  and  9. 


644  THE    HISTORY    OF 

After  the  death  of  Jaeschke,  Schneider,  and  other  fathers, 
the  Jesuits  tried  their  utmost  to  uproot  the  Hidden  Seed  in 
that  part  of  Moravia.  One  means  which  they  employed  was 
to  bring  about  marriages  between  Catholics  and  the  young 
people  of  the  villages  where  the  Brethren  lived.  In  this 
way  a  new  element  was  introduced ;  the  secret  meetings  were 
betrayed;  while  such  as  had  formed  alliances  with  Romanists 
grew  indifferent.  The  danger  was  great  that  the  coming 
generation  would  forget  the  traditions  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum; 
and  nothing  seemed  more  improbable  than  that  Jaeschke's 
prediction  would  be  fulfilled.  And  yet  he  had  not  been  a 
false  prophet.  God's  ])lan  was  maturing.  He  constrained 
the  few  that  remained  faithful  to  seek  food  for  their  souls  at 
Teschen,  whence  they  brought  back  to  their  villages  a  power 
which  made  itself  felt,  awakening  the  careless  and  giving 
courage  to  the  despondent.  He  called  that  man  through 
whom  the  redemption  of  the  Hidden  Seed  was  brought  about. 

His  name  was  Christian  David,  born  on  the  last  day  of 
the  year  1690,  at  Senftleben,  in  Moravia  ;  an  ignorant  shep- 
herd, entangled  in  all  the  superstitions  of  Rome,  unceasing 
in  his  invocations  of  St.  Anthony,  of  Padua,  his  patron  saint, 
falling  upon  his  knees  before  every  image  and  picture  of  the 
Virgin  which  he  chanced  to  see; — but  through  the  Son  made 
free  indeed,  enlightened  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  inspired  to  work 
for  Christ  with  a  zeal  which  nothing  could  quencli,  an  evan- 
gelist, an  apostle,  "  the  servant  of  the  Lord."  ^^ 

In  1713,  after  having  learned  the  trade  of  a  carpenter,  he 
left  Moravia,  looking  for  work  as  a  journeyman  and  seeking 
Christ  as  an  awakened  sinner.  He  visited  Hungary,  Austria, 
Silesia,  Saxony  and  Prussia ;  joined  the  Protestant  Church  ; 
passed  through  many  trying  experiences ;  at  the  siege  of 
Stralsund  served  as  a  soldier  in  the  Prussian  army  ;  lay  sick 
unto  death  in  a  hospital ;  escaped  from  the  hands  of  the 
Jesuits — all  the  time  growing  in  grace  and  the  knowledge  of 

^*  This  is  the  title  by  which  Christian  David  is  commonly  known  in  the 
history  of  the  Church. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH.  645 

God — and  at  last,  id  1717,  came  to  Gorlitz,  in  Silesia,  where 
he  met  with  Melchior  Schafer,  the  pastor  of  the  Kloster 
church,  and  other  men  of  sterling  piety.^"  He  determined  to 
make  that  city  his  home.  But  scarcely  had  three  months 
passed  by  when  he  was  moved  in  the  spirit  to  visit  his  native 
country  in  order  to  proclaim  the  Gospel. 

In  the  course  of  his  journey  he  came  to  Sehlen  and  formed 
the  acquaintance  of  the  Neissers  upon  whose  hearts  he  made 
a  deep  impression.  A  second  but  fruitless  visit  to  Zauchten- 
thal  he  undertook  in  the  following  year.  On  his  return  to 
Gorlitz  he  was  seized  with  a  severe  illness  and  again  brought 
to  death's  door.  No  sooner  had  he  recovered,  than  he  set  out 
a  third  time,  in  accordance  with  a  vow  which  he  had  made, 
and  proceeded  to  Sehlen,  where  he  proclaimed  Christ  with 
great  power,  testifying  what  He  had  done  both  to  his  body 
and  his  soul.  His  exposition  of  Christ's  words,  "  And  every 
one  that  hath  forsaken  houses,  or  brethren,  or  sisters,  or 
father,  or  mother,  or  wife,  or  children,  or  lands,  for  my  name's 
sake,  shall  receive  an  hundredfold,  and  shall  inherit  ever- 
lasting life,"  ^''  moved  the  Neissers  to  their  inmost  hearts. 
This  exposition  seemed  to  be  the  echo  of  their  grandsire's 
dying  charge.  They  begged  Christian  David  to  look  for  a 
retreat  in  a  Protestant  country,  where  they  could  worship  God 
in  spirit  and  in  truth.  He  consented  to  do  so ;  but  for  three 
long  years  they  waited  and  hoped  in  vain.  Steinmetz,  at 
Teschen,  where  they  sought  comfort,  dissuaded  them  from 
emigrating;  the  thought  of  remaining  in  Moravia  gave  them 
no  peace;  their  only  refuge  was  unceasing  prayer.  And  in 
His  own  time  God  heard  them.  On  Monday  in  Whitsun- 
week,  the  twenty-fifth  of  May,  1722,  Christian  David  arrived 
at  Sehlen  with  the  intelligence  that  Count  Nicholas  Lewis  von 
Zinzendorf,  a  pious  young  nobleman,  was  willing  to  receive 
them  on  his  domain  of  Berthelsdorf,  in  Saxony.  In  the  night 
of  the  following  Wednesday,  soon  after  ten  o'clock,  Augustin 

'^  C.  David's  Lebenslauf  in  Nachrichten  aus  d.  B.  G.,  1872,  p.  668,  etc. 
"  Matthew  19 :  29. 


646  THE   HISTORY   OF 

and  Jacob  Neisser,  their  wives  and  four  children,  together  with 
Michael  Jaeschke  and  Martha  Neisser,  ten  persons  in  all, 
leaving  behind  houses  and  farms  and  whatever  else  they  pos- 
sessed, took  their  silent  way  afoot  through  the  village,  and 
led  by  Christian  David  turned  toward  the  Silesian  frontier. 
They  were  the  first  of  those  witnesses  that  had  been  ordained 
to  go  into  a  strange  land  and  build  unto  God  a  city,  at  whose 
sacred  fire  the  dying  Unitas  Fratrum  should  renew  its  youth 
like  the  eagle's. 


APPENDIX. 


A. 

THE  WORK  OF  THE  RENEWED  UNITAS  FRATRUM 
m  BOHEMIA. 

Protestantism  remained  absolutely  suppressed  in  Bohemia  and 
Moravia  for  one  hundred  and  fifty-three  years.  On  the  thirtieth 
of  May,  1781,  the  Emperor  Joseph  the  Second  annulled  that 
Patent  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Religion  with  which  Ferdinand 
the  Second  had  crowned  his  Anti-Reformation,  and  on  the  thir- 
teenth of  the  following  October  issued  an  Edict  of  Toleration. 
This  Edict  permitted  the  followers  of  the  Augsburg  and  Helvetian 
Confessions  to  register,  until  the  thirty-first  of  December,  1782, 
as  Protestants ;  and  granted  religious  liberty,  although  with 
many  restrictions,  to  all  such  as  would  make  use  of  this  privilege. 
In  spite  of  the  fact  that,  as  has  been  said  in  another  connection, 
there  came  forward  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  Bohemians 
and  Moravians  who  claimed  to  be  Bohemian  Brethren,  the  Unitas 
Fratrum,  by  a  special  decree,  was  excluded  from  the  benefits  of 
the  Act. 

The  Lutherans  and  Reformed  organized  under  the  government 
of  a  common  Consistory  at  Vienna.  In  consequence  of  the  revo- 
lutionary Avave  which  swept  over  the  Continent  of  Europe  in  1848 
and  1849,  many  of  the  restrictions  hindering  their  progress  were 
removed  ;  in  1861  the  Protestant  Law  was  published  establishing 
the  religious  equality  of  Protestants  and  Catholics;  in  1864  a 
General  Synod  of  Lutherans  and  Reformed  convened,  which 
adopted  an  ecclesiastical  constitution,  sanctioned  by  the  Emperor 
in  1866;  and  in  1874  the  Austrian  Diet  extended  religious  liberty 
to  all  such  Churches  as  would  secure  recognition  on  the  part  of 
the  Imperial  Government. 


648  APPENDIX. 

Thereupon  the  Renewed  Unitas  Fratrum,  which  in  the  face  of 
many  obstacles  and  great  annoyances  had  ventured,  in  1870,  to 
begin  a  missionary  work  in  Bohemia,  sought  such  recognition  at 
Vienna.  The  negotiations  dragged  wearily  through  six  years 
but  were  successful  at  last.  In  the  spring  of  1880,  the  Minister 
of  Public  Worship  issued  a  proclamation  permitting  the  Unitas 
Fratrum  to  establish  itself  in  the  Austrian  Empire.  Thus,  after 
the  lapse  of  two  hundred  and  fifty-two  years,  the  Brethren  who 
had  been  so  ignominiously  driven  out  of  Bohemia  and  Moravia 
and  so  persistently  debarred  from  returning,  were  authorized  to 
resume  their  work  in  the  seats  of  their  fathers.  This  work 
is  extending  and  full  of  promise.  Its  issue  is  in  the  hand  of 
the  God  of  Gregory  and  Luke  and  Comeuius. 


B. 

THE  CONFESSIONS  OF  THE  UNITAS  FRATRUM. 

We  here  present  a  chronological  list  of  the  Confessions  published 
by  the  Brethren.  The  Historical  Preface  to  the  Latin  and  Ger- 
man Confessions  of  1573  treats  of  this  subject;  but  in  a  concise 
and  unsatisfactory  way.  Nor  does  the  lengthy  discussion  into 
which  Koecher  enters,  in  his  "  Glaubensbekenntnisse  der  Bohm- 
ischen  Briider,"  throw  the  proper  light  upon  the  investigation. 
Gindely's  two  tables  contradict  each  other :  in  the  first,  found  in 
the  Notes  to  his  "  Geschichte  der  Bohmischen  Bruder,"  he  counts 
up  thirty-six  Confessions ;  in  his  second,  contained  in  the  "Quel- 
len  zur  Geschichte  der  Bohmischen  Bruder,"  thirty-four;  in 
both  he  reckons  as  a  new  Confession  each  new  edition  of  the  same 
Confession.  The  subject  is  therefore  exceedingly  complicated; 
and  we  do  not  claim  absolute  accuracy  for  the  list  which  follows. 
It  professes,  however,  to  set  forth  those  Confessions  which,  as  far 
as  the  sources  at  our  command  seem  to  show,  the  Brethren  them- 
selves looked  upon  as  distinct  Confessions.  We  add  references  to 
our  History. 

I.    CONFESSION.     1468. 

Presented  to  Rokycana  in  1648;  written  in  Bohemian  by 
Gregory ;  not  printed ;  but  extant  as  a  MS.  in  Lissa  Folio,  11. 
Herrnhut  Archives.     (See  History,  pp.  158  and  159.) 


APPENDIX.  649 

II.  CONFESSION.       1468. 

Presented  to  King  George  Podiebrad,  in  1468  ;  written  in  Bo- 
hemian ;  not  printed ;  but  extant  as  a  MS.  in  Lissa  Folio,  II., 
Herrnhut  Archives.     (See  History,  p.  159.) 

III.  CONFESSION.    1471. 

Presented  to  those  royal  cities  from  which  the  Brethren  were 
expelled ;  written  in  Bohemian ;  not  printed  ;  but  extant  as  a 
MS.  in  the  library  at  Raudnitz,  in  the  Schonfeld  Miscellanea. 
(See  History,  p.  164.)  The  Historical  Preface  of  1573  says: — 
"  When  our  people  were  driven  from  the  royal  cities,  they  sent 
them  a  Confession  which  was  more  lengthy  and  complete  "  than 
the  two  preceding  ones. 

IV.  CONFESSION.     1503. 

Sent  to  King  Uladislaus,  at  Ofen,  in  Hungary ;  written  in 
Bohemian ;  translated  into  Latin ;  and  printed  in  both  lan- 
guages at  Nuremberg.  This  Confession,  with  the  wrong  title 
prefixed,  is  found  in  the  "  Waldensia  of  Lydius,"  Tom.  I.,  part 
II.,  p.  1,  etc.  The  correct  title  is  the  following:  "  Oratio  Ex- 
cusatoria  atque  satisfactitva  Fratrum  Waldensium,  Regi  Vladis- 
lao  ad  Vngariam  missa."  It  occurs  also  in  "  Freheri  Rerum 
Bohemicarum  antiqui  scriptores  aliquot  insignes."  Hanoviae, 
MDCII.,  p.  238,  etc.,  and  in  Brown's  "  Fasciculus,"  London, 
MDCXC,  p.  162.     (See  History,  p.  186.) 

V.     CONFESSION.    1504. 

Sent  to  King  Uladislaus,  at  Ofen,  in  1504,  as  a  supplement  to 
the  Confession  of  1503,  (No.  IV.);  written  in  Bohemian; 
translated  into  Latin ;  and  printed  in  both  languages  at  Nurem- 
berg. This  Confession,  with  the  wrong  title  prefixed,  is  found  in 
the  "  Waldensia  "  of  Lydius,  Tom.  I.,  Part  II.,  p.  21,  etc.  The 
correct  title  is  the  following :  "  Confessio  Fidei  Fratrum  Walden- 
sium, Regi  Vladislao  ad  Hungariam  missa."  It  occurs  also  in 
Freherus,  p.  245,  etc.,  and  in  Brown,  p.  168,  etc.  (See  History, 
p.  188.) 

VL    CONFESSION.    1507. 

Addressed  but  not  sent  to  King  Uladislaus ;  written  in  1507, 
in  Bohemian;  and    printed  at  Nuremberg.     The  Metropolitan 


650  APPENDIX. 

Library  at  Prague  contains  a  copy  of  this  Confession.    A  second 
edition  came  out  at  Jungbunzlau  in  1518.  (See  History,  p.  190.) 

VII.    CONFESSION.     1507    AND    1508. 

This  Confession,  which  forms  a  reply  to  Dr.  Augustin  Kase- 
brot's  bitter  attack  upon  the  Unitas  Fratrum,  appeared  in  two 
editions. 

1.  Tlie  Bohemian  Edition  of  1507,  being  a  reprint  of  Kase- 
brot's  letters  with  the  answers  interpolated.  A  copy  of  this 
edition  is,  says  Gindely,  in  the  library  of  "  Herr  Hanka." 

2.  The  Latin  Edition  of  1508,  which  omits  Kasebrot's  letters; 
gives  merely  the  answers  of  the  Brethren  ;  and  was  published  at 
Nuremberg.  Its  title  is :  "  Excusatio  Fratrum  Waldensium, 
contra  binas  literas  Doctoris  Augustini,  datas  ad  Regem."  This 
Confession  is  found  in  the  "Waldensia"  of  Lydius,  Tom.  I.,  Fart 
II.,  p.  34,  etc. ;  in  Freherus,  p.  249,  etc.;  and  in  Brown,  p.  172, 
etc.     (See  History,  pp.  190  and  191.) 

THE    LETTER    OP     THE    BRETHREN    TO    KING    LEWIS.        1524. 

The  Historical  Preface  of  1573  reckons  as  the  next  Confession 
a  letter  written  by  the  Brethren  to  King  Lewis  in  1524  ;  Gindely 
also  assigns  to  it  the  rank  of  a  Confession,  adding  however  that 
he  is  not  acquainted  with  it.  The  original,  in  Bohemian,  is  lost; 
a  German  translation  has  been  preserved,  which  plainly  shows 
that  it  is  not,  in  any  sense,  a  Confession,  but  a  mere  letter,  or  pe- 
tition, asking  the  King  to  protect  the  Brethren's  Church.  In 
pointing  thisoutCzerwenka,inhis  "Geschichte  der  Evangelischen 
Kirche  in  Bohmen,"  says,  that  the  only  copy  known  to  exist  is 
found  in  the  Wallerstein  Library,  at  Kloster  Maihingen,  near 
Nordlingen,  in  Bavaria  ;  and  that  he  is  the  first  to  make  known 
its  contents.  While  we  do  not  dispute  this  latter  claim,  we  are 
happy  to  add,  that  he  is  mistaken  as  to  the  former.  The  Malin 
Library  of  Moravian  Literature,  at  Bethlehem,  Pennsylvania, 
contains  another  copy  of  the  same  book  (No.  882).  We  append 
the  title  :  "  Eyn  sende  briefF  der  bruder  aus  Behem  die  mann 
bis  hieher  Pickarten  vnnd  Waldenser  genant  an  den  grossmech- 
tigen  herrn  herrn  Luwig  Vngerischen  vnde  Behemischen 
Konig  gesant  ym  iar  1525.  Verdolmetzt  vom  Behmischem 
yns  Deutzsche.  Durch  Johannem  Zeysinck."  (s.  a.  et  1.)  A 
curious  arabesque  surrounds  the  title.     (See  History,  p.  237.) 


APPENDIX.  651 

VIII.  CONFESSION.     1532,  1533  and  1538. 

This  Confession  was  prepared  for  the  Margrave  of  Branden- 
burg and  appeared  in  several  editions. 

1.  The  Bohemian  original  of  1532.  Printed  at  Jungbunzlau 
in  1532,  and  again  at  Leitomischl  in  1536,  both  of  which  editions 
are  lost.     (See  History,  p.  244.) 

2.  The  first  and  incorrect  German  Version  of  1532.  Prepared 
by  Michael  Weiss,  containing  errors  of  translations  and  interpo- 
lations of  his  own ;  printed  at  Zurich  without  the  knowledge, 
and  contrary  to  the  wishes,  of  the  Brethren,  who  tried  to  buy  un 
the  edition.  Of  this  very  rare  work  there  is  a  copy  in  the  Malin 
Library,  No.  808.  (See  History,  pp.  244  and  245,  and  Note  10 
for  the  title.) 

3.  The  second  and  correct  German  Version  of  1533.  Finished 
in  the  beginning  of  1533  and  printed,  in  the  same  year,  at  Wit- 
tenberg, under  the  supervision  of  Martin  Luther,  who  wrote  the 
Preface.  A  second  edition  appeared  in  Germany,  in  1568,  but 
is  no  longer  extant.  This  version  was  presented  to  the  Margrave. 
It  is  exceedingly  rare,  but  the  Malin  Library  contains  two 
copies,  Nos.  344  and  345.  (See  History,  p.  245,  and  for  the  title, 
Note  11.) 

4.  The  Latin  Version,  or  the  "  Aj)ologia  Verae  Doctrinae,"  of 
1538,  published  by  request  of  the  divines  of  Augsburg.  It  was 
printed  at  Wittenberg  in  1538,  simultaneously  with  the  Confes- 
sion of  1535.  (Vide  No.  IX.)  This  version  was  thoroughly  re- 
vised and  greatly  improved.  (See  History,  pp.  252  and  253, 
and  for  the  title.  Note  21.)  There  is  an  original  copy  in  the 
Malin  Library,  No.  198;  it  is  found  also  in  the  "  Waldensia  " 
of  Lydius,  Tom.  I.,  Part  II.,  p.  92,  etc. 

IX.    CONFESSION.     1535. 

Drawn  up  in  Bohemian  by  Bishops  Horn  and  Augusta  ; 
translated  into  Latin ;  signed  by  twelve  barons  and  thirty-three 
knights  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum  ;  and  presented  on  the  fourteenth 
of  November,  1535,  by  a  deputation  of  nobles,  to  the  Emperor 
Ferdinand  the  First,  at  Vienna.  This  Confession  came  out  in 
various  editions. 

1.  The  Bohemian  Original  of  1535.  Printed,  but  not  extant; 
a  second  edition  printed  at  Leitomischl,  but  also  lost. 


652  ArPEjsiDix. 

2.  The  Latin  Version  of  1535.  This  version  was,  no  doubt, 
presented  to  the  Emperor,  although  Gindely  asserts  that  a  Ger- 
man translation  was  handed  him.  The  Latin  version  was  printed, 
in  1538,  in  the  office  of  George  Rhaw,  at  Wittenberg,  under  the 
supervision  of  Martin  Luther,  who  wrote  the  Preface,  and  was 
bound  up  with  the  Apology  (Vide  No.  VIIL,  4)  in  one  volume. 
At  the  same  time  a  number  of  copies  of  both  works  were  issued 
in  separate  volumes.  (See  History,  p.  251  to  254,  and  for  the 
title,  p.  253,  Note  21.)  Of  this  Confession  there  are  two  copies 
in  the  Malin  Library  :  the  one.  No,  341,  in  a  separate  volume; 
the  other,  No.  198,  bound  up  with  the  Apology ;  it  is  found  also 
in  the  "  Waldensia  "  of  Lydius,  Tom.  II.,  Part  IL,  p.  1,  etc., 
and  in  "  Niemeyer's  Collectio  Confessionium  in  Ecclesiis  Refor- 
matis  Publicatarum,"  p.  771,  etc. 

3.  The  Second  Edition  of  the  Latin  Version  published  at  Tubingen 
in  1558.  This  edition  was  edited  by  Vergarius  who,  in  addition 
to  Luther's  preface  appended  favorable  testimonials  from  other 
divines.  (See  History,  p.  299,  and  Note  8.)  It  is  found  in 
"  Koecher's  Glaubensbekenntnisse  der  Bohmischen  Bruder,"  p.  98, 
etc. ;  and  in"Corpus et Syntagma Confessionium,Fidei," p.  217,  etc. 

A  third  edition  came  out  at  Dort. 

4.  The  Polish  Version  of  1563,  printed  in  1563;  and  presented 
by  a  deputation  of  nobles  to  King  Sigismund  Augustus,  in  1564. 
(See  History,  p.  338.) 

X.    CONFESSION.      1564. 

This  Confession,  which  is  based  on  that  of  1535,  was  presented 
to  the  Emperor  Maximilian,  at  Vienna,  in  1564.  It  appeared  in 
two  editions. 

1.  The  Original  Bohemian,  printed  in  1564.  According  to 
Gindely  there  is  a  copy  in  the  library  of  "  Herr  Hanka. 

2.  The  German  Version,  printed  in  1564  ;  prepared  by  Peter 
Herbert ;  and  corrected  by  Dr.  Crato.  This  version  was  pre- 
sented to  the  Emperor.  (See  History,  pp.  363  and  364.)  There 
is  a  copy  in  the  Library  of  the  Bohemian  Museum  at  Prague. 
The  work  is  exceedingly  rare. 

XI.   CONFESSION.      1573. 

This  last  Confession  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum  was  prepared  by 
Professor  Esrom  Rudinger,  of  Wittenberg  ;  printed  in  that  city; 


APPENDIX.  653 

and  supplied  with  a  testimonial  from  the  Theological  Faculty  of 
the  University.     It  appeared  in  several  editions. 

1.  The  Latin  Version  of  1573.  It  is  a  revised  Latin  transla- 
tion of  the  German  Confession  of  1564 (Vide  No.  X.,  2);  was  to 
take  the  place  of  the  Latin  Confession  of  1535  (Vide  No.  IX.,  2); 
and  to  present  the  faith  of  the  Brethren  in  its  maturity.  This 
Confession  appeared  in  March,  1573,  with  the  Historical  Preface 
to  which  we  have,  several  times,  referred.  (See  History,  pp.  372 
to  375,  and  for  the  title,  p.  373,  Note  37.)  It  is  found  in  the 
"Waldensia"  of  Lydius,  Tom.  II.,  Part  II.,  p.  95,  etc.  A  second 
edition  came  out  at  Basle,  in  1575. 

2.  The  German  Version  of  1573.  A  German  translation  of  the 
preceding  Latin  Confession  (No.  XL,  1);  prepared  and  printed 
at  Wittenberg,  under  the  supervision  of  Professor  Riidinger,  in 
the  same  year  in  which  the  Latin  version  appeared.  (See  His- 
tory, p.  373  and  Note  13.)  The  Malin  Library  contains  two 
copies.  No.  810;  it  is  found  also  in  Koecher,  p.  161,  etc.  Its 
title  is  the  following :  "  Confessio.  Das  ist  Bekentnis  des  Christ- 
lichen  Glaubens.  Dem  aller  Durchleuchtigsten  vud  Grosmechtig- 
sten  Romischen  zu  Vngeren  vnd  Behem,  etc.  Konig  Ferdinando, 
Von  den  Herreu  vnd  Ritterschaft  der  Kron  Behem,  welche  der 
reinen  Lere,  in  den  Christlichen  Gemeinen,  so  man  der  Behem- 
ischen  Briider  einigkeit  nennet,  zugethan  vnd  verwand  sind,  zu 
Wien  in  osterreich  aufF  den  14.  Nouembris  im  1535.  Jar  vber- 
antwortet  vnd  verdeutscht,  im  Jar  1564.  Diese  bekentnis  ist 
auch  Keiser  Maximiliano  dem  andern,  etc.,  und  Konig  Sigemund 
in  Polen,  etc.,  vbergeben.  Psalm  119.  Ich  rede  von  deinen 
zeugnissen  fur  Konigen,  vnd  scheme  mich  nicht."  Wittenberg, 
1573. 

3.  TJie  Herborn  Edition  of  1612,  being  a  revised  edition  of  the 
Latin  version.  Of  this  edition  the  Malin  Library  contains  a 
copy.  No.  767. 


654 


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INDEX. 


[Throughout  this  index  U.  F.  stands   for  Unitas  Fratrum.] 


A. 

Abdel,  Abraham,  Lutheran  minister 
preaches  in  church  of  Brethren, 
353. 

Abdias,  John,  bishop,  418 ;  death, 
419. 

Abdon,  John,  collects  for  exiles,  570. 

Accidentalia,  as  understood  by  U.  F., 
201. 

Acolytes,  duties  of  213  ;  special  meet- 
ings of,  422. 

Adalbert,  bishop,  15. 

Adalbert,  member  of  Council,  153. 

Adamites,  87,  94. 

Adelung,  traduces  Comenius,  618  and 
note  20. 

Adler,  Wilde  and  Stille,  105. 

Adrian  II,  pope,  10. 

Adronik;  Luke,  member  of  Council, 
433. 

Aediles,  216,  217. 

Aeneas,  Sylvius,  vide  Pius  II. 

Aeneas,  John,  appointed  to  translate 
confession,  372  note  35 ;  bishop, 
393  and  note  20 ;  professor  at 
Eibenzchiitz,  414  ;  conducts  meet- 
ing of  acolytes,  422 ;  chairman 
of  Bible  committee,  424;  death 
and  character,  432. 

Agreement,  between  Protestants  and 
Catholics,  463 ;  signed,  465 ;  ob- 
served, 468;  violated,  486,  487, 
488. 

Agricola,  John,  translates  confession, 
249. 

Albert,  of  Austria,  91. 

Albert,  of  E.  Prussia,  284  ;  promises 
to  receive  exiled  Brethren,  285 ; 
asks  for  a  court-preacher,  313 ; 
death,  393. 


Albicus,  archbishop,  38. 

Albin,  John,  member  of  council,  423, 
433. 

Alexander  V,  pope,  39. 

Alexander  VI,  pope,  180;  measures 
against  U.  F.,  183. 

Alexandria,  patriarch  of,  453,  455 
and  note  4. 

Almoners,  in  U.  F.,  216. 

Alpheus,  John,  member  of  council, 
423,  433. 

Altranstadt,  pacification  of,  640. 

Ambrose,  of  Koniggrdtz,  Taborite 
leader,  87. 

Ambrose,  of  Skuc,  bishop,  182 ;  death, 
239. 

Amos,  of  Stekna,  opposes  the  liberal 
party  in  U.  F.,  175 ;  produces  a 
schism,  178  ;  conference  with  Mat- 
thias and  Luke,  178. 

Amosit£s,  schismatic  party  in  U.  F., 
178;  accuse  the  Brethren,  184; 
write  against  them,  238 ;  disap- 
pear from  history,  261,  262. 

Amsterdam,  religious  toleration  at, 
613,  614;  its  council  requests 
Comenius  republish  his  didacticto 
works,  614. 

Anabaptists,  controversy  with  U.  F., 
238 ;  persecuted,  241 ;  principles, 
241  note  2 ;  edict  against,  246 ; 
condition  at  time  of  Ferdinand's 
death,  361  and  note  5. 

Anglican  Church,  Ratio  Discipline 
dedicated  to,  602,  603,  604  ;  the 
U.  F.  of  the  future  commended  to 
by  Comenius,  604. 

Anhalt,  Christian,  commands  at  bat- 
tle of  White  Mountain,  501. 

Anna,  wife  of  King  Bathori,  391 ; 
favors  Jesuits,  392. 

659 


660 


INDEX. 


Anti- Reformation,  Bohemian,  532- 
547. 

Antitrinitarians,  in  Poland,  338;  col- 
loquy with,  ib.  •  seats,  344  note  10. 

Antonius,  bishop,  73. 

Apologies,  of  Protestant  states,  49,6 
497. 

Aquila,  Matthias,  leader  of  exiled 
Brethren,  281 ;  in  E.  Prussia.  286. 

Archives,  of  U.  F.,  see  Lissa  FoUos. 

Aretin,  Paul,  conversations  with 
Budowa,  513,  514. 

Ariston,  Zacharias,  member  of  coun- 
cil, 423,  433  ;  of  Bible  committee, 
424  ;  protests  against  Calvinistic 
view  of  Lord's  Supper,  434 ; 
bishop,  435  ;  death  and  character, 
472  and  note  10. 

Army  of  Passau,  470. 

Arjiauld,  professor,  writes  against 
Comenius,  615. 

Arnold,  Christopher,  president  of 
Dantzic  Synod,  631. 

Assistant  Bishops,  199,  303,  305,  311 ; 
meml)ers  of  council  ordained,  214, 
366  and  note  1 5. 

Augsburg,  Confession  of,  246  ;  relation 
of  U.  F.  to,  365  arid  note  14. 

Augsburg,  Interim  of,  279. 

Augsburg,  Religious  Peace  of,  316. 

Augusta,  John,  biography  and  first 
public  appearance,  242,  243,  244 ; 
bishop,  243 ;  draws  up  confessions, 
244,  245 ;  at  Vienna,  247,  248  ; 
helps  to  translate  confession,  249  ; 
at  Wittenberg  with  Luther,  251; 
252  ;  at  Wittenberg  in  1542,  259  ; 
his  arrest  ordered,  262 ;  accused 
of  conspiracy,  266  ;  president  of 
council,  268;  writes  to  Ferdinand, 
ib.;  general  animosity  against, 
270;  arrested,  271;  conveyed  to 
Prague,  272  ;  tortured,  273  ,  his 
constancv,  274 ;  at  Piirglitz,  276, 
277,  278 ;  tortured,  301 ;  corre- 
spondence with  council,  302 ;  for- 
bids election  of  bishops,  306 :  lit- 
erary works  in  prison,  307  and 
notelG;  efforts  to  secure  his  lib- 
eration, 307,  308  ;  again  forbids 
election  of  bishops,  309  ;  corre- 
spondence discovered,  310;  re- 
sumed, 314;  hears  of  election  of 
bishops,  320,  321;  feud  with 
council,  321 ;  petitions  to  be  set 
free,  322 ;  Philipine  Welser  visits 
his   dungeon,   323 ;  liberated   for 


Easter  festival,  324;  witli  the 
Jesuits  at  Prague,  325 ;  declares 
that  he  will  adhere  to  Utraquist 
church,  325,  326;  remanded  to 
Purglitz,  326 ;  his  fall,  326  and 
note  14,  327  ;  his  hopelessness,  329 ; 
sent  to  Prague,  16. ;  back  to 
Piirglitz,  330 ;  set  free,  ib.,  recon- 
ciled to  bishops  and  reinstated, 
340and?io^e  1  ;  sends  petition  to 
Maximilian,  364,  365  ;  visits  the 
churches,  367 ;  new  feud  with 
council,  367 ;  plans  union  of 
Brethren  with  Lutheran  Utra- 
quists,  368  and  note  21 ;  death, 
371;  portraits,  371  note  32;  lit- 
erary works,  411. 

Aujezd,  village,  187;  parish,  224. 

Auricular  confession,  how  avoided  by 
the  Brethren,  636  and  note  1. 

Austi,  town,  45. 

Austi,  John  v.,  45,  80. 


B 


Bachaczius,  professor  at  Prague,  469. 

Balbin,  Jesuit,  assertions  respecting 
the  conversion  of  Protestants, 
544 ;  astonished  that  Bohemia  not 
wholly  depopulated,  546  ;  asserts 
that  many  Brethren  were  con- 
verted, 556 ;  praises  Comenius, 
618. 

Baldow,  parish,  286. 

Balthasar,  Cossa,  vide  John  XXITI. 

Baptism,  defined  by  U.  F.,  203,  374; 
how  administered,  219;  vide  Re- 
baptism. 

Barcin,  parish,  291,  318;  school, 
414. 

Bathori,  Stephen,  King  of  Poland, 
391  and  note  18  ;  death,  444. 

Baworinsky,  Benedict,  bishop,  243 ; 
biography,  244  and  note  9  ;  writes 
to  Luther  and  Melanchthon,  250  ; 
death,  254. 

Bayle,  Pierre,  traduces  Comenius, 
618. 

Becher,  searches  for  remnant  of 
Brethren  in  Moldavia,  17 1  notell. 

Beckowic,  Baron  v.,  brings  charges 
against  U.  F.,  184. 

Beghards,  283. 

Beginners,  class  of  membership  in 
U.  F.,  216,  219. 

Benedict  XIII,  pope,  39. 

Beranek,  John,  burned  alive,  550. 


INDEX. 


601 


Berger,  William,  56,  note  2,  57  note 
4,  59,  65  wo?e21. 

Berka,  governor  of  Moravia,  de- 
posed, 458. 

Bethlehem  Chapel,  33  and  note  2; 
given  to  U.  F.,  471  ;  disputeabout, 
480  ;  taken  from  U.  F.  and  puri- 
fied, 505  note  4,  548. 

Beyer,  Andrew,  a  witness  in  time  of 
Hidden  Seed,_  041. 

Beza,  excuses  his  letter  about  U.  F., 
336 ;  dinner  party  at  his  house, 
ib. ;  criticises  confession  of  U.  F., 
376. 

Biberstein,  baron  r.,  escorts  exiled 
Brethren,  281. 

Bible,  the,  of  1506,  227  and  note  8; 
Polish  version,  283;  Kralitz  of, 
423-431 ;  new  Polish  version  pro- 
jected, 472,  473  ;  burned,  549  ; 
Dantzic  version,  565  note  20 ;  re- 
prints instituted  by  Comenius, 
601 ;  his  manual  of,  ib. 

Bidschoiv,  or  Bidsow,  parish.  223 ; 
Brethren  banished  from,  280,  281. 

Bile,  Frederick  v.,  execution,  520, 
521. 

Bilek,  Jacob,  deacon  and  Augusta's 
messenger,  271;  arrested,  272; 
examined,  273  ;  tortured,  274 ;  at 
Purglitz,  276,  277,  278,  301; 
at  Prague,  310;  Philippine  Wel- 
ser  visits  him,  323 ;  reunion  with 
Augusta,  ib.,  324 ;  at  Prague,  325  ; 
separated  from  Augusta,  326 ; 
liberated  and  death,  327. 
Bilin,  parish,  224. 
Bilkow.  Benedict  v.,   at  Slezan,   317 

note  3. 
Bilow,  Stephen,  enemy  of  U.  F.,  343. 
Bily,  Wenzel,  bishop,   242  ;  deposed, 

ib.  and  note  4. 
Bishops,  election,  consecration  and 
duties,  208,  209,  210;  rank,  215; 
annual  visits,  217,  218. 
Bishops,  of  U.  F.,  vide  Episcopacy, 
Bishops  and  Executive  Council,  coun- 
cil organized,  153;  how  consti- 
tuted, 214,  215;  seat,  155,  161  ; 
last  letter  to  Eokycana,  161 ;  write 
to  Bohemian  cities,  164;  liberal 
members  expelled,  175 ;  rein- 
stated, 177  ;  members  in  1499, 
181 ;  activity  in  time  of  persecu- 
tion, 186:  hearings  at  Prague, 
191, 193  ;  seat  transferred  to  Mora- 
via,   197  ;    mission    to    Erasmus, 


229,  230 ;  letter  to  King  Lewis, 
237  and  note  18,  Appendix  650 ; 
mission  to  Ferdinand,  247,  248  ; 
negotiations  with  Luther,  252, 
253 ;  in  time  of  Ferdinand's  per- 
secution, 268,  301  ;  overtures  to 
from  Polish  Calvinists,  292,  293, 
299  ;  seat  at  Prerau,  301 ;  consult 
about  election  of  bishops  in  time 
of  Augusta's  imprisonment,  306, 
309 ;  conceal  election  of  bishops 
from  Augusta,  31 4,  31 5  ;  feud  with 
Augusta,  321,  322,  327  ;  denounce 
Augusta's  course,  328 ;  answer 
overtures  of  Vergerius,  ib. ;  meet 
at  Prerau  and  exclude  Augusta, 
328,  329  and  note  20  ;  conference 
with  Reformed  divines  at  Leip- 
nik,  332,  333 ;  send  Rokita  and 
Herbert  to  Switzerland,  333 ;  de- 
fine relation  of  U.  F.  to  Augus- 
tana,  365 ;  change  of  title  and 
ordiiration  of  members  of  Council 
as  assistant  bishops,  366  and  note 
15;  remonstrance  addressed  to 
Augusta,  367,  368  ;  reply  to  Cra.- 
to's  proposition  to  adopt  Augus- 
tana,  369,  370;  correspond  with 
John  Casimir  of  the  Palatinate, 
383,  384,  385,  386;  instruct  Rokita 
to  convert  Czar  Ivan  to  evangel- 
ical faith,  387 ;  decline  endow- 
ments, 471  and  note  9;  secret 
meeting  among  mountains,  554  ; 
council  reorganized  at  Lissa,  562 ; 
consultation  at  Breslau,  599  ;  after 
destruction  of  Lissa,  600. 

Biskupec,  surname  for  Pilgram,  112 
note  21. 

Bitesch,  parish,  224. 

Bittman,  John,  Bohemian  refugee, 
637  and  note  3. 

Blahoslaw,  John,  biography  and 
character,  309 ;  literary  works, 
144,  145, 309  and  note  22,  314,  315 
7iote36,  371,  398,  410,  411;  col- 
lects Lissa  Folios,  302;  missions 
to  Maximilian,  312,  313  and  note 
32,  319;  visits  Flacius  Illyricus, 
314;  bishop,  318;  archivist,  320; 
opponent  of  Augusta,  368  ;  sharp 
reply  to  Crato,  369;  death,  371. 

Blissem,  Henry,  rector  of  Jesuit  col- 
lege, 325. 

Bninski,  Stanislaiis,  atSendomir,  345. 

Bncskay,  Stephen,  leader  of  Hunga- 
garian  revolt,  457, 


GC,2 


INDEX. 


Boczek,  Wenzel,  wliipped,  529. 
Bodenstein,    Andrew,   286,   note   15; 

wants  to  join  U.  F.,  320. 
Bogomil,  surname  for  Turnovius,  346 

note  14. 
Bohemia,  description,  5 ;  settled  by 
Czechs,  6  ;  introduction  of  Chris- 
tianity, 8  ;  spread,  1 1 ;  religious 
state  after  Hussite  wars,  93,  94  ; 
peasants  made  serfs,  169;  power 
of  nobles,  ib. ;  state  after  death  of 
Uladislaus,  198  ;  pacification,  229 ; 
relation  to  Germany,  231,  232; 
relation  to  Luther's  Reformation, 
232,  233  ;  Spalcald  war,  264,  265; 
league  against  Ferdinand,  ib. ; 
state  after  Ferdinand's  death,  359, 
360;  religious  state,  360,  361, 
362;  spread  of  Protestantism, 
380;  development  subsequent  to 
charter,  467;  schools,  468;  is  a 
Protestant  country,  469;  griev- 
ances of  its  Protestant  inhabitauts, 
486,  487,  488  ;  exodus  of  its  peo- 
ple, 546,  547;  sufierings  during 
Anti-Reformation,  546,  547  and 
note  15;  peace  of  Westphalia  dis- 
astrous to,  585. 
Bohemian  Brethren,  the,  vide    Unitas 

Fratrum. 
Bolststein,  parish,  286. 
Book  of  the  Masters,  1 47. 
Boleslaw,  the  Cruel,  3,  14. 
Bolestaw,  the  Pious,  14. 
Bononia,  Pace  de,  40. 
Borbonius,  doctor,  pardoned,  530. 
Borek,  bishop  of  Olmiitz,  his  saying 
about  Klenowsky,  155.  Vide  John 
Bishop  of  Orossiuardein. 
Boriwoj,  duke,  11. 
Borgius,  Eugene,  consecrated  bishop, 

634. 
Bossak,  Paul,  escapes  from  prison, 

279. 
Bouquoy,  commands  imperial  army, 
499 ;    says   Protestant   states   de- 
serve death,  503. 
Bozkowic,      Martha     v.,     writes     to 

Uladislaus,  190,  225. 
Bradacius,  Michael,  joins  U.  F.,  107  ; 
simplifies  ritual,  113;  imprisoned, 
119;  at  Synod  of  Lhota,  133; 
consecrated  bishop  by  Waldensian 
bishops,  140,  141,  142;  colloquy 
with  Koranda,  143,  144;  reports 
negotiations  with  Waldenses,  152  ; 
reordains  first  ministers,   153    re- 


signs episcopate,  153,  154;  has 
himself  reordained,  154;  impris- 
oned, 160;  colloquy  with  Utra- 
quist  masters,  165;  death  and 
character,  183  and  note  9. 
Brahe,  Tycho,  at  Prague,  468. 
Brandenburg,  margrave  of,    receives 

confession  of  U.  F.,  244,  245. 
Brandenburg,    the    great    elector    of, 

favors  Brethren,  623. 
Brandeis,  on  the  Adler,  parish,  164, 
223  ;  chief  seat,   224  ;  Brethren's 
promised  land,  471. 
Brandeis,  on   the  Elbe,  parish,  164, 
223  ;  confiscated,  266  and  note  4 ; 
goes  over  to  Utraquists,  267  and 
note  7  ;  remnant  banished,  280. 
Braunau,  abbot  of,  enemy  of  Protest- 
ants, 488. 
Brenz,  John,  286  note  15. 
Brieg,  colony   of  exiled    Brethren, 

599  and  note  10. 
Breslan,   bishop   of,    advises  against 

bloody  persecutions,  120. 
Brethren,  of  Chelcic,  98. 
Brethren,  the,  vide    Unitas  Fratrum. 
Bretislaw  II,   14. 
Brus,  Anton,  archbishop,    329;  360 

and  note  2. 
Briix,  parish,  224. 

Bucer,  Martin,  interview  with  Cer- 
wenka,  256,  257  ;  letter  to  Au- 
gusta, 258. 
Budowa  Wenzel,  v.,  course  at  diet 
of  1600,  440  and  note  18  ;  cited  to 
Prague,  441 ;  articles  demanding 
religious  liberty,  458 ;  proposes 
meeting  of  states,  460;  opens 
meetings  with  prayer,  461 ;  a  de- 
fender, 465 ;  reproves  Slawata  and 
others,  466 ;  opposes  election  of 
Ferdinand  II,  485;  heroism  be- 
fore Liechtenstein's  court,  506 ; 
character,  513  and  note  14,  517; 
last  days  and  execution,  513-517. 
Bugenhagen,  John,  conference  with 

Augusta,  251. 
Bull,  papal,  burned,  41. 
Bullinger,  censures  confession  of  U. 
F.,  333  ;  conference  with  Herbert, 
334. 
Burlesque  of  King's  edict,  439. 
Biittner,  John,  vide  Bythner  J. 
Bythner,   John,   bishop  and   biogra- 
phy, 582  and  note  20 ;  delegate  to 
colloquium   at   Thorn,  582;  flees 
to  Silesia,  595 :  consultation  with 


INDEX. 


6G3 


bishops  at  Breslau,  599 ;  at  Brieg, 
lb. ;  corresponds  with  Comenius 
about  episcopate,  607,  608,  609  ; 
convenes  synod  at  Milenczyn,  609; 
at  Schocken  and  Lissa,  613;  con- 
secrates Hartmann,  622 ;  death, 
623. 

C. 

Cahera,  Gallus,  236 ;  liis  course  at 
Prague,  237. 

Calixtines,  vide  Utraquists. 

Calvin,  John,  visited  by  Cerwenka, 
256,  257  ;  letter  to  Augusta,  258 ; 
warns  against  celibacy,  ib. ;  ap- 
proves of  union  of  Kozminek, 
296 ;  censures  confession  of  U.  F., 
333;  conference  with  Herbert, 
335 ;  fraternal  letter  to  U.  F., 
336. 

Calvinists,  in  Poland,  283 ;  union 
with  Brethren  at  Kozminek,  294, 
295 ;  ecclesiastical  government 
discussed  at  Xionz,  337  ;  consis- 
tory, 337  note  9 ;  propose  renewal 
of  Sendomirian  confederation, 
476 ;  union  with  Brethren,  500. 

Cambridge,  university  of,  endorse  col- 
lection for  the  Brethren,  600. 

Camerariiis,  Joachim,  visited  by  Cer- 
wenka, 256 ;  views  respecting 
hymnology  of  U.  F.,  404 ;  history 
of  U.  F.,  412. 

Campanus,  professor  at  Prague,  469. 

Canisius,  Jesuit,  317  note  1. 

Canterbury,  archbishop  of,  receives 
Jablonskys'  account  of  episcopal 
succession,  609  note  6,  630 ;  corre- 
spondence with  Jablonsky,  629. 

Capek,  John,  87. 

Capistran,  John,  93. 

Capito,  visited  by  Cerwenka,  256. 

Capito,  John,  biography  424  note  7  ; 
sermons,  41 1  ;  member  of  Bible 
committee,  424. 

Capito,  Paul,  murdered,  550. 

Caraffa,  Carlo,  urges  Anti-Reforma- 
tion, 535 ;  urges  exjjulsion  of 
Lutheran  ministers,  536. 

Carmel,  mount,  public  buildings  of 
U.  F.,  at  Jungbunzlau,  224. 

Carolath,  fugitive  Brethren  at,  595. 

Casimir,  John,  palatine,  corresponds 
with  U.  F.,  383,  384,  385. 

Casimir,  John,  King  of  Poland,  589  ; 
claims  Swedish  crown,  591 ;  flees 


to  Silesia,  592 ;  joins  confedera- 
tion against  Swedes,  ib. ;  resigns, 
621. 

Caspar,  travels  to  the  East.  176. 

Cassim,  David,  bishop,  629. 

Catharine,  a  member  of  U.  F.  zeal- 
ous of  good  works,  161. 

Catechisms,  226,  406;  history  of, 
406-410;  catechism  of  1522,406, 
407  ;  of  1554, 407,  408,  409  ;  Latin, 
409  ;  other  catechisms,  ib.  note  5 ; 
importance  attached  to,  373,  410  ; 
catechism  published  by  Comenius, 
606  and  note  23. 

Catholic  League,  supports  Ferdinand 
II,  501. 

Cech,  Wenzel,  member  of  council, 
305and7i,ote  11,  318. 

Celech,  Gallus,  tortured,  550. 

Celibacy,  of  priests,  212,  251,  252, 
258,  375 ;  relinquished,  420. 

Cepolla,  Isaiah,  biography,  372  note 
35;  negotiates  with  Wittenberg 
faculty,  372 ;  member  of  Bible 
committee,  424. 

Cernin,  Dionys,  condemned  to  death, 
507,  508 ;  execution,  522. 

Cerny,  /o/in,, writes  against  rebaptism, 
226,  246. 

Cenvenka,  3Tatthias,  visits  Stras- 
burg,  256-259;  biography,  256 
and  note  3;  bishop,  311;  bishop 
of  Bohemian  province,  318; 
archivis  320;  gives  Laski  views 
of  U.  F.  on  the  Lord's  Supper, 
333 ;  death,  370. 

Charles  I,  of  England,  579,  580. 

Charles  IV,  emperor,  19_. 

Charles  V,  emperoi',  abdicates,  319. 

Charles  VI,  emperor,  640  note  8. 

Charles  X,  of  Sweden,  591 ;  war 
against  Poland,  ih. ;  conquers' Po- 
land, 592. 

Charles  XII,  of  Sweden,  war  against 
Poland,  627  ;  defeated  at  Pultawa, 
628 ;  forces  Joseph  I  to  give  up 
Protestant  churches,  640. 

Charter,  Bohemian,  drafted,  461 ; 
signed,  462 ;  contents,  ib.  and  note 
5 ;  what  it  represented,  467  ;  its 
ambiguity,  4S3;  violated,  486, 
487,  488  ;  revoked,  545. 

Chapels,  of  U.  F.,  217;  closed  in 
Bohemia,  267  ;  reopened,  309  ; 
seized,  in  Anti-Reformation,  548. 

Chelcic,  village,  95. 

Chelcicky,  John,  colloquy  with    Ko- 


664 


INDEX. 


randa,  143;  member  of  council, 
153. 

Chelcicky,  Peter,  Inography  95,  96 
and  note  2 ;  writings,  96  and  note  3; 
doctrinal  position,  96  ;  ethics,  97  ; 
connection  with  founders  of  U. 
F.,  100,  101;  death,  101;  ten- 
dency in  U.  F.,  126,  172. 

Chlum,  Wenzel  v.,  presents  confes- 
sion to  Maximilian,  363. 

Chlum,  John,  and  Henry  v.,  escort  of 
Hus,  58,  59,  61,  62,  63,  67. 

Chlum,  mountain,105. 

Chlumecky,  Peter  v.,  what  he  says  of 
hymnology  of  U.  F.,  405. 

Chlumetz,  Brethren  banished  from, 
280. 

ChmielnicH,  leader  of  Cossacks,  589. 

Chobar,  Matthias,  remains  burned, 
549. 

Chocz,  parish,  31 8. 

Chotzen,  parish,  223. 

Christian,  of  Prachatic,  associate  of 
Hus,  32,  85. 

Christina,  of  Sweden,  580 ;  resigns 
and  joins  Catholic  church,  591. 

Chropin,  parish,  224. 

Chrudin,  parish,  223. 

Chrysostom,  John,  mission  toPoland, 
554. 

Church,  the,  defined  by  U.  F.,  203, 
374. 

Churches,  of  Grace,  640  and  note  8. 

Churches,  Protestant,  Ijuilt,  467 ; 
siezed  and  purified,  535. 

Church,  yards,  desecrated,  536. 

Ciklowsky,  Andrew,  bishop,  242  and 
note  4. 

Cimburg,  barons  v.,  vide  Towacowsky. 

Civil,  power,  defined  by  U.  F.,  375. 

Cizek,  John,  joins  U.  F.,  236. 

Claudius,  professor  at  Strasburg,  257. 

Claudianus,  superintends  publica- 
tion office,  226  and  note  6 ;  visits 
Erasmus,  230;  jDrints  hymnals, 
413. 

Clemanges,  Nicholas,  30. 

Clemens,  Adam,  ministers  to  Protest- 
ant leaders  at  their  execution, 
508. 

Clementinum,  vide  Prague. 

Clergy,  Protestant,  banished,  536, 537, 
538 ;  tortured  and  murdered,  537  ; 
edicts  against,  542. 

Codicillv^,  Peter,  376. 

Colditz,  baron  v.,  196. 

Collections  for  exiles,   vide  Exiles. 


Collections  for  poor,  vide  Poor. 

College,  at  Eibenschiitz,  413;  at 
Lissa,  vide  Lissa  college. 

Colloquy,  with  Koranda,  143,  167; 
with  Utraquist  Masters,  165  ;  at 
Prague,  new  year  1504,  186,  187  ; 
with  Antitrinitarians  at  Cracow, 
338;  so  called  at  Thorn,  341, 
342 ;  at  Thorn  between  Catholics 
and  Protestants,  581,  582,  583, 
584. 

Colloquium  charitativum,  581—584. 

Comenius,  John  Amos,  birth  and 
education,  479 ;  at  Fulneck,  480 
and  note  28  ;  library  burned,  549  ; 
flees  to  Brandeis,  553 ;  his  Laby- 
rinth of  the  World,  553,  554  and 
note  11  ;  marries  Dorothea  Cyrill, 
554;  sent  to  Poland  and  Hun- 
gary, 554;  prayer  on  the  mountain 
top,  555  ;  his  unhistoric  views  of  a 
a  decline  in  U.  F.,  557  and  note 
18;  arrives  at  Lissa,  562;  bishop, 
668 ;  edits  Ratio  Disciplinse,  ib. ; 
rector  of  college,  574  ;  views  on 
education,  575,  576 ;  correspond- 
ents and  educational  works,  676 
and  note  8 ;  duties  defined  by 
synod,  577 ;  sermons,  677  and  note 
12,578;  pansophic  project,  578, 
579 ;  invited  to  Sweden,  679 ; 
great  literary  project,  579  and  note 
16  ;  in  England,  579,  680 ;  accepts 
offer  of  Lewis  de  Geer,  580 ;  de- 
clines presidency  of  Harvard  Col- 
lege, 580  and  note  18 ;  in  Sweden, 
580,  581;  at  Elbing,  581;  dele- 
gate to  colloquium  at  Thorn,  £82, 
584 ;  president  of  council,  584 ; 
his  feelings  in  connection  Avith 
peace  of  Westphalia,  585,  586 ; 
publishes  eighth  book  of  Lantius, 

587  ;  sends  the  work  to  Sweden, 

588  ;  the  testament  of  the  dying 
mother,  ib. ;  cares  for  Bohemian 
exiles,  688,  589  ;  in  Transylvania, 
689,590;  the  Orbis  Pictiis,  590: 
flees  from  Lissa  to  Amsterdam, 
595  ;  loss  of  manuscripts,  595,  596 
and  note  13;  consultation  at  Bres- 
lau,  599 ;  distributes  collections 
for  the  Brethren,  600,  601  and 
note  13;  republishes  Bibles,  601  ; 
hopes  for  a  new  U.  F.,  ib.;  pub- 
lishes confession,  biblical  manual 
and  hymnals,  601  ;  dedicates  the 
Ratio     Disciplina;     to     Anglical 


INDEX. 


665 


church,  602  and  note  18,  603, 
604 ;  commends  the  future  U.  F. 
to  Anglican  church,  604 ;  exhor- 
tation to  Anglican  church,  G04, 
605;  corresponds  with  Bythner 
about  the  episcopacy,  607,  608, 
609;  letter  to  synod  ofMilenczyn, 
610-613;  his  labors  at  Amster- 
dam, 613,  614;  Lux  in  Tenebris, 
614  and  note  13,  615,  616;  death, 
burial  and  grave,  617  and  note  18, 
618;  personal  appearance  and 
character,  618,  619;  literary  ac- 
tivity, 619  note  21;  family,  ib.; 
pictures  of,  ib.;  sends  his  works 
to  the  secret  Brethren  in  Bohemia 
and  Moravia,  620. 
Communion  of  saints,  defined  by  U. 

F.,  205. 
Compactata  of  Basle,  89  ;  ratified,  91 ; 
almost  forgotten,  262 ;  an  antiqua- 
rian relic,  3C0 ;  abrogated,  365. 
Compeggio,  cardinal,  237. 
Concordia,  Vilnensis,  443. 
Confessions  of  Faith,  first  and  second, 
158,  159;  confession  of  1503,  186  ; 
of  1504,  188,  200  note  1;  of  1507, 
190;  answer  to  Kiisebrot,  190,  191, 
20lnote  1  ;  document  of  1525,  237, 
appendix,650;  of  1532,244, 245  and 
note  10  and  1 1 ;  of  1535  presented 
to  Ferdinand,  247,  248;  trans- 
lated into  German,  249;  confes- 
sion and  apologv  edited  by 
Luther,  253  ?io^e  21  and  22,  254; 
Polish  confession,  337  and  note  1 1 ; 
confession  presented  to  ]\Iaxi- 
milian,  363,  364 ;  the  Wittenberg 
confessiim  of  1573,  372,  373  and 
note  37,  374,  375,  376 ;  Bohemian 
confession,  379  and  notes  46  and 
47 ;  table  of  confessions,  appen- 
dix B. 
Confession,  Bohemian,   379   and  notes 

46  and  47. 
Confessio,  Helvetica,  347  and  note  16. 
Confessio,  Saxonica,   352  and  note  21. 
Confirmation,  defined  by  U.  F.,  204 ; 

how  conducted,  219,  220. 
Confiscations,  of  Protestant  projierty, 

530,  540,  541, 
Congregutio,  de  propaganda  fide,  1 34 

note  2. 
ConJieniors,  vide  Assistant  Bishops. 
Consensus,  Sendomiriensis,   351,  352, 
354-357;     opposed,     442;     pub- 
lished, 443 ;  opposed  by   Luther- 


ans, 443;  ratified  by  synod  of 
Thorn,  447  ;  Lutherans  withdraw 
from,  455,  456. 
Cbnsignatio,  supplementary  to  the 
Consensus  Sendomiriensis,  353  and 
note  22. 
Consistory,  Protestant,  organized  465 ; 

broken  up,  536. 
Constance,  city,  59. 
Constance,  bishop  of,  64. 
Constance,  council  of,  56,  59,  63. 
Constantinople,  patriarch  of,  453,  455 

and  note  4. 
Constitution,  of  U.  F.,  213-218. 
Convention,  Protestant,  of  1618,  488, 

489,  490. 
Corvin,  or  Corvinns,   John,    in  Pro- 
testant consistory,  465 ;    preaches 
at  coronation  of  Queen  Elizabeth, 
500;  banished,  551. 
Cossacks,  revolt,  589. 
Council,   of   Basle,  88,   89,   Hussite 

deputies  present,  89. 
Council,  of  Constance,  vide  Constance, 

council  of. 

Council,  of  Pisa,  37,  39. 

Council,  of  Trent,  279  and  note  23 ; 

broken  up,  308;  leaves  question 

of  the  cup  to  the  pope,  360  note  3. 

Council  Executive,  vide  Bishops  and 

Y.]cecutive  Council. 
Court   of  Judges,^  to   try  Protestant 

leaders,  606;  its  sentence,  507. 
Cracow,  283 ;  university  founded,  ib. 
Crato,  John,  biography,  363 ;  advises 
Brethren  to  dedicate  hymnal  to 
Maximilian,  365  ;  advocates  their 
cause,      366  ;    advises      them  _  to 
adopt  Augustana,   369;  criticises 
confession,  376. 
Crell,^  Paul,  344. 
Cruciger,    Caspar,    conference    with 

Augusta,  251. 
Cruciger,  Felix,  289  and  note  18, 290 ; 
invites  Brethren  to  a  synod,  292, 
293;  at  synod  of  Kozminek,  294; 
meeting    with    Israel,  296,  297 ; 
writes  to  executive  council,  299. 
Cruciger,  John,  bishop,  472. 
Cujavia,  Reformed  of,  union  with  JI. 

F.,  560.     Vide  Kujavia. 
Cujavia,  Bishop   of,  opposes  U.    F., 

445,  446. 
Cup,  freedom  of,  in  Lord's  Supper, 
32,  81,  84 ;  granted  to  Bohemians, 
360   and   not£    3 ;  images    of  de- 
stroyed, 535;  colossal  cup  taken 


mQ 


INDEX. 


from  Thein  church,  ib. 

Ciirtin,  Laurence,  burned,  537. 

L'yklowsky,  George,  biography,  307 
note  14;  visits  churches,  307. 

Cyrill,  John,  in  Protestant  consis- 
tory, 465 ;  bishop,  480 ;  incumbent 
of  Bethlehem  chapel,  ih. ;  crowns 
Frederick,  500 ;  banished,  551 ; 
secret  meeting  with  colleagues, 
554 ;  emigrates,  555 ;  arrives  at 
Lissa,  562 ;  death,  567,  568  and 
note  23. 

Chirill  Paul,  in  England,  600. 

Cyrill  and  Methodius,  early  history, 
8 ;  bring  gospel  to  Moravia,  9 ; 
cited  to  Eome,  10 ;  death  of 
Cyrill,  ib. ;  Methodius  archbishop, 
1 1 ;  cited  to  Rome  again,  1 2 ; 
death,  ib. 

Oyrilitza,  9  note  1. 

Cyrus,  Matthias,  in  Protestant  con- 
sistory, 465 ;  bishop,  474 ;  death, 
480. 

CzarniecM,  general,  594. 

Czarnkowski,  bishop,  persecutes  U. 
F.,  289. 

Czechs,  migrate  to  Bohemia,  6 ; 
habits,  ib. ;  government,  7  ;  tem- 
ples and  mythology,  ib. 

Czerny,  John,  biography,  303  note  5  ; 
preacher  at  Prague,  263 ;  his 
opinion  of  TJtraquists,  269 ;  at 
synod  of  Kozminek,  294  ;  begins 
the  Lissa  Folios,  302  note  2 ;  as- 
sistant bishop,  303  and  7iote  6 ; 
Augusta's  vicar,  306 ;  convenes 
council  at  Jungbunzlau,  309 ; 
bishop,  311;  prepares  new 
hymnal,  313;  corresponds  with 
Duke  Albert  and  Illyricus,  313  ; 
reproved  by  Augusta,  315 ;  bishop 
of  Bohemian  province,  318;  chief 
judge,  320 ;  death,  360  and  note 
25. 

D. 

D'Ailly,  Peter,  30. 

Daniel,  a  Waldensian,  visits  Breth- 
ren, 255. 

Datschitz,  parish,  224. 

David,  Christian,  biography,  644 ; 
visits  Moravia,  645  ;  brings  Zin- 
zendorf's  invitation  to  the  Neis- 
sers,  ib. ;  leads  first  refugees  to 
Saxony,  646. 

Day  of  Blood,  at  Prague,  503-53 1 . 


Day  of  the  Lord,  how  kept  bv  U.  F., 
218. 

Deacons,  duties  and  ordination  of, 
212,  213. 

Defenders,  of  Protestant  church, 
ajapointed,  380,  462,  465 ;  appeal 
to  Matthias,  482 ;  call  a  conven- 
tion, 488;  decline  to  prevent  its 
meeting,  489 ;  issue  an  account  of 
their  conflict  with  the  regents, 
490. 

Defenestration,  at  Prague,  493-496. 

De  Regulis  Vet.  et  Nov.  Test.,  Janow's 
work,  25  and  note  3. 

Des  Marets,  professor,  traduces  Co- 
menius,  615. 

Didactic,  the  Great,  work  by  Come- 
neius,  576  and  note  8,  614. 

Diet  Bohemian,  79 ;  decrees  against 
U.  F.,  157, 164 ;  reorganizes  TJtra- 
quists consistory,  167 ;  brings 
about  general  pacification,  168; 
negotiations  between  its  Utraquist 
and  Catholic  members,  185 ;  edict 
of  St.  James,  19 1 ;  edict  renewed, 
193;  recommends  union  of  Utra- 
quists  and  Catholics,  237 ;  pe- 
titions Ferdinand  for  release 
of  Augusta,  308 ;  constitution 
in  time  of  Ferdinand,  359  and 
note  1,  360 ;  abrogates  Com- 
pactata,  365;  Lutheran  members 
ask  that  Augustana  may  be  recog- 
nized, 369  ;  important  meeting  of 
in  1575,  378,  379,  380;  meeting 
of  in  1603,  440,  441  ;  meeting  of 
in  1608,  458;  demands  religious 
liberty,  459 ;  regulates  affairs  of 
the  Protestant  church  in  1609, 
463;  meeting  of  in  1611,  470; 
elects  Frederick  king,  500 ;  abject 
submission  to  Ferdinand  II,  545, 
546. 

Diet  Moravian,  refuses  to  persecute 
U.  F.,192;  resists  Ferdinand  in 
his  persecutions,  304,  305  ;  exacts 
pledges  from  Rudolph,  383;  de- 
clares against  Rudolph, 457,  458; 
I'oins  the  Bohemian  revolution, 
499. 

Diet,  Polish,  calls  a  national  council, 
293 ;  induces  the  King  to  grant 
religious  liberty,  298 ;  brings 
about  union  of  Lithuania  with 
Poland  ;  345 ;  adopts  the  pacta 
conventa,  390  ;  petition  of  Prot 
I        estants  presented  to,  631. 


INDEX. 


667 


Diefmar,  bishop  15. 

Diefrichstein,  cardinal,  552. 

Dikastm,  George,  administrator, 
crowns  Frederick,  500. 

D'lonysius,  Nicholas,  at  the  gallows, 
529. 

Directors,  Protestant,  and  Leaders  of 
Revolution,  appointed,  49(i ;  their 
decrees,  497  ;  carry  on  war  against 
Ferdinand,  499 ;  cause  Frederick 
to  be  elected  King,  500 ;  arrested, 
505  ;  names  of  fugitives  affixed  to 
the  gallows,  506 ;  condemned, 
507  ;  sentence  read  to  them,  ih. ; 
their  heroism,  508:  prepare  for 
execution,  509 ;  their  constancy, 
510,  511;  narrative  of  their  last 
hours  published,  510  and  note  10; 
execution,  51 1-529  ;  property  con- 
fiscated, 630. 

Discipline,  of  U.  F.,  222;  Luther's 
views  on,  236,  250,  251 ;  Bucers' 
views  on,  257  ;  Calvin's,  25B,  259 
note  4 ;  urged  on  Luther,  259 ; 
discussed  at  svnods,  378. 

Doctrines,  of  U.  F.,  201-206,  and 
notes  6  and  7,  254  and  note  23 . 
373-375. 

Dolansky,  Matthias,  imprisoned,  160. 

Domausky,  Henry,,  presents  confes- 
sion to  ferdinand,  247,  248. 

Dominicans,  in  Anti-Reformation, 
543. 

Domincan  Monastery,  at  Prague,  62, 
63  note  18. 

Drabik,  Nicholas,  in  Hungary,  565  ; 
false  prophet,  589,  590;  constrains 
Comenius  to  publish  his  prophe- 
cies, 614;  examined  by  Hunga- 
rian ministers  and  execution,  615 
and  note  16. 

Drahontira,  duchess,  13. 

Drewinek.  Galliis,  delegate  to  Golu- 
chow,  331 ;  biography,  331  note  1. 

Didya,  Charles  v.,  regent,  486. 

Duba,  Wenzel  v.,  58. 

Diiba,  Zbynck,  archbishop,  438. 

Dubcansky,  John.,  238 ;  imprisoned, 
255. 

Dnbravius,  John,  bishop,  asks  for 
Augusta's  release,  308. 

Duchek,  synod  at  his  house,  132. 

Diulek,  Severin,  desecrates  graves, 
549. 

Dury,  John,  labors  for  union  of  Prot- 
estants, 571  and  note  32. 

Dworzecky,  Procop,  execution,  519-20. 


E. 

Eber,  Paul,  344. 

Edicts,  against  U.  F.,  116,  118,  120, 
191,  192,  267,  280,  281,  304. 

Edict  of  Restitution,  566. 

Edict  of  Toleration,  556  and  note  17  ; 
appendix  A. 

Efronius,  John,  in  Hungary,  565. 

Eibenschiitz,  parish,  224 ;  college  at, 
413,  414;  ordered  to  be  closed, 
418  ;  theological  seminary  at,  ib.  ; 
college  closed  again,  550. 

Eichener,  Balthasar,  353. 

Elbing,  residence  of  Comenius  at, 
581,  584.^ 

Elbogen,  reform  at,  233. 

Elders,  of  U.  F.,  the  first,  prior  to 
institution  of  ministry,  109  ;  their 
names,  109,  110  ;  office,  male  and 
female,  after  institution  of  min- 
istry, 216. 

Elenora,  of  Mantua,  second  wife  of 
Ferdinand  II,  540. 

Elias,  of  Chrenovic,  one  of  the  first 
ministers,  134  ;  ordained,  137  ; 
reordained,  153;  member  of  coun- 
cil, 153;  brings  letter  to  exiles  in 
Moldavia,  171 ;  l)ishop,  181  ;  death 
and  character,  198  and  note  13. 

Elizabeth,  ivife  of  Frederick  of  the 
Palatinate,  induces  him  to  accept 
Bohemian  crown,  500  ;  is  crowned 
queen,  ib. 

Emigrations,  from  Bohemia  and 
Moravia,  546,  547 ;  of  the  Breth- 
ren, 555  and  note  14 ;  620. 

Emmaus,  convent  of,  19. 

Endowments,  provincial,  in  Bohemia 
and  Moravia,  declined,  471  and 
note  9  ;  of  single  churches,  ib.  ; 
provincial  in  Poland,  477  and  note 
22. 

Enoch,  John,  at  synod  of  Cracow, 
390 ;  renegade  from  U.  F.,  442 ; 
resigns  pastorate  at  Posen,  443. 

Ephraim,  John,  bishop,  420;  mem- 
ber of  Bible  committee,  424 ; 
judge  for  Bohemia  and  Moravia, 
433 ;  death  and  character,  435. 

Episcopacy,  introduced,  1 38 ;  re- 
ceived from  Moravian  Waldenses, 
141,  142;  authorities  for  narra- 
tive, 142-147  ;  credibility,  147- 
151;  Matthias  consecrated,  153; 
Thomas  and  Elias,  181 ;  Luke  ot 
Prague    and    Ambrose    of  Skuc, 


668 


INDEX 


182;  assistant  bishops  appointed, 
198,  199;  Skoda,  229;  Bily,  Cik- 
lowsky,  and  Roh,  242 ;  Augusta, 
Baworinsky  and  Veit,  2-13 ;  Mich- 
alek  and  Siousky,  254 ;  Czerny 
and  Cerwenka,  irregular  ordina- 
tion, 311;  Israel  and  Blahoslaw, 
318 ;  Stephan,  Kalef  and  Lorenz, 
regular  succession  renewed,  370 ; 
Zacahrias  and  Aeneas,393 ;  Abdias 
and  Turnovius,  418;  Ephraim 
and  Jessen,  420 ;  Narcissus  and 
Nemcansky  J.,  433  ;  Susicky  and 
Ariston,  435 ;  Lanetius  and  Nem- 
cansky B  ,  435  ;  Cruciger,  472 ; 
Eybinius  M.,  473;  Gertich,  Mar- 
tin Gratian,  ib. ;  Koneczny,  474 ; 
Cyrus,  ib.  ;  Erastus,  ib.  ;  Turno- 
vius, J.,  16. ;  Cyrill,  480  ;  Miko- 
lajewski,  560;  Paliurus,  565  ;  Jus- 
tinus,  Prokop,  Comenius,  Fabri- 
cius,  568 ;  Orminius  and  Rybin- 
ski,  569;  Gertich  Martin  and 
Bythner,  582 ;  Gertich  Nicholas 
and  Figulus,  609,  610,  613;  Hart- 
mann,  622 ;  Zugehor,  623 ;  Jiilich, 
624;  Jablonsky  D.  E.  and  Jaco- 
bides,  625 ;  Opitz  and  Cassius,  D., 
629;  table  of  bishops  1467-1735, 
appendix,  654-658 ;  the  bishops 
subsequent  to  Cassius,  633  no<e  29; 
the  bishops  or  seniors  of  the 
Unitatsgemeinden,  633,  634. 

Erasmus,  of  Rotterdam,  67  ;  relation 
to  U.  F.,  229  ;  letter  about  U.  F., 
230  ;  visited  by  deputies  of  U.  F., 
230,  231  note  7  ;  declines  to  give 
a  testimonial,  230;  refers  to  U. 
F.  in  introduction  to  his  Greek 
Testament,  230,  231. 

Erastus,  Oregory,  bishop,  474 ;  ban- 
ished, 55 1  ;  at  secret  meeting  of 
bishops,  554  ;  reaches  Lissa,  562  ; 
president  of  council,568;  death  258. 

Essentlalia,  asunder  stood  by  U.F.,20 1 

Exiles  Bohemian  and  impoverished 
Brethren,  569 ;  collections  for  in 
Switzerland,  570 ;  seek  work  in 
Lithuania  and  Little  Poland,  ib.  ; 
banished  from  Saxony,  571 ;  gain 
positions  throughout  Europe,  589 ; 
collections  for  in  England,  600, 
601  and  note  13,  629,  630. 

Extreme  Unction,  as  defined  by  U. 
F.,  204. 

Eywaiiowitz,  parish,  224. 


Fab"icius,  Philip,  thrown  out  of 
window  of  Hradschin,  493 ;  es- 
capes to  Vienna,  494 ;  created  a 
baron,  494  and  note  2. 

Fabricius,  Pmd,  banished,  551  ;  at 
Lissa,  564 ;  bishop  and  biography, 
568  and  note  24. 

Faith,  the  three  categories  of,  202 
and  note  3. 

Fasting,  vide  Fast  and  Prayer  Days. 

Fast  and  Prayer  Days,  how  observed 
in  U.  F.,  221,  222,  375. 

Felin,  John,  at  Lissa,  564,  565  note 
18 ;  delegate  to  colloquium  at 
Thorn,  582 ;  reports  on  examina- 
tion of  Drabik,  615  7iote  16. 

Fels,  Colonna  v.,  opposes  election  of 
Ferdinand  II,  485  ;  plots  against 
regents,  491. 

Ferdinand  I,  elected  king,  240; 
crowned,  241 ;  policy,  ib.  ;  perse- 
cutes U.  F.,  246,  247  ;  hindered 
in  his  persecutions,  262,  263 ;  in 
Smalcald  war,  264  ;  how  he  treats 
members  of  the  league,  265 ;  re- 
news edict  of  St.  James,  267 ; 
another  edict  against  U.  F.,  268 ; 
personal  animosity  against  Au- 
gusta, 270,  271,  274;  suggests 
modes  of  torture,  275 ;  banishes 
the  Brethren,  280,  281  ;  urges 
union  of  Utraquists  and  Catho- 
lics, 304 ;  new  decrees  against 
Brethren,  304;  apposed  by  Mo- 
ravian diet,  304,  305 ;  refuses  to 
liberate  Augusta,  308 ;  receives 
memorial  from  the  nobles  of  U. 
F.,  312;  introduces  the  Jesuits 
into  Bohemia,  316;  continues  to 
be  a  foe  of  U.  F.,  317  ;  emperor, 
319,  320  ;  demands  Augusta's  re- 
cantation, 322 ;  liberates  Augusta, 
330  ;  death  and  career,  ib. 

Ferdinand  II,  birth  and  character, 
484 ;  elected  king,  485 ;  his  pub- 
lic and  secret  oaths,  ib.  and  note  7 ; 
ascends  throne,  498 ;  deliverance 
when  shut  up  in  Vienna,  499  ;  at 
Frankfort  elected  emperor,  500; 
measures  against  Frederick  the 
rival  king,  501  ;  signs  sentence  of 
death  against  Protestant  leaders, 
507 ;  his  anti-reformation,  532, 
533  ;  his  advisers  in  anti-reforma- 
tion,   535;    confiscates   Protestant 


INDEX. 


669 


property,  540,  541  ;  new  edicts 
against  Protestants,  541 ;  against 
Protestant  clergy,  542 ;  depre- 
ciates the  currency,  ib. ;  procla- 
mation of  1627,  545;  arbitrary 
deliverance  to  diet,  545,  546 ; 
death,  584  and  note  22. 

Ferdinand  HI,  585,  619. 

Ferdinand,  archduke,  regent  of  Bo- 
hemia, 268;  banishes  Brethren, 
280  ;  receives  a  memorial  from 
Krajek,  311;  at  Purglitz,  320; 
brings  his  wife  to  Priiglitz,  322 ; 
receives  Augusta's  petition,  ib.  ; 
grants  him  the  freedom  of  the 
castle  at  Easter,  323  ;  sends  him 
to  Prague,  325 ;  orders  him  back 
to  Purglitz,  330 ;  banishes  Breth- 
ren from  Pardubitz,  364. 

Fida,  widow  at  Constance,  58,  61. 

Figulus,  Peter,  biography  and  bishop, 
610  and  note  8  ;  at  Nassenhuben, 
and  Memel,  613;  death,  622. 

Ilacius,  lUyricus,  writes  Magdeburg 
Centuries,  144;  disputes  with 
Blahoslaw,  145 ;  writes  to  execu- 
tion council,  313;  visited  by  Bla- 
hoslaw, 314 ;  enemy  of  U.  F.,  314, 
320. 

Flagellants,  283. 

Franciscans,  in  anti-reformation,  543. 

Franciscan  monastery, at  Prague,65,69. 

Frankfort,  scholarships  at  university 
for  the  benefit  of  U.  F.,  623. 

Fratres  Legis  Christi,  vide  Unitas 
Fratrum. 

Fratricelli,  283. 

Frederick  Augustus,  elector,  king  of 
Poland,  627;  deprived  of  crown, 
627,  640 ;  reassumes  it  628  ;  feud 
with  Polish  nobles,  629,  630. 

Frederick  I,  of  Prussia,  favors  U.  F., 
626 ;  intercedes  for  Lissa,  627  ; 
forces  the  bishop  of  Posen  to 
allow  church  at  Lissa  to  be  re- 
built, 632. 

Frederick  III,  of  the  Palatinate,  urges 
Maximilian  to  declare  for  Protest- 
tantism,  362 ;  connection  with  the 
Brethren,  383. 

Frederick  V,  of  the  Palatinate,  king 
of  Bohemia,  500 ;  crowned  and 
his  proclamations,  ib. ;  character 
and  policy,  501  ;  defeated  at 
White  mountain,  501,  502;  flees 
to  Holland,  502. 

Frederick    William   III,   establishes 


the  Evangelical  Union  of  Prussia, 

633. 
Freistadt,  church  of  grace,  640. 
Fruwein,  Martin,   imprisonment  and 

death,  529, 
Fulneck,  parish,   244 ;  house  of  Co- 

menius    at,     480    and    note    28 ; 

sacked,    549 ;    centre    of  hidden 

seed,  637,  642. 
Funerals,   how  conducted  in  U.  F., 

221. 
Funk,  John,  court-preacher,  294. 

G. 

Oabriel,  imprisoned,  269,  270. 
Gallus,     priest,    opposes    Luke    of 

Prague,  182. 
Ganse,  parish,  286. 
Greer,  Lawrence  de,  gives  Comenius  a 

home  at  Amsterdam,  595  ;  assists 

impoverished  Brethren,  600. 
Geer,  Lewis  de,  patron  of  Camenius, 

580 ;  censures  him,  584. 
Geer,  Stephen  de,  assists  impoverished 

Brethren,  600. 
Geletzky,    John,    compiles     German 

hymnal,  399  ;  biography  ib.  note 

8. 
Gonhicki,  Jacob,  unites  with  U.  F., 

560. 
Genesen,   bishop   of,  opposes   U.    F., 

445. 
George  I,  of  England,  letters  patent 

in  aid  of  U.  F.,  630. 
George,  of  Fiinfkivchen,  arrested,  116  ; 

recants,  118. 
George,  John,  biography  294  note  4 ; 

sent  to  Ferdinand,   268 ;  at  Koz- 

minek,  294  ;  translates  catechism, 

407,  408. 
George,  of  Sussic,  arrested,   116;  re- 
cants, 118. 
Geranus,    Jacob,    rector    of    Jesuit 

college.  438. 
Gerike,    Paul,  apposes  U.    F.,    442, 

443 ;    excommunicated  by  synod 

of    Thorn,  448;    defies  Gliczner, 

ib.;  resigns,  ib. 
Gersdorf,  baron  v.,  regent,  486. 
Gerson,  John,  30. 

Gertich,  Martin,  bishop  and  biogra- 
phy,  582    and   note  20 ;    flees   to 

Silesia,  595  ;  death,  599. 
Gertich,  Martin  Gratian,  bishop  and 

biography,    473    and   note  14;  at 


670 


INDEX. 


Lissa,  562 ;  president  of  council, 
lb. ;  death,  565. 

Gertich,  Nicholas,  assistant  bisiiop, 
600;  biography  and  bishop,  609 
and  note  7,  613;  at  Brieg  and 
Liegnitz,  613;  death,  622. 

Gideon,  archdeacon,  at  Vilna,  451. 

Gilgenburg,  parish,  286. 

Gilovius,    Paul,  at   Sendomir,    345, 

346,  349  ;  suggests  Protestant  con- 
vention, 392. 

Gisbitsky,  Wenzel,  execution,  528. 

Glatz,  exiles  at,  282. 

Gliczner,  Erasmus,  Lutheran  super- 
intendent in  Poland,  343  ;  at  Sen- 
domir, 345,  348,  351,  352;  at 
Posen,  352,  353,  390;  suggests 
Protestant  convention,  392 ; 
breach  with  Turnovius,  446  ;  pres- 
ident of  synod  at  Thorn,  447  ;  de- 
poses Luperian  and  Gerike,  448  ; 
true  to  Consensus  Sendomiriensis, 
lb. ;  at  council  of  Vilna,  450-465 ; 
death,  455. 

Gliczner,  Nicholas,  at  Sendomir,  345, 

347,  348,  351  ;  at  Posen,  352,  353. 
Glogau,  church  of  grace  at,  640. 
Goble,  Charles,  bishop  of  Unitatsge- 

meinden,  634. 

Goll,  Jaroslav,  on  the  episcopacy  of 
U.  F.,  149,  150,   151  and  note  20. 

Golynski,  Bernhard,  Jesuit,  influ- 
ences king  of  Poland,  444. 

Gorka,  Andrew,  governor  of  Great 
Poland  284 ;  death,  288. 

Gorka,  Luke,  governor  of  Great 
Poland,  839. 

Gottlieben,  castle,  64,  65  note  21. 

Grabsch  and  Gruhl.  exploratory  tour 
in  Moldavia,  in  search  of  rem- 
nant of  the  Brethren,  171  note  17. 

Grace,  time  of,  defined  by  U.  F., 
252,  375. 

Greek  church,  influence  of  in  evan- 
gelizing Bohemia,  10;  proposed 
union  with  it  of  Bohemian 
church,  92,  93;  in  Poland,  449 
and  note  1 ;  Polish  convocation  of, 
450. 

Gregor,  of  Wotic,  treatise  on  civil 
power,  173. 

Gregory ^  VII,  pope,  15;  letter  to 
Wratislaw,  16. 

Gregory  XII,  pope,  39. 

Gregory,  the  patriarch,  biography, 
98.  99,  note  5  ;  goes  to  Kunwald, 
107  ;  stands  at  head  of  the  Breth- 


ren, ib.;  visits  the  Taborites, 
113;  arrested  and  tortured,  116, 
117;  his  dream,  117,  118;  liber- 
ated, 118;  elected  one  of  the 
chief  elders,  127;  at  synod  of 
Lhota,  133;  his  address,  134; 
memlier  of  council,  153,  155 ;  in 
time  of  the  second  persecution, 
160;  death  and  character,  165, 
166;  literary  works,  165  note&; 
extreme  views,  172,  173;  his 
writings  no  longer  authoritative, 
178. 

Gi-udzinski,  Peter,  at  Kozminek,  294. 

Gustavus,  Adolphus,  takes  jjart  in 
Thirty  Years'  War,  666 ;  death, 
667. 

Gymnasium  Rosarium,  660  and  note 
6. 

Gyrek,  vide  George  John. 

H. 

Habrowanites,  238 ;  conference  and 
dispute  with  U.  F.,  255 ;  join 
Anabaptists,  ib. 

Haid,  parish,  224. 

Halar,  George,  arrested,  166. 

Hanke,  Samuel  David,  bishop  of 
Unitatsgemeinden,  633. 

Harant,  Christopher,  execution,  617. 

Hardegg,  counts,  feud  with  U.  F., 
365  and  note  14. 

Harrach,  Ernst  v.,  archbishop,  urges 
severe  measures  against  Protest- 
ants, 541. 

Hartlib,  Samuel,  576  and  note  7; 
publishes  letter  of  Comenius, 
578  ;  induces  parliament  to  invite 
Comenius  to  England,  579'. 

Hartmann,  Adam,  banished,  551  ;  at 
Thorn,  565 ;  in  council,  568 ;  lit- 
erary works,  ib.;  in  Lithuania, 
568  note  25. 

Hartmann,  Adam  Samuel,  rector  of 
Lissa  college,  598  and  note  6; 
visits  England  to  collect  money 
for  the  Brethren,  600;  bishop 
and  biography,  622 ;  secures 
scholarships  from  Elector  of  Bran- 
denburg, 623  ;  visits  England  and 
receives  degree  from  University 
of  Oxford,  624  and  note  7 ;  con- 
sults with  Anglican  bishops  re- 
specting a  bishop  of  the  U.  F.  in 
England,  624 ;  death,  ib. 

Hartmann,  Paul,  in  England,  624. 


INDEX. 


671 


Hauenschild,  George,  in  prison  and 
execution,  508,  528. 

Hauska,  Martin,  87. 

Harvard  college,  Comenius  asked  to 
be  president  of,  580  and  note  18. 

Hedericus,  doctor,  writes  against  U. 
F.,  417  and  note  3. 

Hedio,  Caspar,  visited  by  Cerwenka, 
256. 

Hedwig,  queen  of  Poland,  favors 
Hussites,  283. 

Heidenreich,  vide  Hedericus. 

Heidelberg,  university  of,  scholar- 
ships for  U.  F.,  623. 

Heiersdorf,  synod  at,  628. 

Helic,  Luke,  member  of  Bible  com- 
mittee, 424. 

Henry,  of  Valois,  king  of  Poland, 
390;  coronation  and  flight,  391. 

Henry  IV,  emperor,  15. 

Herbek,  John,  martyrdom,  187. 

Herbert  Peter,  biography,  333  note 
4 ;  in  Wiirtemberg,  333 ;  visits 
Reformed  divines  in  Switzerland, 
334,  335,  336;  draws  up  confes- 
sion of  1564,  363  ;  accompanies 
deputation  to  Vienna,  363 ;  death, 
372  note  35 ;  compiles  German 
hymnal,  399. 

Herbst,  Benedict,  writes  against  U. 
F.,  339. 

Herder,  what  he  says  of  hymnology 
of  U.  F.,  403. 

Hermanitz,  awakening  at,  640. 

Hermon,  Urban,  leads  exiled  Breth- 
ren, 281. 

Hertunch,  John,  ministers  to  the  con- 
demned Protestant  leaders  at 
Prague,  508. 

Hidden  Seed,  in  Bohemia  and  Mo- 
ravia, 619,  620,  635-646;  in 
Bohemia,  636,  637 ;  in  Moravia, 
637,  638 ;  signs  of  new  life,  638  ; 
awakening  in  Bohemia,  640  ;  per- 
secuted, ib. 

Hirschberg,  church  of  grace  at,  640 

History  of  Persecutions,  534  note  31 ; 
568,  569. 

Hohenmauth,  council  of,  writes  to 
executive  council,  164 ;  parish, 
223. 

Holy,  Wenzel,  member  of  council, 
305  and  note  11. 

Holyk,  work  on  Anti-Reformation, 
585  note  3  ;  describes  secret  meet- 
ings of  Protestants,  620  note  23. 

Horaszdowic,  convent  of,  549. 


Horn,  secret  meeting  of  bishops  at 
his  house,  554. 

Horn,  John,  deputy  to  Luther,  233 ; 
bishop  and  biography,  242  ;  pres- 
ident of  council,  ib.;  draws  up 
confession  of  1532  and  1535,  246, 
247 ;  death  and  character,  265 
and  note  1  ;  republishes  first 
hymnal,  394 ;  reviews  German 
hymnal  of  Weiss,  396. 

Hosius,  Stanislaus,  cardinal,  intro- 
duces Jesuits  into  Poland,  392. 

Hostialek,  Maximilian,  execution, 
526. 

Hostowin,  Jesuit  in  Bohemia,  416. 

Hradesin  William  v ,  takes  Augusta 
to  Prague,  325. 

Hradicky,  John,  in  Hungary,  565 
and  note  1 8. 

Hradschin,  royal  castle,  vide  Prague. 

Hranicky,  Daniel,  assistant  bishop, 
199,  303;  death,  310. 

Hranowitz,  Bartholomew,  martyrdom, 
187. 

Hronow,  Paul,  Zerotin's  chaplain, 
553. 

Huerta,  Martin  v.,  persecutes  Prot- 
estants, 543. 

Hulava,  Jacob,  martyrdom,  160. 

Hungary,  exiled  Brethren  in,  560, 
564. 

Hus,  John,  birth,  education  and 
character,  28,  29 ;  professor,  29 ; 
theological  tendency.  31,  32 ;  in- 
cumbent of  Bethlehem  chapel, 
33  ;  pastor  and  preacher,  34 ;  his 
postil,  34  note  2 ;  synodical 
preacher,  35 ;  first  reformatory 
acts,  35,  36 ;  first  opposition  to, 
37;  denounces  indulgences,  40; 
excommunicated,  43 ;  retires  from 
Prague,  44 ;  his  writings,  45,  46  ; 
doctrinal  views  on  Holy  Scrip- 
tures, 46,  47  ;  on  man's  natural 
state,  48;  on  predestination,  i6., • 
on  faith,  49;  on  the  church,  60; 
on  the  word  of  God,  51,  52 ;  on 
the  sacraments,  52 ;  on  the  vir- 
gin Mary,  ib. ;  on  purgatory,  53  ; 
on  obedience,  ib.;  invited  to 
council  of  Constance,  56;  Sigis- 
mund's  promises,  56  and  note  2 ; 
journey  to  Constance,  57,  58  ;  safe- 
conduct,  59,  60;  arrested,  61,  62; 
imprisoned  in  Dominican  mon- 
astery, 62  ;  in  castle  Gottlieben; 
64  ;  in  Franciscan  monastery,  65  , 


672 


INDEX. 


first  hearinj;  before  Council,  66  ; 
second  and  third  hearing,  66,  67  ; 
letters,  69  and  note  3  ;  degrada- 
tion and  condemnation,  71,  72,  73, 
74,  75 ;  execution,  76,  77 ;  his 
true  followers,  99. 

JHusita,  John,  member  of  council, 
305  and  note  1 1  ;  visits  Polish  and 
Prussian  churches,  307. 

Hussita,  Wenzel,  priest,  301. 

Hussites,  vide  CaUztines  and  Tabor- 
ites. 

Hussite  League,  80. 

Hymn,  sung  at  Lhota,  135,  136. 

Hymn  of  exiles,  555  and  note  13. 

Hymnology  of  U.  F.,  first  hymnal, 
226,  394 ;  new  hymnals  resolved 
on,  313,  398  ;  German  hymnal  of 
1566,  365  and  note  13,  399-401  , 
history  of  hymnology,  394-405  ; 
first  German  hymnal,  394,  395  ; 
Horn's  edition,  396,  397 ;  first 
Polish  hymnal,  397 ;  its  revi- 
sion, 401 ;  hymnology  of  the 
renewed  tl.  F.,  402  note  11; 
hymnals  republished  by  Come- 
nius,  601,  602. 


Iglau,  town,  91. 

Imperialists,  their  outrages  at  Prague 
and  elsewhere,  503,  504. 

Indulgences,  sale  of,  40. 

Innocent  X,  pope,  581. 

Institoris,  Henry,  tries  to  convert  the 
Brethren,  183  and  note  8  ;  collo- 
quy at  Olmiitz  183. 

Irish  rebellion,  580. 

Isaac,  abbot,  at  Vilna,  451. 

Israel,  George,  biography,  278  note 
21;  visits  Luther,  251,  259;  im- 
prisoned, 278 ;  escapes,  ib.  ;  joins 
exiled  Brethren,  284;  in  East 
Prussia,  286 ;  labors  in  Po- 
land, 287;  on  the  ice  at  Thorn, 
287,  288;  further  labors  in  Po- 
land, 288-291;  at  Cracow,  292; 
at  Reformed  synod,  293 ;  at  Koz- 
minek,  294 ;  goes  to  Little  Po- 
land, 296,  297 ;  interview  with 
Laski,  297  ;  with  Vergerius,  298  ; 
bishop,  318  ;  chief  judge,  320  ;  at 
Goluchow,  331 ;  colloquy  with 
Antitrinitarians,  338 ;  at  synod 
of  Posen  in  1567,  343  ;  at  synod 
of  Posen  in  1570,  352 ;  at  synod 


of  Cracow  in  1573,  390;  edits 
Polish  hvmnal,  397 ;  in  old  age, 
418;  death,  419. 
Ivan,  czar,  receives  embassy  of 
iSigismund  of  Poland,  387 ;  in- 
terview with  Rokita,  387,  388, 
389. 

J. 

Jablonsky,  Daniel  Ernst,  his  de  or- 
dine  et  successione  episcopali,  609 
note  6,  630 ;  bishop  and  biogra- 
phy, 625 ;  consults  I)r.  Grabe 
about  his  consecration,  626  ;  head 
of  the  remnant  of  U.  F.,  626, 
627  ;  labors  for  union  of  Luther- 
ans and  Reformed,  625,  626  note 
10 ;  connecting  link  between 
episcopacy  of  the  ancient  and  re- 
newed U.  F.,  627  and  note  14; 
publishes  work  on  the  rights  of 
the  Protestants,  628  and  note  16; 
at  synod  of  Thorn,  629  ;  corre- 
spondence with  archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  629,  630;  letter  to 
Zinzendorf  about  the  episcopacy, 
630. 

Jablonsky,  Peter,  vide  Figxdus  Peter. 

Jacob,  member  of  council,  433. 

Jacob,  of  Turnau,  at  colloquy  of 
1504,  180. 

Jacob  of  Wodnan,  opposes  liberal 
party  in  U.  F.,  175;  causes  a 
schism,  178. 

Jacobellus,  of  Mies,  32  and  note  3,  85. 

Jacobides,  John,  bishop,  625;  super- 
intends churches,  627  ;  death, 
629. 

Jacobides,  John,  martyrdom,  595. 

Jaeschke,  George,  witness  in  time  of 
hidden  seed,  641,  642 ;  his  dying 
prophecy,  643. 

Jaeschke,  Michael,  at  his  father's 
death-bed,  643;  flees  from  Mo- 
ravia, 646. 

Jaffet,  John,  assistant  bishop  and 
author,  146  ;  reply  to  Sturm,  147. 

Jakesh,  Veit,  ministers  to  condemned 
Protestant  leaders,  508. 

Jakesh,  Wenzel,  tortured,  537. 

James  St.,  edict  of,  191,  192;  re- 
newed, 267. 

James  I,  of  England,  refuses  to  help 
Frederick,  500. 

Jamnici,  opprobrious  name  given 
the  Brethren,  120  note  21. 


INDEX. 


G73 


Jankoivshi,  Luke,  joins  IT.  F.,  288. 
Janow,  Matthias  v.,  25,  26. 
Janowic,   baroiis  v.,  imprisoned,  247. 
Janowic,  regent,  486. 

Janua  Linguarum,  work  by  Come- 
nius,  576,  577  and  note  9. 

Japhet,  John,  remains  burned,  549. 

Jaromir,  parish,  223. 

Jauer,  church  of  grace  at,  640. 

Jednota,  Bratrska,  vide  U.  F. 

Jemnist,  Mikes  v.,  56  and  note  3. 

Jerome,  colloquy  with  Utraquist 
masters,  165. 

Jerome,  of  Prague,  32,  41,  77  and 
note  18;  organizes  university  of 
Cracow,  283. 

Jerusalem,  home  of,  24. 

Jesuits,  in  Bohemia,  317  and  note  1 ; 
prepare  articles  of  recantation 
for  Augusta,  322 ;  instruct  Au- 
gusta and  Bilek,  325;  advise 
their  separation,  326 ;  designs 
against  religious  liberty  in  Bohe- 
mia, 381,  382;  in  Poland,  392; 
further  work  in  Bohemia,  415, 
416;  course  at  Posen,  443;  their 
reaction  in  Poland,  445,  476 ; 
work  against  Protestants  in  Bo- 
hemia, 482 :  banished  from  Bohe- 
mia, 497  ;  banished  from  Moravia, 
499 ;  recalled  to  Bohemia,  504 ; 
obtrude  upon  condemned  Prot- 
estant leaders,  508,  509 ;  respon- 
sible for  Anti-Reformation,  535 ; 
destroy  Protestant  books,  539,  540, 
639 ;  accompany  reform  commis- 
sion, 543  ;  claim  credit  of  roman- 
izing  Bohemia  and  Moravia,  ib. ; 
try  to  uproot  hidden  seed  in  Mo- 
ravia, 644. 

Jesuit  church,  taken  from  Brethren, 
505  and  note  4. 

Jessen,  John,  at  Prague,  468 ;  in 
prison,  508  ;  execution,  524,  525. 

Jessen,  Paul,  bishop,  420 ;  member 
of  Bible  committee,  424 ;  death, 
biography  and  character,  433  and 
note  3. 

Jezierski,  Francis,  president  of  Thorn 
synod,  447. 

Joan  of  Arc,  vide  Maid  of  Orleans. 

Joanna,  queen,  enemv  of  TJ.  F.,  164. 

John,  XXIII,  pope,"39,  59,  62,  63. 

John,  Ferdinand's  chaplain  and 
Augusta,  323. 

John     George,      elector    of    Saxony, 
espouses  cause  of  Ferdinand  II, 
43 


501 ;  remonstrates  against  expul- 
sion of  Lutheran  clergy,  537 ; 
ally  of  Gustavus  Adoiphus,  566  ; 
arrives  at  Prague,  ib. 

John,  of  Grosswardein,  enemy  of  U. 
F.,  184  and  note  10;  incites  Mo- 
ravian diet  against  U.  F.,  192 ; 
his  sudden  death,  ib. ;  vide  Borek, 
his  other  name. 

John,  the  Hermit,  imprisoned,  246. 

John,  the  Iron,  37,  38,  61. 

John,  of  Jesenic,  32,  44,  85. 

John,  of  Jicin,  87. 

John  Kardinalis,  of  Reinstcin,  58,  85. 

John,  the  Monk,  joins  U.  F.,  236. 

John,  of  Pribram,  85. 

John,  of  Selau,  82  and  note  6. 

John,  of  Tein,  member  of  council, 
243. 

John,  a  Waldensian,  visits  Brethren, 
255. 

John  the  Baptist,  church  of,  471. 

John  Frederick,  elector  of  Saxony, 
inquires  about  U.  F.,  249 ;  con- 
fession presented  to,  ib. ;  taken 
prisoner  by  Ferdinand,  265; 
falsely  reported  to  conspire  against 
Bohemian  crown,  274. 

Jonas,  Justus,  conference  with  Au- 
gusta, 251. 

Joram,  John,  minister  at  Lissa,  565. 

Joseph  I,  640  and  note  8. 

Joseph  .  //,  edict  of  toleration,  556 
and  note  17  ;  appendix,  647. 

Judge,  chief,  in  U.  F.,  character  of 
office,  215,  216. 

Julian,  legate  88,  89. 

Julich,  Joachim,  biography  and 
bishop,  624  and  note  9 ;  death,  626. 

Jungbunzlau,  chief  se:it  of  U.  F., 
164,  223,  224 ;  printing  office  at, 
226 ;  public  ordination  at,  262 ; 
revives  after  persecution,  309, 
310;  new  chapel  at,  311,  312; 
theological  seminary  at,  418; 
passes  out  of  hands  of  Krajek 
family,  419  and  note  10  ;  meeting 
of  acolytes  at,  422;  confiscated, 
439,  440;  parish  and  school  or- 
ganized, 471. 

Justification,  Luke's  views,  235;  how 
explained  in  confession  of  1538, 
254  and  note  23  ;  in  confession  of 
1573,  374. 

Justinus,  Laurentius,  bishop  and 
biography,  568  and  note  24  ;  prov- 
ident of  council,  582 ;  death,  584. 


674 


INDEX. 


Jirek,  vide  George  John. 
Jzbinski,  Benedict,  bishop,  enemy  of 
U.  F.,  284 ;  persecutes  U.  F.,  288. 

K. 

Kohatnic,  Martin,  his  exploratory 
tour  to  East,  176  and  note  3. 

Kajetan,  parish,  224. 

Kalef,  John,  biography,  370,  371  ; 
bishop,  370 ;  excommunicates 
Adam  v.  Krajek,  384  ;  president 
of  council,  419;  death,  420. 

Kalenee,  John,  head  of  the  Amosites, 
238,  261. 

Kaliseh,  palatine  of,  joins  Swedes, 
591. 

Kaplir,  Caspar  v.,  ringleader  in  at- 
tack on  regents,  493 ;  heroism  at 
his  trial,  506  ;  execution,  518,  519. 

Kapra,  at  colloquy  at  Prague,  in 
1504,  186. 

Kardus,  Samuel,  martyrdom,  595. 

Karminski,  Iwan,  at  Sendomir,  345, 
346,351. 

Karolath,  Silesian  parish,  564. 

Kasala,  John,  at  colloquy  at  Prague 
in  1504,  186. 

Kdsehrot,  Augustin,  enemy  of  U.  F., 
184 ;  letters  denouncing  it,  189  ; 
sudden  death,  197. 

Kaunitz,  parish,  224. 

Kaurdtz,  family  of,  225. 

Kaunitz  baron  v.,  gives  a  refuge  to 
Brethren,  595. 

Kepler,  John,  at  Prague,  468. 

Keys,  power  of,  defined  bv  U.  F., 
375. 

Khan,    Eusebius,    commissioner    of 
Matthias    to     Protestant     states, 
^498. 

Khlesel,  Melchior,  biography,  438  and 
note  1 5 ;  prime  minister  of  Mat- 
thias,483;  advocates  mild  measures 
against  Protestant  leaders,  497  ; 
seized  and  removed  to  Tyrol,  498. 

Kinsky,  Ulrich,  ringleader  in  attack 
on  regents,  493. 

Kioff,  metropolitan  of  449. 

Kirmezer,  Paul,  writes  against  U. 
F.,  416. 

Klattau,  parish,  224. 

Kleinschmidt,  Frederick  E.,  on  secret 
Protestants  in  Bohemia  and  Mo- 
ravia, 556  note  17. 

Klenowsky,  John,  one  of  the  chief 
elders,  127 ;   member  of  council, 


153  ;  cliaracter,  labors  and  death, 
155,  156  and  note  1. 

Kleych,  Wenzel,  flees  from  Bohemia, 
638 ;  publishes  Protestant  books 
and  spreads  them  througii  Bohe- 
mia, Moravia  and  Hungary,  639; 
death,  ib. 

Klostergrab,  church  at  closed,  488. 

Klosterle.  parish,  224. 

Kober,  Christopher,  executed,  525. 

Kochan,  Valentine,  executed,  523, 
^524. 

Kocourovsky,  Nicholas,  wills  his  prop- 
erty to  U.  F.,  570. 

Kokovec,  Mares,  his  exploratory  tour 
to  East,  176. 

Kolowrat,  Albert  v.,  enemy  of  U.  F., 
189  ;  sudden  death,  196,  197. 

Kolsky,  Andrew,  member  of  council, 
433. 

Komarowsky,  Oabriel,  author  of  hymn 
sung  at  synod  of  Lhota,  135. 

Konechlumsky,  William,  executed, 
522. 

Koneczny,  Matthias  biography  and 
bishop,  474;  death,  551. 

Koniasch,  Anthony,  destroys  Protest- 
ant books,  540. 

Koniggrdtz,  parish,  223  ;  church  at 
desecrated,  535,  536. 

Konigsberg,  university  of,  284;  ex- 
iled Brethren  at,  285 ;  divines  of 
oppose  a  confession  of  faith  for 
Poland,  332. 

Kopulansky,  John,  brings  books  to 
secret  Brethren  in  Bohemia,  620. 

Koranda,  TFenzeZ.Taborite  leader,  86. 

Koranda,  Wenzel^  head  of  the  Utra- 
quist  church  and  colloquy  with 
Brethren,  143;  report  of  collo- 
quy to  Kostka,  ib. ;  alarmed  by 
their  increase,  170. 

Ivorbona,  parish  fund,  420. 

Korybut,  Michael,  king  of  Poland, 
621. 

Korytan,  John,  leader  of  exiled 
Brethren,  281 ;  in  Poland,  288. 

Koscielecki,  Janus,  jjersecutes  U.  F., 
288,  338  ;  death,  339  ;  hatred  of 
U.  F.,  on  his  death-bed,  339  note 
12. 

Kostka,  Zdenek,  condemns  four 
members  of  U.  F.  to  stake,  119 ; 
tortures  Brethren,  1 60. 

Kostka,  John  Postupic  v.,  friend  of 
U.  F.,  143,  164;  joins  it  and  fur- 
nishes money  for  exploratory  tour 


INDEX. 


675 


to  the  East,  176;  defends  V.F., 
185  ;  letter  to  Krasonicky,  telling 
him  to  stand  fast,  18(3 ;  his  family 
prominent  in  U.  F.,  225 ;  estates 
confiscated,  265  ;  carries  out  edict 
of  St.  James,  267  and  note  6. 

Kosteletz,  parish,  223. 

Kotter,  Christopher,  false  prophet, 
614,  615  and  note  14. 

Kozel,  Henry,  executed,  528. 

Kozi  Hradek,  castle,  45. 

Kozminek,  parish,  29 1  ;  union  synod 
at,  29-1,  295;  school  at,  414. 

Kozour,  Andrew,  executed,  628. 

Krnjek,  barons  v.,  member  of  U.  F., 
185  note  14,  225  ;  Conrad  proposes 
that  confession  be  presented  to 
margrave  of  Brandenburg,  244  ; 
interview  with  Ferdinand,  247, 
248 ;  death,  260  and  note  8 ; 
Ernst's  estates  confiscated,  265 ; 
escorts  exiled  Brethren,  281 ;  re- 
opens chapel  at  Jungbunzlau, 
310;  builds  new  chapel,  311; 
memorial  to  the  king,  ib. ;  advises 
an  appeal  to  Maximilian,  312; 
death,  312  and  note  29,  313; 
Adam,  excommunicated,  384,  385 
and  note  8  ;  Kreszentia,  excom- 
municated, 384  ;  death  of  Adam 
419  and  note  10. 

Krakowec,  castle,  45. 

Kralitz,  castle,  424. 

Kralitz,  Bible,  vide  Bible. 

Krasonicky,  Lawrence,  member  of 
council,  153;  his  character  and 
labors,  155 ;  adviser  of  Bishop 
Matthias,  177 ;  colloquy  with 
Henry  Institoris,  183. 

Krawarsky,  Adam,  Jesuits  mission- 
ary, 544 ;  reputed  success  in  con- 
verting Brethren,  5)6. 

Krcin,  parish,  223. 

Kremsier,  parish,  224. 

Krimic,  regent,  486. 

Krinecky,  William  v.,  presents  con- 
fession to  Ferdinand,  247,  248 ; 
condemned  to  death  and  flight, 
265  and  note  3  ;  in  East  Prussia, 
285  and  note  8  ;  at  Kozminek,  294. 

Krokocinshj,  Matthias  T.,  has  charge 
of  Lissa  press,  502  and  note  8, 
565  and  note  18. 

Krotowski,  John,  at  Kozminek,  294  ; 
at  Slezan,  3 1 7  note  3  ;  presents 
confession  to  king  of  Poland,  338 ; 
ambassador  to  czar  Iwan,  387. 


Krusius,  Martin,  teacher  at  Lissa, 
565. 

Kubin,  John,  whipped,  529. 

Kujavia,  294  and  note  3  ;  vide  Ciija- 
via. 

Kunwald  or  Kunewalde  in  Moravia, 
parish,  224 ;  centre  of  hidden 
seed,  637,  t)42. 

Kunwald,  village,  106,  107  note  3 ; 
U.  F.,  founded  at,  1 07 ;  parish, 
223. 

Kimz,  Melchoir,  witness  in  time  of 
hidden  seed,  641. 

Kurnatowski,  count,  director  of 
union  synod  at  Dantzic,  631. 

Kutnaur,  John,  executed,  526,  527. 

Kutschera,  Tobias,  637. 

Kutschera,  his  exploratory  tour  to 
Moldavia  in  search  of  remnant 
of  the  U.  F.,  171. 

Kuttenberg,  convention  at,  91 ;  dis- 
putation at,  92  ;  Brethren  at  bar- 
barously treated,  185. 

Kuttlau,  Silesian  parish,  564. 


Ladislaus,  of  Naples,  39. 

Ladislaus,  Posthumus,  king  of  Bohe- 
mia, 93;  death,  109. 

Lamonnain,  William,  Jesuit,  ad- 
viser of  Kudolph,  438 ;  confessor 
of  Ferdinand  II,  507. 

Larnser,  Catholic  priest,  his  conver- 
sation with   Schneider,  642. 

Landskron,  parish,  223  ;  centre  of 
hidden  seed,  636 ;  awakening  at, 
640. 

Landshut,  church  of  grace  at,  640. 

Lanetius,  John,  bishop,  435;  presi- 
dent of  council,  474;  banished, 
551 ;  secret  meeting  with  col- 
leagues, 554 ;  death,  ib. 

Lasitius,  John,  his  views  on  hym- 
nology  of  U.  F.,  404 ;  on  the  U. 
F.,  411 ;  his  history  of  U.  F.,  412; 
eighth  book  of  his  history  pub- 
lished, 587  and  note  1. 

Laski,  John  v._  297  ;  interview  with 
Israel,  ib.  ;  criticism  of  confession 
of  U.  F.,  299 ;  invites  its  dele- 
gates to  a  Reformed  synod,  ib.; 
negotiates  with  Duke  Albert 
about  a  confession  for  Poland, 
332 ;  proposes  a  conference  with 
U.  F.,  ib. ;  corrects  confession  of 
U.  F.,  333 ;  death,  333  note  3. 


676 


INDEX. 


Laun,  parish,  224. 

Laurin,  minister  in  Hungary,  565. 

Lazari,  village,  Wenzel  Klevch  at, 
638. 

Lazan,  Henry  v.,  45,  56. 

Lazembock,  vide  Chlum  Henry  v. 

League  of  1547,  264,  265. 

Lednic,  Hungarian  parish,  564. 

Leibnitz,  favors  Jablonsky's  efforts 
to  unite  Lutherans  and  Re- 
formed, 625. 

Leipnik,  parish,  164 ;  conference 
with  Reformed  divines  at,  332. 

Leipsic,  Interim,  279. 

Leilomischl,  seat  of  U.  F.,  164; 
printing  office  at,  226  ;  confiscated, 
265 :  heads  of  families  arrested 
and  their  sufferings,  270 ;  Breth- 
ren banished  from,  280 ;  centre  of 
hidden  seed,  636 ;  awakening  at 
640. 

Lenesic,  temporary  seat  of  council, 
161 ;  parish,  224. 

Leopold,  archduke  and  bishop  of  Pas- 
sau,  at  Prague,  461 ;  plots  against 
Protestants,  469 ;  sends  an  army 
into  Bohemia,  470. 

Leopold  I,  forbids  family  worship, 
620. 

Lesczyna,  or  Leszno,  vide  Lissa. 

Leskowec,  Albert  v.,  set  over  royal 
towns,  184. 

Leszcynski,  or  Lescinski  Raphael,  at 
Slezan,  317,  note  3;  presents  con- 
fession to  Polish  king,  338 ;  am- 
bassador to  czar  Iwan,  387  ;  An- 
drew, reconciles  Turnovius  and 
Gliczner,  446  and  note  5 ;  arranges 
with  Ostrogski  for  a  meeting  of 
Protestants  and  Greeks  at  Vilna, 
450 ;  the  Leszcynski  family,  561 ; 
Raphael  IV,  joins  U.  F ,  562  ; 
Andrew  and  Raphael  V,  ib. ;  Ra- 
phael founds  college  at  Lissa, 
563 ;  death,  572 ;  John,  vice  pres- 
ident of  colloquium  cliaritati- 
vum,  583 ;  Boguslaiv,  turns  Catho- 
lic, 590;  renews  religious  privi- 
leges of  Lissa,  591 ;  leaves  Lissa 
to  its  fate,  593 ;  Stanislaus,  made 
king  of  Poland,  627. 

Letters,  seven,  of  Brethren  to  Roky- 
cana,  157,  158  and  note  6,  159, 
160,  161. 

Lewis,  Kinri,  crowned,  193;  his 
guardians,  229 ;  the  letter  of  U., 
F.    to,    237    and  appendix,  650 ; 


death,  238 ;  body  recovered  and 
buried,  210. 

Leyden,  university  of,  scholarships 
for  U.  F.,  626. 

Lecek,  John,  his  false  testimony 
against  U.  F.,  166,  167. 

Lhota,  village,  132  and  note  1 ;  synod 
at,  132-140;  seat  of  council  155. 

Library  of  Polish  Province,  477,  563 ; 
perished  in  conflagration  at  Lissa, 
594. 

Lichtenberg,  Nicholas  v.,  persecutes 
U.  F.,  185. 

Liechtenstein,  prince  of,  governor  of 
Bohemia,  504  and  note  3  ;  presi- 
dent of  court  that  tries  IVotest- 
ant  leaders,  506 ;  refuses  to 
pardon  them,  507 ;  secures  for 
them  the  ministrations  of  Luth- 
eran clergymen  508 ;  at  the  execu- 
tion,510  ;  his  degrading  conditions 
announced  to  Lutlieran  clergy- 
men, 536 ;  banishes  them  ;  536, 
537  ;  dismisses  Protestant  magis- 
trates, 539. 

Liechtenstein's  troops,  in  Anti-Re- 
formation, 543,  544. 

Lipan,  battle  of,  89,  90. 

Lipczynski,,  Andrew,  joins  U.  F., 
287. 

Lipomanus,  Aloysius,  bishop,  298. 

Lippach,  David,  ministers  to  con- 
demned Protestant  leaders,  508 ; 
commends  them  to  intercessions 
of  his  congregation,  ib.;  banished 
and  his  farewell  address,  637. 

Lismanin,  Francis,  296 ;  consults 
vSwiss  reformers  about  union  with 
U.  F.,  296  ;  at  Cracow,  298  ;  sub- 
sequent career,  298  note  7  ;  dis- 
cussion with  deputies  of  LT.  F., 
332 ;  sends  confession  of  U.  F.  to 
Swiss  reformers,  333. 

Lissa  college,  founded,  563  ;  rectors, 
574  note  1  ;  system  and  laws,  574, 
575 ;  destroyed,  594 ;  reopened, 
598  and  note  6. 

Lissa,  town,  318,  561  and  notes  3  and 
5  562 ;  new  centre  of  U.  F.,  562, 
563;  publication,  oifice  at,  562; 
school  at,  414;  college  at,  563; 
churches  at,  571  note  31 ;  Luth- 
eran synod  at,  582,  583 ;  Brethren 
forced  to  give  up  their  church, 
591  ;  build  a  new  one,  591  and 
note!;  town  destroyed,  593,  592; 
rebuilt,      598 ;    prosj)ering,    624 ; 


INDEX. 


677 


Bohemian  element  disappears, 
ib. ;  destroyed  a  second  time,  627, 
628  ;  rebuilt,  632  and  iiote  25. 

Lissa  Folios  and  Archives  of  U.  F., 
earliest  archives  at  Senftenberg, 
152 ;  at  Leitomischl,  destroyed, 
142,  302  note  2  ;  Lissa  folios,  ib.  ; 
archives  of  Polish  Province,  476; 
folios  saved  from  conflagration  at 
Lissa,  596  note  13  ;  further  fate 
of  the  folios,  632  note  25. 

Literature,  Bohemian,  decline  of,  538, 
539 ;  systematically  destroyed, 
539. 

Literattire  of  U.  F.,  226,  227;  410- 
413  ;  423-431 ;  destroyed,  549,  550, 
639. 

Lititz,  domain  of,  106. 

Lobkowic,  Nicholas  v.,  induces  Wen- 
zel  to  reverse  status  at  university 
of  Prague,  37. 

Lobkowitz,  Albert  v.,  chancellor  of 
Bohemia,  438,  460 ;  refuses  to 
sign  the  charter,  462 ;  refuses  to 
sign  agreement  with  Protestants, 
463 ;  refuses  to  sign  the  amnesty, 
466  ;  his  wife  Polixena  refuses  to 
deliver  the  fugitive  regents,  495. 

Lobkowitz,  Bohuslaw  v.,  his  question 
to  synod  respecting  last  ministra- 
tions to  murderers,  422. 

Lobkowitz,  Bohuslav  Hassenstein  v., 
enemy  of  U.  F.,  184. 

Lobkowitz,  Matthias  Diepold,  regent, 
486;  spared  by  Protestant  con- 
spirators, 493. 

Lobkowitz,  William  v.,  opposes  elec- 
tion of  Ferdinand  II,  485 ;  ring- 
leader in  attack  on  regents,  498  ; 
condemned  to  perpetual  imprison- 
ment, 507,  530. 

Lobsenia  or  Lobsens,  parish,  291, 
318;  school  at,  414. 

Lobwasser,  Ambrose,  adapts  Psalms 
to  French  tunes,  411. 

Lodi,  bishop  of,  72. 

Lohelius,  archbishop,  banished,  497 ; 
recalled,  504;  Ferdinand's  ad- 
viser in  Anti-Reformation,  535. 

Lord's  Supper,  dispute  about  in  U. 
F.,  Ill ;  doctrine  formulated.  111, 
112;  how  defined  prior  to  Re- 
formation, 204 ;  how  defined  in 
1538,  254;  how  celebrated,  220, 
221  and  notes  11,  12,  13;  how  de- 
fined in  1573,  374,  375;  discussed 
in  1598  and  1604,  434. 


Lorenz,  apothecarv,  his  cruelty  to 
his  wife,  385. 

Lorenz,  John,  biography,  331,  332; 
at  Xionz,  337 ;  accompanies  de- 
putation to  king,  338;  at  synod 
of  Posen  in  1567,  343 ;  reply  to 
Morgenstern,  343  and  note  7  ;  mis- 
sion to  Wittenberg,  344 ;  at  synod 
of  Posen  in  1570,  352,  353; 
bishop,  370;  marries,  418  note  7; 
death,  418. 

Los,  Otto  v.,  heroism  at  his  trial, 
506;  execution,  521,  522. 

Lubienski,  Matthias,  primate  of  Po- 
land, 581. 

Ludanic,  Wenzel  v.,  bold  speech  at 
Moravian  diet,  304,  305. 

Ludmila,  duchess,  11,  13. 

Luke,  metropolitan,  at  conference  of 
Vilna,  451. 

Luke,  member  of  council,  153. 

Luke  of  Prague,  joins  U.  F.,  173 ; 
character  174;  journey  to  East, 
176;  his  treatises  in  time  of  dis- 
sensions, 177  ;  visits  Italy  and 
France,  180;  bishop,  182;  de- 
velops worship  of  U.  F.,  ib. ;  letter 
to  Gallus,  ib.;  at  colloquy  at 
Prague  in  1504,  186  ;  correspond- 
ence with  Utraquist  consistory, 
187  ;  his  sharp  letter,  to  adminis- 
trator, 193;  flees  from  place  to 
place,  ib. ;  arrested,  imprisoned 
and  liberated,  197,  198;  literary 
works,  226,  239 ;  president  of 
council,  229 ;  suspicions  of  Luth- 
er's reformation,  233  ;  mission  to 
Luther,  233,  234 ;  writes  against 
Luther,  234,  235 ;  second  mission 
to  Luther,  235;  rupture  with 
Luther,  ib. ;  opposition  to  Zwin- 
gliau  system,  236 ;  controversies 
with  the  sects,  238 ;  recognizes 
impropriety  of  rebaptism,  239; 
death  and  character,  239  ;  resolu- 
tion of  synod  in  relation  to  his 
writings,  243  note  7. 

Lultcshian  Brethren,  vide  Ilabro- 
xoanites. 

Lupac,  Martin,  91 ;  advises  Brethren 
to  institute  an  independent  min- 
istry, 128;  the  kneeling  peasant, 
ib. ;  imprisoned  and  banished, 
128,  129;  disputation  with  Roky- 
cana,  129  ;  death,  ih. 

Luperian,  Andrew,  opponent  of  U. 
F.,  443  ;  deposed,  448. 


678 


IXDEX. 


Lusatia,  in  Anti-Reformation,  547  ; 
political  constitution  of,  170  mote  13. 
Luther,  Martin,  writes  to  Utraquist 
states,  233;  suspected  by  Luke 
of  Prague,  ih. ;  at  diet  of  Worms 
and  the  Wartburg,  ih.;  receives 
deputation  from  U.  F.,  233,  234  ; 
answers  questions  about  catechism 
of  U.  F.,  234;  his  work  on  the 
sacrament,  234  and  note,  13  ;  re- 
ceives a  second  deputation  from 
U.  F.,  235 ;  discipline  urged  on 
him,  235  and  note  15;  censures 
discipline  of  U.  F.,  236 ;  pub- 
lishes confession  of  U.  F.  with  a 
preface,  245  and  note  1 1 ;  mission 
to  him  in  1535,  249,  250,  251 ; 
writes  to  Baworinsky,  251  ;  mis- 
sion to  him  in  1536,  "251 ;  further 
negotiations  with  him,  252  253 ; 
edits  confession  and  apology  of 
U.  F.,  in  1538,  253;  visited  by 
Augusta,  259  ;  his  letter  to  him, 
261 ;  his  opinion  of  U.  F.,  261  ; 
death,  264. 

Imtherans,  disputes  among,  260  and 
note  7,  279. 

Lutherans,  in  Bohemia,  232,  233, 
236;  unstable  character,  262; 
priests  banished,  312  note  27; 
adherents  at  time  of  Ferdinand's 
death,  361  and  note  4;  nobles 
petition  Maximilian  to  recognize 
the  Augustana,  369;  demands 
and  confession  at  diet  of  1575, 
378,  379;  relation  to  the  U. 
F.,  378,  379. 

Lutherans,  in  East  Prussia,  285; 
hard  conditions  imposed  upon  the 
exiled  Brethren,  286  and  note  14  ; 
forbid  their  ritual  and  constrain 
them  to  leave,  393. 

Lutherans,  in  Poland,  283  ;  opposed 
to  U.  F.,  337,  341,  342;  deter- 
mine to  crush  U.  F.  with  an  ad- 
verse opinion  from  Wittenburg, 
343;  adherents  of  Flacius  Illv- 
ricus,  344;  withdraw  from  Con- 
sensus Sendomiriensis,  455,  456 ; 
refuse  to  renew  it,  476  ;  at  Lissa, 
570 ;  their  synod  at  Liasa,  582, 583. 

Lutheran  clergymen  at  Prague,  min- 
ister to  condemned  Protestant 
leaders,  508,  510,  511;  expelled 
from  Prague  and  banished  from 
Bohemia,  536,  537. 

Lutomirz,  parish,  318. 


M. 

Magnis,  count,  reform  commissioner, 
553. 

Mdhrisch-Kromau,  parish,  224. 

Maid  of  Orleans,  sends  menacing 
letter  to  Hussites,  88  and  note  16. 

Major,  George,  344 ;  approves  of  Con- 
sensus Sendomiriensis,  357  note  20. 

Malecki,  Jerome,  at  synod  of  Koz- 
minek,  294. 

Mansfeld,  Ernst,  commander  of  Prot- 
estant army  and  biography  499 
and  7iote  25. 

Manual,  of  Bible,,  work  by  Come- 
nius,  601  and  note  16. 

Manualjk,  vide  Manual  of  Bible. 

Marburg,  conference  of,  246. 

Maresch,  Martin,  tortured,  537. 

Marine  board,  of  Amsterdam,  assist 
impoverished  Brethren,  600. 

Marienwerder,  Prussian  parish,  286. 

Markold,  Taborite  leader,  87. 

Marriage,  defined  by  U.  F.,  204; 
ceremony  how  conducted.  221, 357. 

Marschewski  or  Marszewski,  Adal- 
bert, at  synod  of  Kozminek,  294  ; 
at  Slezan,  317  note  3  ;  presents 
confession  to  king  of  Poland,  338. 

Marszevia,  parish,  291. 

Martin,  priest  of  U.  F.,  examined, 
160. 

Martin  V,  pope,  80. 

Martini,  or  Martinius,  Samuel,  writes 
against  U.  F.,  145  ;  administrator 
of  Protestant  consistory,  566 ;  per- 
secutes U.  F.,  571. 

Martinie,  Jaroslaw,  adviser  of  Ru- 
dolph, 438,  460;  refuses  to  sign 
agreement  with  Protestants  and 
amnesty,  463,  466  ;  regent,  486  ; 
governor  of  Karlstein,  487 ; 
thrown  out  of  window  of  Hrad- 
schin,  493 ;  escapes,  494,  495  ; 
reform  commissioner,  545. 

Martyrs  and  Confeseors,  of  U.  F.,fnur 
burned,  119;  Jacob  Hulava,  160; 
many  suffer,  185  ;  six  at  Aujezd, 
187,  188;  Andrew  Poliwka,  193, 
194 ;  village  judge  of  Semanin, 
269;  Gabriel,  ib.;  many  confes- 
sors, 270;  sixteen  from  Leito- 
mischl,  270  ;  Augusta  and  Bilek, 
273,  274,  301;  Wotic  and  five 
others,  550 ;  Jacobides,  Kardus 
and  two  acolvtes,  595  ;  leaders  at 
Prague,  511-528. 


INDEX. 


679 


Masters  of  the  University  of  Prague, 
write  against  U.  F.,  1(J6  ;  collo- 
quv  with  representatives  of  U.  F., 
143;  tlieir  "Book,"  144,  147; 
UT<j;e  Uladislaus  to  persecute  U. 
F-i'lOl. 
Matthid,  John,  Lutheran  bishop  in 

Sweden,  581. 
Matthias,  Corvinus,  war  with  Podie- 
brad,  161;  usurps  title  of  King 
of  Bohemia,  163;  banishes  Breth- 
ren from  Moravia,  170,  171; 
death,  171. 
Matthias,  the  Hermit,  preaches  at 
Prague,  232  ;  helps  to  reorganize 
the  Habrowanites,  238. 
Matthias,  of  Kunwald,  one  of  the 
first  ministers  of  U.  F.,  134,  137  ; 
ordained,  137;  reordained,  153; 
consecrated  bishop,  ih.  ;  his  early 
work,  155  ;  courage  amidst  perse- 
cution, 160 ;  arbitrary  course  in 
time  of  dissensions,  175  ;  resigns, 
177  ;  resignation  not  accepted,  ih.; 
consecrates  Thomas  and  Elias, 
181;  death,  ih.;  last  testament, 
182. 
Matthias,  emperor,  declared  head  of 
Hapsburg  house,  457 ;  invades 
Bohemia,  458  ;  his  envoys  before 
Boliemian  diet,  459 ;  Hungary, 
Austria  and  Moravia  ceded  to 
him,  t6./  invited  by  the  states  to 
assume  the  government  of  Bohe- 
mia, 470 ;  sanctions  privileges  of 
the  Protestants,  ib. ;  refuses  to  do 
them  justice,  482,  483;  adopts 
Ferdinand  and  convenes  Bohe- 
mian diet,  484,  485;  appoints 
regents,  486;  threatening  letters 
to  them  against  Protestants,  489, 
490,  sends  a  commissioner  to 
Prague,  498;  death,  t6. 
Maurice,  of  Saxony,  drives  Ferdi- 
nand from  Innsbruck,  308. 
Maximilian    I,    guardian    of   King 

Lewis,  229. 
Maximilian  11,  elected  king  of  Bo- 
hemia, 304 ;  his  Protestant  pro- 
clivities, 312  ;  what  he  says  of  U. 
F.,  3  J  9  ;  intercedes  for  Augusta, 
329,  330;  crowned  king,  329; 
ascends  the  throne,  362 ;  his 
course,  362,  363 ;  receives  depu- 
tations from  U.  F.,  363,  364 ;  un- 
friendly reply,  364 ;  strange 
course  over   against  U.   F.,  364, 


365  ;  accepts  hymnal  dedicated  to 
him,  365  and  tioie  13  ;  what  he 
says  to  Crato  of  U.  F.,  366 ; 
orders  chapels  to  be  closed,  ib. ; 
is  said  to  have  renewed  edict  of 
St.  James,  366  note  17  ;  grants 
religious  liberty,  379,  380;  inter- 
feres with  religious  liberty,  ib.; 
death,  ib. 

Maximilian,  of  Bavaria,  supports 
Ferdinand  II,  501 ;  demands  sur- 
render of  Protestant  states,  503; 
tries  to  stop  outrages  at  Prague, 
504 ;  appoints  Liechtenstein  gov- 
ernor, ih. 

Mayr,  Martin,  advises  Podiebrad  to 
secure  the  imperial  crown,  115. 

Medieval  church  system,  breaking  up, 

Melanchthon,  receives  letter  from 
bishop  Baworinsky,  250  ;  his  an- 
swer, 251  ;  conference  with  Au- 
gusta, ib. ;  John  Lorenz  his  pupil, 
332. 

Melnik,  ^fartin  v„  administrator, 
negotiates  with  Augusta,   368. 

Members,  of  U.  F.,  divided  into 
classes,  216. 

Menzel,  John,  imperial  secretary, 
438  ;  declines  to  sign  charter,  462 
vote  3. 

Methodius,  vide  Cyrill  and  Metho- 
dius. 

Meyricky,  Fabin,  minister  in  Hun- 
gary, 665. 

Michael  de  Causis,  tool  of  John 
XXIII,  43 ;  works  against  Hus 
at  Constance,  61. 

Michalek,  Veit,  bishop,  243,  biogra- 
phy, 244;  death,  254. 

Michalek,  Martin,  member  of  coun- 
cil, 243 ;  deputy  to  Luther,  245, 
249,  250 ;  bishop,  254 ;  death  and 
character,  265  and  note  2. 

Michalowitz,  Bohuslaw,  execution, 
523. 

Michna,  George,  reform  commis- 
sioner, 538,  543. 

3Iichna,  Paul,  secretary  of  Bohe- 
mian chancellor,  462  note  3 ;  flees 
from  Prague,  491 ;  originates  the 
depreciation  of  currency,  542. 

Mikolajewski,  Daniel,  at  Vilna,  450- 
455  ;  editing  of  Polish  Bible  com- 
mitted to  him,  472;  unites  with 
U.  F.,  560;  bishop,  ib.;  death, 
569. 


680 


INDEX. 


Milheim,  John  de,  builds  Bethlehem 

chapel,  38. 
Milicz,   of  Kremsier,   forerunner  of 
Hus,    22-25;    labors   in   Poland, 
283. 
Miiitsch,  Silesian  parish,  5(54 ;  fugi- 
tive Brethren   at,  595  ;  church  of 
grace  at,  640. 
Ministerialia,  as   understood   by  U. 
F.,  201. 

Ministry,  of  U.  F.,  208-213. 

Mlrovic,  parish,  224. 

Mistopol,  John,  enemy  of  U.  F., 
262;  dastardly  course,  266;  op- 
poses U.  F.,  268  ;  urges  union  of 
Utraquists  and  Catholics,  304  ; 
draws  up  formula  of  recantation 
for  Augusta,  329 ;  visits  him,  ib.  ; 
death,  368  note  20. 

Mitmanek,  Wenzel,  enemy  of  U.  F., 
262 ;  incites  Duke  Albert  against 
U.  F.,  285. 

Mitrowic,  reform  commissioner,  545. 

Mladenowic,  Peter  of,  accompanies 
Hus  to  Constance  and  writes  ac- 
count of  his  trial  and  execution: 
58  and  note  8. 

Mojmir,  duke,  8. 

Moldavia,  Brethren  exiled  to,  171  ; 
supposed  remnant  of  in,  171  note 
17. 

Moller,  Paul,  Protestant  minister, 
murdered,  537. 

Mona'iteries,  first  in  Bohemia,  15; 
decline,  360. 

Moravia,  description  of,  4 ;  Chris- 
tianity introduced,  8  ;  religious 
state  after  Hussite  war,  93,  94 ; 
political  constitution,  169,  170; 
aflfbrds  Brethren  a  refuge  in  times 
of  persecution,  197,  267,  279; 
shakes  off  Rudolph's  yoke,  457, 
458;  takes  part  in  Bohemian 
revolution,  499  ;  peace  of  West- 
phalia disastrous  to,  585. 

Morgenstern,  Benedict,  enemy  of  U. 
F.,  341,  342;  his  paper  on  the 
differences  between  confessions  of 
U.,  F.  and  the  Augustana,  343 
and  note  5. 

Mother^ s  School,  work  by  Comenivis, 
576  and  note  8. 

Moyses,  John,  burned  alive,  537. 

Muhlherg,  battle  of,  265. 

Mailer,  John  George,  what  he  says 
of  Comenius,  616. 

MUnzer,    Thomas,   at   Prague,    232; 


organizes  the  Anabaptists,  241 
note  2. 

Musculus,  Wolfgang,  writes  to  Horn 
about  confession  of  faith,  245; 
approves  of  union  of  Kozminek, 
296 ;  censures  confession  of  faith, 
333 ;  conference  with  Herbert, 
334,  335. 

Music,  in  churches  of  U.  F.,  405  note 
18;  permitted,  434.     Vide  Times. 

Mydlar,  execution,  528  and  note  29. 

Mylius,  Jacob,  approves  of  the  con- 
fession of  LT.  ¥.,  376. 

Mysskowski,  Stanislaus,  at  Sendomir, 
345,  349,  350. 

N. 

Naarden,  Comenius  buried  at,  617 
and  note  18. 

Nachod,  Frederick  v.,  at  Slezan,  317 
note  3. 

Nadrzibka,  John  and  Nicholas,  mar- 
tyrdom, 187. 

Namiest,  seat  of  Zerotin  family, 
383;  description  of,  436,437. 

Narcisus,  Jacob,  bishop,  433  and  note 
5;  historian,  ib.;  president  of 
council,  473;  deato,  474. 

Navarre,  Henry  of,  436. 

Neidenburg,  Prussian  parish,  286. 

Neisser  faynily,  in  time  of  hidden 
seed,  641. 

Neisser,  George,  in  time  of  hidden 
seed,  643. 

Neisser,  Augustin  and  Jacob,  first 
Moravian  emigrants  to  Saxony, 
645,  646. 

Nemczansky,  Bartholomew,  bishop, 
435 ;  death,  474. 

Nemczansky,  John,  member  of  Bible 
committee,  424  ;  bishop,  433  and 
note  5 ;  archivist,  ib. ;   death,  435. 

Nemez,  Frederick,  Waldensian,  or- 
dained by  Bishop  Nicholas,  and 
subsequently  consecrated  bishop, 
142. 

Nemez,  John,  Taborite  leader,  87. 

Neuhaus,  Henry,  persecutes  U.  F., 
185;  sudden  death,  197. 

Neuhatis,  Joachim,  said  to  have  been 
drowned  while  bearer  of  an  edict 
against  U.  F.,  366  note  17. 

Neutitschein,  parish,  224. 

Neustadt,  j)arish,  223. 

Nicholas,  bishop,  ordains  two  Wal- 
denses,  142. 


INDEX. 


681 


XicJwlas,  hisJiop  of  Nazareth,  57. 

Sichals  I,  pope,  10. 

Jlicholas  V,  pope,  93. 

Nicholas,  Albert,  member  of  Bible 
committee,  424. 

Nicholas  of  Causa,  cardinal,  93. 

Nicholas,  of  Sehlan,  leads  exiled 
Brethren  to  Moldavia,  171  and 
note  lo. 

Niemojewski,  James,  writes  in  defense 
of  U.  F.  339. 

NigeUus,  professor  at  Prague,  469. 

Nigrinus,  Bartholomew,  religious  ad- 
venturer, 581. 

Nikodem,  representative  of  U.  F., 
at  Vienna,  366  and  note  16;  at 
Catholic  synod,  367  note  18. 

Nikolaites,  sect  of,  94,   243. 

Nimburg,  parish,  223. 

Nitschmann  family,  in  time  of  hid- 
den seed,  641. 

Nitschmann,  David,  first  bishop  of 
renewed  U.  F.,  627  note  14. 

Nitschmann,  David,  the  syndic,  liis 
testimony  in  regard  to  vSamuel 
Schneider,  641. 

Nobles,  belonging  to  V.  F.,  247  and 
7iote  15  ;  379  note  46. 

o. 

Obergassing,  baron  v.,  menaces  Fer- 
dinand, 499. 

Obscurity,  of  early  history  of  U.  F., 
151,  152. 

Olevianus,  approves  of  confession  of 
U.  F.,  376. 

Oliva,  peace  of,  597. 

Olives,  mount  of,  an  establishment  of 
the  U.  F.  at  Leitomischl,  224. 

Olmiitz,  bishop  of,  persecutes  U.  F., 
417,418. 

One  Thing  Needful,  vide  TJnum 
Necessarimn. 

Opitz,  Solomon,  bishop,  629  ;  relig- 
ious service  held  on  the  ruins  of 
Lissa,  632. 

Optatus,  Benedict,  questions  about 
catechism  of  U.  F.,  234. 

Orbis  Pictus,  work  by  Comenius, 
590  and  note  5. 

Ordination,  of  first  three  ministers 
of  U.  F.,  137  ;  discussions  on,  138 ; 
how  conducted,  209,  211,  212, 
213  ;  how  defined,  204,  374. 

Orminius,  3Iartin,  bishop  and 
biography,  569  ;  death,  582. 


Orphans,  a  Hussite  party,  87,  89. 

Orzelski,  Stanislaus,  president  of 
synod  of  Thorn,  447. 

Orzeszkowa,  parish,  564. 

Ossoliiiski,  George,  Polish  chancellor, 
581  ;  president  of  colloquium 
charitativura,  583. 

Ostia,  cardinal  bishop  of,  66. 

Ostrogski,  Constantine,  leader  of  Po- 
lish Greek  church,  450 ;  over- 
tures to  synod  of  Thorn,  ib.; 
ari'auges  for  meeting  witli  Prot- 
estant divines,  ib.;  at  council  of 
Vilna,  451,  452,  453. 

Ostrorog,  town,  chief  seat  of  Polish, 
U.  F.,  289,  290,  318;  seat  of  Israel 
and  Loreuz,  371  ;  school  at,  414  ; 
theological  seminary  at,  476  ;  ar- 
chives at,  476;  library  at,  477;  falls 
into  hands  of  the  Catholics,  563. 

Ostrorog,  Catharine,  288,  289. 

Ostrorog,  Jacob,  288;  converted,  290; 
at  Cracow,  292  ;  at  Kozminek, 
294 ;  at  Slezan.  317  note  3 ;  pre- 
sents confession  to  King  of  Po- 
land, 338 :  governor  of  Great 
Poland,  339. 

Ostrowic,  Anna  v.,  prominent  mem- 
ber of  U.  F.,  225. 

Oxenstierna,  Axel,  Swedish  chancel- 
lor, 567  ;  interview  with  Come- 
nius, 581  ;  receives  letters  from 
Comenius  respecting  peace  of 
Westphalia,  585,  586. 

Oxford  University,  its  stipends  for 
Bohemian  students,  589  ;  endorses 
collection  for  impoverished  Breth- 
ren, 600 ;  scholarships  for  U.  F., 
624 ;  confers  degree  on  bishop 
Hartmann,  ib. 


Pacification  of  St.    Wenzel,  229. 

Palec,  Stephen  of,  associate  and  later 
enemy  of  Hus,  32,  42,  44,  61. 

Paliiirus,  Paul,  bishop  and  biogra- 
phy, 565  and  note  20 ;  death,  569. 

Palma,  Sixtus,  publisher  banished, 
439  note  17. 

Pannonia,  diocese  of,  11. 

Pansophia,  work  by  Comenius,  578 
and  note  14. 

Parcenesis  of  Comenius,  to  Anglican 
church,  602  and  note  18.  604,  605. 

Pardon  general  of  Ferdinand,  'n 
Anti-Keformation,  540,  541. 


682 


INDEX. 


Parduhitz,  Ernst  v.,  first  archbishop 

of  Prague,  20. 
Parliament  of  England,  invites  Co- 
meiiius  to  visit  England,  579,  580. 

Parrish,  haron  of  Senftenberg,  101 
and  note  1. 

Parsonages,  217. 

Paterkuius,  3fattJiias,  leader  of  ex- 
iled Brethren,  281. 

Paul,  delivered  from  prison,  289. 

Paitli,  Gregory,  head  of  Antitrini- 
tarians,  338. 

Paiilin,  biography,  303  note  5  ;  in 
time  of  persecution,  301  ;  assist- 
ant bishop,  303  and  note  6. 

Pazman,  Peter,  a  Jesuit,  482. 

Peace  of  Vienna,  560. 

Peace  of  Westphalia,  .184. 

Peasants,  Bohemian,  made  serfs,  169; 
groaning  under  serfdom,  360 ; 
their  rights  recognized  by  U.  F., 
170  ;  their  fate  in  the  Auti-Ee- 
formation,  544,  545. 

Pechatseheck,  Jacob,  a  witness  in 
time  of  hidden  seed,  636,  637. 

Pechatseheck,  John,  a  witness  in  time 
of  hidden  seed,  6.37. 

Pelzel,  historian,  his  testimony  con- 
cerning amity  of  the  Protestants 
and  Catholics,  468 ;  concerning 
the  learning  of  Protestants,  469; 
concerning  decline  of  Bohemian 
literature,  538,  539. 

Pembroke,  Earl  of,  assists  the  Breth- 
ren, 600. 

Penance  and  Repentance,  defined  by 
U.  F.,  204,  374. 

Peoples  School,  work  by  Comenius, 
576  and  note  8. 

Perfect,  the,  a  class  of  the  member- 
ship, 216,  219. 

Pernstein,  baron  v.,  enemy  of  U.  F., 
banishes  members  from  his  estate, 
281  note  2,  282 ;  persecutes  U.  F., 
417. 

Pernstein,  baroness  v.,  what  she  says 
at  Ferdinand's  coronation,  485, 
486. 

Pernstein,  William  v.,  friend  of  U. 
F.,  164,  185  ;  remonstrates  with 
king  about  edict  against  U.  F., 
190;  family  connected  witli  U. 
F.,  225;  reclaims  William  from 
prison,  275. 

Persecutions  of  U.  F.,  the  first,  IIG- 
120;  the  second,  157,  160;  in 
Moravia,     170,     171 :     in    reign   \ 


of  Uladislaus,  184,  185,  187, 
188  ;  general  on  strength  of  edict 
of  St.  James,  191,  192;  in  reio-n 
of  Ferdinand  I,  267-279,  280, 
281,  300,  301 ;  persecution  wanes, 
307;  renewed,  312;  in  Poland, 
288,  289  ;  on  Pernstein  estates, 
417  ;  edict  of  St.  James  renewed, 
418,  43S,  439,  441 ;  anti-reforma- 
tion character  of,  632,  533; 
planned,  534;  means  employed, 
534  ;  carried  out  535-547. 
Peter,  a  Waldensian,  visits  Bohemia, 

167. 
Peter,  of  Ledec,  arrested,  116. 
Peter,  of  Znaim,  associate  of  IIus,  32. 
Petipesky,  Wenzel  v.,  execution,  265. 
Pfauser,   John,   Maximilian's  court- 
preacher,  3 1 2,  313,    319. 
Philip,  a  representative  of  U.  F.,  at 

colloquy  at  Prague  in  1504,  186. 
Philip  III,  of  Spain,  supports  Fer- 
dinand II,  501. 
Philipowski,  Jerome,  a  leader  of  Po- 
lish Calvinists,  292. 
Philippensis,  George,  Polish  minister, 

291. 
Philippists,  279,  344. 
Picards,  opprobious  name  given  the 

Brethren,  116  and  note  2. 
Pilgram,  or  Pelhrimow,  Nicholas,  Ta- 

borite  bishop,  86,  113,  149. 
Pisek,  Adam,  murdered,  550,  551. 
Pislna,  Nicholas  v.,  Hussite   leader 

81  and  note  4. 
Pius  II,  pope,  75  and  note  14 ;    turns 

against  Podiebrad,  120. 
Plateys,  canon,  secures  pardon  of 
Sixtus,  523  and  note  23;  allows 
his  relative  Gibitsky  to  be  exe- 
cuted, 528 ;  reform  commissioner 
at  Namiest,  553. 
Ploscha,  parisli,  224. 
Podiebrad,  George,  92,  regent,  ib. ; 
allows  the  Brethren  to  settle  at 
Kunwald,  106;  king,  111;  his 
reign,  114,  115;  project  to  secure 
imperial  crown,  ib. ;  persecutes 
U.  F.,  1 16,  157  ;  death,  162;  char- 
acter, 163. 
Poland,  Christianity  introduced, 
282 ;  a  home  for  the  exiled  Breth- 
ren, ib.;  Protestantism  in,  283; 
provinces  of,  283  and  note  5  ;  civil 
war  in,  456,  476,  627  ;  revolt  of 
Cossacks, 589;  wars  w ith Sweden, 
591,  592,  627. 


INDEX. 


683 


Polish  magnates,  suggests  a  Protest- 
aut  couvention,  3i)'2. 

Polish  province  of  /7.i^.,  constituted, 
318  ;  developmeut,  331-339  ;  wil- 
ling to  t'orni  a  union  Avith  other 
Protestants,  343,  344  ;  the  synod 
of  Seudomir,  344-358  ;  further 
progress,  390-393,  442-456,  470, 
477  ;  decline  of,  632,  633. 

Polish  Protestants,  seek  guarantees, 
589  ;  espouse  cause  of  Charles  X 
of  Sweden,  592  ;  their  liberties 
infringed  upon,  629,  630  ;  main- 
tain their  rights,  631. 

Poliwka,  Andrew,  martyrdom,  193, 
194. 

Poniatoivslci,  Christiana,  her  visions, 
614,  615  and  note  15. 

Poniatowski,  Julian,  553  and  note  10. 

Poniatowski,  Stanislaus,  King  of  Po- 
land, 633. 

Poor,  the,  cared  for,  216. 

Popel,  John,  member  of  council,  423 
and  note  4,  433 ;  his  .remains 
burned,  549. 

Porta  Sapientise,  work  by  Come- 
nius,  578. 

Posen,  receives  exiled  Brethren, 
283  ;  first  church  at,  287,  318  ; 
school  at,  414  ;  bishop  of,  opposes 
U.  F.,  445. 

Posen,  palatine  of,  joins  the  Swedes, 
591. 

Pottenstein,  parish,  223. 

Prague,  articles,  84,  85. 

Prague,  description  of,  19  note  1  ; 
bishopric  of,  14 ;  archbishopric 
of,  19  ;  university  of,  19,  29  and 
note  1  ;  exodus  of  its  students, 
37,  38,  80  ;  parish  of  the  U.  F. 
at,  263,  378  ;  city  fined  by  Fer- 
dinand, 266  ;  its  white  tower, 
270,  272  and  note  12,  310  ;  its 
royal  castle,  or  the  Hradschin, 
272,  note  12  ;  its  black  tower,  ib.; 
its  Clemeulinum,  317  note  1  ;  its 
university  given  to  Protestants, 
462 ;  rejoicings  in  consequence 
at  charter,  463 ;  Protestant 
churches  built  at,  467  ;  university 
revives,  468,  469;  ofiice  of  regents 
in  Hradschin,  492,  493  and  note 
19  ;  city  invaded  by  imperialists, 
503,  504  ;  tlie  grosse  King  and  its 
scaftbld,  509  and  note  8,  510  ; 
heads  of  executed  Protestant 
leaders  set  up  in,  529;  cathedral 


rededicated,535;  university  given 
to  Jesuits,  538  ;  city  taken  by 
Saxon  army,  566  ;  heads  of  Prot- 
estant leaders  buried,  ib.;  city 
retaken  by  Wallenstein,  566,  567. 

Prayer  days,  in  U.  F.,  221,  222. 

Prazmowski,  Andreiv,  at  Kozminek, 

294  ;   agreement  with  Brethren, 

295  ;  represents  U.  F.  at  Sendo- 
mir,  345  and  note  13,  346,  349, 
351  ;  proposes  Protestant  couven- 
tion, 392. 

Prerau,  parish,  164,  224  ;  theologi- 
cal seminary  at,  418  ;  hospital  at, 
422,  423. 

President  of  council,  his  position, 
215. 

Priests  of  U.  F.,  examination,  ordi- 
nation and  duties  of,  210,  211, 
212  ;  change  iu  their  manner  of 
living,  420. 

Printing  offices,  226;  in  Poland,  413, 
477  ;  at  Lissa,  562  ;  at  Brieg  and 
Amsterdam,  601  and  note  15. 

Privy  council  of  England,  sanctions 
collection  for  JJ.  F.,  600  ;  its 
minute  regarding  a  later  collec- 
tion, 629,  630. 

Probus,  Slatthias,  mission  to  Poland 
and  Hungary,  554. 

Procop  of  Hradeck,  one  of  the  chief 
elders,  127  ;  colloquy  with  Ko- 
randa,  143  ;  member  of  council, 
153,  155 ;  view  on  faith  and  works, 
173;  brings  disputed  points  before 
couucil,  174  ;  writes  treatises,  ib.; 
endeavors  to  bring  dissensions  to 
an  end,  177  ;  president  of  council 
and  chief  judge,  ib.;  death,  198. 

Prodromus,  Pansophipe,  work  by  Co- 
menius,  538  note  14. 

Proficients,  a  class  of  the  member- 
ship, 216,  219. 

Prokop,  a  lad  who  draws  the  lots  at 
synod  of  Lhota,  134. 

Prokop,  or  Procop,  the  Great,  Tabo- 
rite  leader,  87  ;  military  leader 
of  the  Hussites,  88  and  7iote  15,  89. 

Prokop,  Slatthias,  at  Lissa,  565 ; 
bishop,  568. 

Prokop,  Matthias,  martyrdom,  187. 

Prokop,  of  Neuhaus,  vide  Procop  of 
Hradeck. 

Prokop,  of  Pilsen,  Utraquist  leader, 
85. 

Prokopius,  John,  minister,  565. 

Prossnitz,  parish,  164,  224. 


684 


INDEX. 


Frostiborsky,  A  dam,  presents  confes- 
sion to  Maximilian,  363,  364. 

Prostiborsky,  Joachim,  visits  Luther, 
259. 

Protestant  union,  Rndolph  negotiates 
with,  470  7ioteG;  pacification  with 
Catholic  league,  501. 

Proizwa,  John,  associate  of  Hus,  32. 

Provinces  ecclesiastical,  ofU.  F.,  318. 

Prussia,  East,  Christianity  intro- 
duced, 284  ;  Lutherans  of,  285  ; 
Brethren  find  an  asylum  in,  285, 
286  ;  Brethren  retire  from,  393. 

Pscheniczka,  Paul,  tortured,  537. 

Ptacen,  baron  v. ,  at  head  of  a  Bohe- 
mian league,  91,  92. 

Pucho,  Hungarian  parish,  564. 

Fultawa,  battle  of,  628. 

Purgatory,  view  of,  in  U.  F.,  205. 

Purglitz,  castle,  276,  277  note  19  ; 
hall  of  knights  and  chapel,  324 
and  note  12. 

Pytel,  harbors  radical  Hussite  lead- 
ers, 85. 

R. 

PadziejoiPski,  vice  chancellor  of  Po- 
land, 589,  591. 

Badziwill,  count,  arranges  for  coun- 
cil at  Vilna,  450. 

Radziwill,  Albert,  chancellor  of  Lith- 
uania, 567. 

Eakoczy,  prince,  560 ;  his  widow 
invites  Comenius  to  Transylvania, 
589,  590. 

Ramee,  general,  470. 

Patio  Disciplinse,  drawn  up,  477  ; 
adopted  and  its  contents,  146,  478 
and  note  25,  479,  568 ;  republished 
by  Comenius,  602-605  ;  in  hands 
of  Zinzendorf,  605  and  note  22. 

Batislaw,  duke,  8. 

Realism  and  Nominalism,  31  note  1. 

Rebaptism,  136,  137,  204  note  5 ; 
abolished,  246,  254. 

Recantation,  formula  of,  in  Anti- 
Reformation,  543. 

Reeicky,  George,  execution,  528. 

Reform  commissions,  in  Anti-Refor- 
mation, 537,  542,  543,  545,  546. 

Reformed  in  Bohemia,  421  ;  their 
ministers  banished,  504,  536. 

Reformed  of  the  Bohemian  confession, 
name  given  to  the  Brethren,  599 
note  8. 

Reformed  in  Poland,  vide  Calvinist. 


Regents,  Bohemian,  appointed,  486  ; 
interviews  with  defenders,  489  ; 
machinations  against  defenders, 
ib.;  plot  against  regents,  491  and 
note  15  ;  thrown  out  of  windows 
of  Hradschiu,  492-494. 

Regenvolscius,  vide  Wengierski. 

Reichenau,  parish,  223 ;  meeting 
among  its  mountains,  122  ; 
statutes  of,  122-126  ;  a  chief  seat 
of  U.  F.,  224. 

Rej,  Andrew,  receives  exiled  Breth- 
ren on  his  domain,  563. 

Remission  o/Sm, defined  l)y  U.F.,205 

Rican,  Paul  v.,  ringleader  in  attack 
on  regents,  493  ;  condemned  to 
life-long  imprisonment,  507,  530. 

Richenhurg,  parish,  223;  confiscated, 
266. 

Roh,  John,  vide  Horn,  John. 

Rokita,  John,  biography,  293  note  2; 
delivered  from  prison,279;  at  Koz- 
minek,  291  ;  at  Reformed  synod, 
293  ;  in  Little  Poland,  296,  297  ; 
at  Goluchow,  331  ;  negotiations 
with  duke  of  Wurtemberg,  333, 
334  ;  at  Xionz,  337  ;  interview 
with  Russian  czar,  387,  388,  389. 

Rokycana,    John,    biography     and 
character,     90  ;      incumbent     of 
Thein  church,  91  ;  elected  arch- 
bishop,   ib.;    flees  from   Prague, 
ib.;  returns,  92  ;  preaches  against 
Rome,   93  ;  correspondence  with 
Peter  Chilcicky,  98  ;  members  of 
his  church  awakened,  ib.;  urges 
a  reformation,  99, 100  ;  refuses  to 
carry  it  out,  101,  102  ;  helps  the 
Brethren  to  secure  a  retreat  at 
Lititz,   106  ;    favors  their  settle- 
ment, 111 ;  bewails  Gregory,  117 
Brethren  appeal  to  him,  119,  120 
disputation    with    Lupac,     129 
persecutes  Waldenses,  156,  157 
persecutes  Brethren,  157  ;  death 
161,  162  and  note  15  ;   tomb  de 
filed,  536. 

Roman  Catholic  church,  state  of,  55 
and  note  1  ;  opposes  U.  F.,  183  ; 
negotiates  with  Utraquists,  185  ; 
denounces  U.  F.,  266  ;  state  of  at 
Ferdinand's  death,  360  ;  reaction 
against  Protestants  in  Bohemia, 
415 ;  reaction  in  Poland,  444, 
445,  456,  476,  597,  598.  631  ;  pro- 
tests against  the  coming  of  the 
Bohemian  exiles  to  Poland,  564. 


INDEX. 


685 


Bomisli  priest,  a,  sent  to  Waldenses 
to  secure  the  episcopacy,  140,  141, 
142 ;  leaves  U.  F.,  153,  154 ; 
betrays  proceedings  of  Lhota 
syuod,  156. 

Bosacius,  John,  incumbent  of  St. 
Nicholas,  prays  for  the  Protest- 
ant defenders,  430;  opens  Protest- 
ant convention,  ib.;  ministers  to 
the  condemned  leaders,  508,  511; 
banished,  536. 

Rosenberg,  Peter  v. ,  pleads  for  George 
Wolinsky,  195. 

Rosenberg,  Peter  Wok  v.,  member  of 
U.  F.,  423  and  note  5;  proposes 
to  endow  U.  F.,  471  ;  his  gymna- 
sium rosarium,  550  and  note  6. 

Rosenberg,  William  v.,  death,  423. 

Rosenberg,  John  v.,  speaks  against 
U.  F.,  at  Moravian  diet,  192 ; 
cruel  treatment  of  George 
Wolinsky,  195,  196. 

Rozrazeicski,  bisJioj),  persecutes  Po- 
lish Reformed,  560. 

RMinger,  Esrom,  biography,  372 
note  33;  translates  confession,  372, 
373  ;  letter  to  John  Casimir,  386  ; 
takes  charge  of  a  school  of  the 
U.  F. ,  386  note  12  ;  vrhat  he  says 
of  hymnology  of  U.  F.,  404,  405  ; 
his  German  metrical  version  of 
Psalms,  411  ;  his  history  of  U. 
F.,  413  ;  driven  from  Wittenberg, 
ib.;  rector  of  college  at  Eiben- 
schlitz,  ib.;  death,  418. 

Rudolph,  emperor,  380  ;  biography 
and  character,  382  and  note  1 ;  in 
Moravia,  383  and  note  3  ;  renews 
edict  of  St.  James,  418,  438,  439  ; 
second  renewal,  441  ;  revolts 
against  him,  457;  opens  the  diet 
of  1608,  458  ;  his  mental  state 
458  note  1  ;  promises  to  settle  re- 
ligious questions,  459  ;  compact 
with  Matthias,  ib.;  course  over 
against  Protestant  states  in  1609, 
460 ;  grants  charter,  462 ;  his 
reign  golden  age  of  learning,  468  ; 
plots  against  "Matthias  and  the 
Protestants,  469  ;  resigns  crown, 
470  ;  death,  ib.  and  note  6. 
Ruppa,  Wenzel  v.,  plots  against  re- 
gents, 491  ;  ringleader  in  attack 
on  them,  493. 
Riippel,    Leander,    execution,    508, 

528. 
Ruprecht,  rival  emperor,  31. 


Ryba,  3Iatthias,  member  of  Council, 
433. 

Rybinius,  Jolin,  Polish  minister, 
291  ;  rector  of  Lissa  college,  563  ; 
bishop,  569  ;  death,  582. 

Rybinius,  Matthias,  at  Kozminek, 
294  ;  his  Polish  metrical  version 
of  Psalms,  411  ;  bishop,  473  and 
note  13  ;  death,  474. 

Rybinski,  vide  Rybinius. 

Rzeezycki,  Andrew,  assistant  presi- 
dent of  synod  of  Thorn,  447. 

s. 

Saaz,  parish,  224. 
Sacra7ne7its,  seven  taught,  158,  159, 
203,  204  ;  seven  rejected,  254  and 
note  23  ;  defined  in  1573,  374. 
Sadoicsky,baron  y.,  shelters  banished 

bishops,  551  ;  emigrates,  555. 
Sadoxvsky,  Esther  v.,  leaves  U.  F.  a 

legacy,  569. 
Safe-conduct,  vide  Hus,  J. 
Sagan,  church  of  grace  at,  640. 
Saints,  the,  defined  by  U.  F.,  205, 

375. 
Salkan,  archbishop,  withholds  letter 

fromU.  F.,  237. 
Salra,  a  service  in  Lent,  219. 
Salvador,  St.,  church  of,  535. 
Samogitia,  bishop  of,  at  colloquium 

charitativum,  583. 
Sapor,  John,  minister  in  Hungary, 

565  ;  member  of  council,  568. 
Sarnicki,  Calvinist  minister,  338 ;  at 

Seudomir,  345. 
Saros  Patak,  Transylvanian  parish, 

564  ;  Comenius  at,  590. 
Sautor,    priest,    opposes    Luke    of 

Prague,  182. 
Savonarola,  executed,  180. 
Saxony,  elector  of,  vide  John  George. 
Sazawa,  consent  of,  17. 
Scalnicus,  Peter,  Polish  minister,291. 
Schdfer,  3Mchior,  minister  at  Gor- 

litz,  645. 
Schallman,  John,  witness  in  time  of 

hidden  seed,  637. 
Schellenberg,  baron  v.,  favors  U.  F., 

185. 
Scherer,  George,  Jesuit,  438. 
Schlick,  count,  reform  at  Elbogen, 

233. 
Schlick,   Joachim   Andrew,    opposes 

election   of  Ferdinand    II,   485  ; 

prejudices  against  U.  F.,  488  note 


686 


INDEX. 


8  ;  makes  known  plot  against  re- 
gents, 492  ;  ringleader  in  attack 
on  them,  493  ;  arrested,  506,  611 
note  11  ;  his  address  before  the 
court,  506  and  note  7  ;  execution, 
511,  512,  513. 

SchUissclberg,  parish,  224. 

Schneider,  Martin,  witness  in  time 
of  hidden  seed,  638. 

Schneider,  Samuel,  witness  in  time 
of  hidden  seed,  641  ;  conversation 
with  priest,  and  death,  642. 

Schocken,  parish,  318  ;  seat  of  exiled 
Brethren,  563. 

Schdnau,  in  time  of  hidden  seed, 
642. 

Schoneich,  baron  v.,  shelters  fugitive 
Brethren,  595. 

Schoneich,  captain,  entraps  Augusta, 
270,  271,  272. 

Scholarships  at  foreign  universities, 
for  benefit  of 'U.  F.,  623,  624  and 
note  7,  626,  627  and  note  13. 

Schools,  Bohemian,  468  and  tiote  3  ; 
Protestants  deprived  of,  538. 

Schools  of  U.  F.,  in  Bohemia  and 
Moravia,  225,  226,  413,  414  ;  in 
Poland,  414  ;  rank  tii'st,  471  ; 
closed,  550. 

Schulles,  John,  execution,  526. 

Schwamberg,  baron  v.,  persecutes  U. 
F.,  187. 

Schwarz,  Henry,  Rosenberg's  chap- 
lain, 423  note  5. 

Schtveidnitz,  church  of  grace  at,  640. 

Scriptures,  holij,  and  ivord  of  God, 
defined  by  U.  F.,  373,  374. 

Scultetus,  Abraham,  advises  Fred- 
erick to  accept  Bohemian  crown, 
500. 

Seal,  episcopal,  of  U.  F.,  425  note  10. 

Seed,  Hidden,  vide  Hidden  Seed. 

Sehlen,  iu  time  of  hidden  seed,  641, 
642,  645,  646. 

Self-knowledge,  defined  by  U.  F., 
373. 

Semanin,  judge  of.  martyrdom,  269. 

Semanin,  Elias  Sud,  administrator 
of  Protestant  consistory,  465. 

Sendomir,  town,  345,  note  11. 

Sendomir,  synod  of,  345-358. 

Senftenberg,  barony  of,  106  ;  parish, 
223. 

Senfileben,  in  time  of  hidden  seed, 
642. 

Senior,  title  of  a  bishop,  210. 

Seniores  politici  and  civiles,  337  note  9. 


Serpentinus,  Albert,  or  Adalbert,  Po- 
lish minister,  291 ;  at  Kozminek, 
294. 

Severin,  Elias,  tortured,  550. 

Shultz,  colonel,  attacks  Lissa,  627, 
628. 

Siedler,  doctor,  bishop  of  Unitatsge- 
meinden,  634. 

Sieroslaw,  parish,  564. 

Sigismund,  King  of  Bohemia,  30  ;  his 
relations  to  Hus,  55,  56  and  note 
2,  63,  67,  70,  72  ;  appoints  a  re- 
gent, 82  ;  Bohemia  reuonnces 
allegiance  to  him,  85  ;  recognized 
as  king,  91  ;  begins  a  reaction, 
ib.;  death,  ib. 

Sigismund,  of  Poland,  guardian  of 
King  Lewis,  229. 

Sigismund  II,  Augustus,  king  of  Po- 
land, 283  ;  decree  against  exiled 
Brethren,  284 ;  decree  against 
Protestants,  293;  asks  concessions 
of  pope,  293,  294  ;  receives  in- 
struction iu  Calvinism,  296; edict 
against  foreign  heretics,  338 ; 
Brethren  present  their  confession 
to,  ib.;  edict  iu  their  favor,  339  ; 
sends  embassy  to  czar  Ivan,  387  ; 
death,  390. 

Sigismund  III,  king  of  Poland,  444 
and  note  2  ;  his  policy,  444,  445  ; 
seizes  Protestant  churches,  445  ; 
refuses  to  see  delegates  of  Thorn 
synod,  448  ;  unites  Greek  with 
Koman  Catholic  church,  449;  sup- 
ports Ferdinand  II,  501  ;  death, 
567. 

Silesia,  political  constitution  of,  170 
note  13  ;  in  Anti-Reformation, 
547. 

Simon,  servant  of  baron  Colditz,  196. 

Simon,  of  Rokycan,  Utraquist  leader, 
85. 

Simon,  of  Tisnovic,  Utraquist  leader, 
85. 

Simon  and  Judah,  church  of,  471. 

Simonowitz,  John,  martyrdom,  187. 

Sionsky,  Mach,  member  of  council, 
243  ;  bishop,  254  ;  advises  Israel 
to  escape  from  prison,  278  ;  leads 
exiled  Brethren,  284  ;  at  Gilgen- 
burg,  286 ;  at  Posen,  287  ;  es- 
teemed by  Duke  Albert,  286  note 
15  ;  at  synod  of  Prerau,  301 ;  ofli- 
cial  visits,  302;  at  synod  of  Pross- 
nitz,  303  and  note  6  ;  death  and 
burial,  305  and  note  10. 


INDEX. 


687 


Sixtus,  John  Theodore,  pardoned  on 

scaffold,  523  and  note  23. 
Skala,  Simon,  professor,  469. 
Skalic,  Hungarian  parish,  564  ;  Co- 
menius  at,  589  ;   ministers  from 
visit  secret  Brethren  in  Bohemia, 
620. 

Skoda,  Martin,  bishop,  229  ;  presi- 
dent of  council,  242  ;  death,  243 
and  note  6. 

Skuc,  parish,  223. 

Skyte,  John,  chancellor  of  Upsala 
universitj%  581. 

Slavon,  John,  member  of  council, 
433. 

Slavonian  Bible,  9,  11,  13. 

Slavonian,  ritual,  3,  11  ;  decline  of, 
17  ;  reintroduced,  20. 

Slawata,  William  v. ,  Rudolph's  coun- 
cilor, 459  note  2  ;  refuses  to  sign 
agreement  and  amnesty,  463,  466; 
regent,  486  ;  thrown  out  of  win- 
dow of  Hradschin,  493,  494  ;  es- 
capes, 495 ;  signs  paper  confessing 
that  he  has  been  j  ustly  treated,  ib. 

Slechta,  John  v.,  enemy  of  U.  F., 
184  ;  corresponds  with  Erasmus 
and  maligns  U.  F.,  229 ;  letter  of 
Erasmus  to  him,  230. 

Slezan,  synod  of,  317  and  note  2. 

Smalcald  ivar,  364. 

Sobieski,  John,  king  of  Poland,  622; 
death,  627. 

Societies,  religious,  in  Bohemia,  94, 
106. 

Soeinus,  Laetius,  plants  antitrini- 
tarianism  in  Poland,  338. 

Sokoloivski,  secretary  of  Sendomir 
synod,  346. 

Soldau,  parish,  286. 

Solin,  John,  minister  in  Hungary, 
565. 

Soliyi,  Zacharias,  priest  and  printer, 
424  and  note  8. 

Solnic,  Brethren  banished  from,  281 
and  note  2. 

Solyman,  besieges  Vienna,  241. 

Sommerfeld;  Erasmus  v.,  deputy  to 
Luther,  251. 

Sophia,  queen  of  Bohemia,  34,  82. 

Spalatin,  translates  confession,  249. 

Spanish  mercenaries,ontrages  of,  504. 

Sperai,Paul,me\nher  of  council,  433. 

Speratus,  Paul,  writes  to  Luther 
about  U.  F.,  234;  in  East  Prussia, 
286  ;  imposes  hard  conditions  on 
the  Brethren,  286. 


Spires,  protest  of,  246. 

Stach,  Matthew,  witness  in  time  of 

hidden  seed,  641. 
Stadias,  member  of  council,  568  ; 

prepares  a  concordance,  ib. 
Stancarus,  Francis,  289  and  note  19, 

290. 
Stanislaus,  of  Zuaim,  associate  and 

later  enemy  of  Hus,  32,  42,  44. 
States,  Protestant,  in  Bohemia,  meet 
and  appoint  directors,  460,  461, 
462 ;  enactment  respecting  for- 
eigners, 483  ;  assembled  in  con- 
vention and  attack  on  regents, 
488-496  ;  refuse  to  yield  to  Mat- 
thias and  Ferdinand,  498  ;  prop- 
erty confiscated,  541  ;  banished, 
546.     Vide  Directors,  Protestant. 

Statistics  of  U.  F.,  108,  224,  225  and 
note  3;  decrease  in  Bohemia,  300; 
in  Poland,  318  and  note  5. 

Statutes  of  Eeichnau  (1464),  122- 
126. 

Stawiszyn,  parish,  318. 

Steinmetz,  John  Adam,  pastor  at 
Teschen,  640  ;  dissuades  Neissers 
from  emigrating,  645. 

Stekna,  parish,  224. 

Stephnn,  Jndretv,  biography,  370; 
bishop,  370  and  note  29  ;  corre- 
spondence with  John  Casimir, 
383  ;  death,  384  and  note  5;  letter 
to  Elector  Frederick  III  about 
hymnology  of  U.  F.,  402,  403  ; 
sermons,  411. 

Stephen,  hospidar  of  3Ioldavia,  re- 
ceives Brethren,  171. 

Stephen,  bishop  of  the  3foravian  Wal- 
deiises,  140  ;  negotiations  with 
Bradacius,  141  ;  consecrates  the 
deputies  of  the  Brethren,  142  ; 
martyrdom,  157. 

Sternberg,  barons  v.,  members  of  U. 
F.,  225. 

Sternberg,  baron  v.,  governor  of 
Plirglitz,  322  ;  his  interest  in 
Augusta,  322,  323,  324,  325. 

Sternberg,  Adam  v. ,  councilor  of  Ru- 
dolph, 460  ;  signs  charter,  462  ; 
regent,  486  ;  spared  by  Protest- 
ant states,  493. 

Sternberg,  Stephen  v.,  Protestant 
leader,  460. 

Stierbohol,  secret  agreement  at,  459. 

Stoffek,  Tobias,  execution,  524. 

Strakonic,  prior  of,  pleads  for  George 
Wolinsky,  195. 


688 


INDEX. 


Strakoniz,  parish,  224. 

Strakowski,  Paul,  collects  in  Switz- 
erland for  exiles,  570. 

Stranski,  Paul,  professor,  bis  testi- 
mony regarding  schools,  468, 
469. 

Strasbtirg  divines,  mission  to  from 
U.  F.,  256-259. 

Strasnicky,  Daniel,  proposes  a  hos- 
pital at  Prerau,  422. 

Straznic,  parish,  224. 

Strejc,  George,  biography,  411  note 
8  ;  translates  Calvin's  Institutes, 
411  ;  bis  metrical  version  of 
Psalms,  ib.;  preaches  Israel's 
funeral  sermon,  419  ;  member  of 
Bible  committee,  424. 

Strejc,  3Iaithias,  biography  and  as- 
sistant bishop,  303  and  notes  5 
and  6. 

Stuhlweissenhurg ,  town,  240. 

Sturm,  Adam,  prepares  new  hymnal, 
313  and  note  30. 

Sturm,  John,  visited  by  Cerwenka, 
256. 

Sturm,  Wenzel,  a  Jesuit,  writes  and 
preaches  against  U.  F.,  147,  148, 
416. 

Suda,  Peter,  roliber  knight,  arrests 
Luke  of  Prague,  197. 

Summarium,  or  Snmovnik,  work  by 
Augusta,  367,  368. 

Sussicky,  Simon,  execution,  527. 

Sussicky,  Samuel,  m ember  of  connci  1 , 
433  ;  Jushop,  435  ;  death,  ib. 

Swatopluk,  duke,  11. 

Swehla,  John,  wliipped,  529. 

Swihoto,  Peter  v.,  sudden  death,  197. 

Swihojv,  Theobald  i\,  remains  dese- 
crated, 549. 

Sylvius,  Jacob,  at  Sendomir,  345, 
346,  347,  349,  351. 

Synod,  Bohemian,  forbidden  by  Max- 
imilian,  367. 

Synod,  Greek,  in  Poland,  449. 

Synod,  lloravian,  at  Olmiitz,  367  note 
18. 

Synod,  j)rovincialCatholic,\n  Poland, 
approves  of  colloquium  charita- 
tivnm,  581. 

Synods,  imion,  in  Poland,  at  Crecice 
and  Goluchow,  293  ;  at  Kozmi- 
nek,  294  ;  at  Pinczow  (1556),  296; 
at  Wladislaw  (1557),  229  ;  at 
Xionz  (1560),  337  ;  at  Posen,  ib.; 
at  Buzenin,  compact  of  Kozmi- 
nek     renewed,    ib. ;     at    Posen 


(1567),  343,  345;  at  Sendomir, 
345-352  ;  union  of  Brethren  and 
Lutherans  at  Posen  (1570),  352, 
353 ;  at  Cracow  (1573),  390  ;  at 
Posen  (1573),  ib.;  at  Petrikau 
(1578),    392;    at    Posen   (1582) 

.  442;  at  Wladislaw  (1583),  443  ;  at 
Thorn  (1595),  446-448  ;  at  Orla 
(1644),  582;  at  Thorn,  629;  at 
Dantzic,  631. 

Synods  of  U.  F.,  general,  213,  214; 
particular,  214  ;  first,  109;  among 
Reichenau  mountains,  122,  127; 
in  1465,  130  and  note  18,  131;  at 
Lhota  (1467),  132-138;  second  at 
Lhota,  152;  in  1485,  defining  re- 
lation of  U.  F.  to  other  churches, 
168,  169  ;  in  1490,  compromise 
with  regard  to  disputed  points, 
174  ;  another  annulling  com- 
promise, 175  ;  examining  course 
of  Matthias  (1495),  177;  at  Reich- 
enau (1500),  182  ;  in  1529,  242  ; 
in  1532,  ib.;  in  1534,  abolishing 
rebaptism,  246;  at  Prerau  (1549), 
301,  302  ;  at  Prossnitz  (1550), 
303;  in  1552,  306;  at  Prerau 
(1553),  311  ;  in  1555,  appealing 
to  Maximilian,  312,  313 ;  at 
Slezan,  centennial  (1557),  317, 
318,  319  ;  at  Prerau  (1567),  343. 
366  ;  at  Eibenschutz  (1571),  370  ; 
at  Austerlitz  (1572),  378  ;  at  Hol- 
leschau  (1573),  376,  378;  at  Leip- 
nik  (1591),  422;  at  Prerau 
(1594),  433,  434  ;  at  Jungbunz- 
lau  (1598),  434  ;  at  Juugbunzlau 
(1599),  435  ;  their  work  after  the 
charter  had  been  granted,  472  ; 
at  Jaromir  (1606),  472  ;  at  Leip- 
nik  (1608),  473  ;  at  Zerawic 
(1616),  146,  284,  477,  478,  479  ; 
synods  after  the  exile,  565  ;  at 
Lissa  (1629),  ib.;  at  Lissa  (1632), 
567  ;  at  Ostrorog  (1633),  569  ;  at 
Lissa  (1636),  571,  577  ;  at  Lissa 
(1644),  581,  582  ;  at  Lissa  (1645), 
582 ;  at  Milencyn  (1662),  609- 
613  ;  at  Heiersdorf  (1710),  628  ; 
atZullichau  (1712),  629;  at  Thorn 
(1712),  ib. 

Szamotuli,  press  at,  413. 

T. 

Tabor,  town,  86  and  note  11  ;  taken 
by  Podiebrad,  94. 


INDEX. 


689 


Tohor,  mount,  80  and  note  3  ;  camp- 
lueetiug  ou,  81. 

Taboriies,  85,  86,  87,  89  ;  stand  aloof 
from  national  church,  91 ;  dis- 
solve as  a  religious  party,  92  ; 
wander  through  the  country,  94  ; 
their  tracts,  112  ;  a  large  body 
of  them  joins  U.  F.,  113. 

Taborsky,  John,  member  of  council, 
153  ;  his  character,  155  ;  death, 
156  note  1. 

Tauss,  battle  of,  88. 

Tauss,  i^arish,  224. 

I'ennngel,  Francis,  Leopold's  coun- 
cilor, 470. 

Tenaudus,  at  Sendomir,  349  note  18, 
351. 

Teplitz,  parish,  224. 

Teschen,  church  of  grace  at,  640. 

Testament  of  the  Dying  3Ioiher,  work 
by  Comeuins,  588. 

Thalemherg,  baron  v.,  regent,  48G  ; 
reform  commissioner,  545. 

Tham,  Michael,  compiles  German 
hymnal,  399  and  note  8. 

Thein  church,  21,  note  1,  24  ;  its 
colossal  cup  taken  down,  535. 

Theological  Seminaries,  418,  476. 

Thirty  years^  war,  breaks  out,  498  ; 
AVallenstein  leader  in,  558  ;  goes 
against  the  Protestants,  566  ;  Gus- 
tavus  Adolphus  their  champion, 
ib.;  close  of,  584,  585. 

Thomas,  of  Landskron,  visits  Wal- 
denses,  167 ;  visits  Italy  and 
France,  180. 

Thomas,  of  Prelouc,  one  of  the  first 
ministers  of  U.  F.,  134  ;  ordained, 
137  ;  reordained,  153  ;  member  of 
council,  ib.;  bishop,  181  ;  presi- 
dent of  council,  182  ;  collocjuy 
with  Henry  Justitoris,  183  ;  last 
years  and  death,  228,  229  and 
note  2. 

Thorn,  town,  exiled  Brethren  at, 
285  ;  relinquish  their  church  at, 
342  and  note  2  ;  union  synod  at, 
529  and  note  20  ;  tragedy  at,  631 
and  note  24. 

Threcius,  Christopher,  draws  up  re- 
port of  Frankfort  synod,  385. 

Thurn,  3Iatthias  v.,  Protestant 
leader,  460  ;  opposes  election  of 
Ferdinand  II,  485  ;  deprived  of 
governorship  of  Karlstein,  487  ; 
his  unfortunate  influence  on  Bo- 
hemian states,  490  and  7iote  14  ; 

44 


proposes  to  kill  the  regents,  491 
and  note  15  ;  ringleader  iu  attack 
ou  them,  493  ;  his  wife  pleads  for 
them,  495  ;  quiets  Prague  after 
the  defenestration,  496 ;  com- 
mands Protestant  army,  ib.; 
before  Vienna,  499  ;  escapes  to  a 
foreign  country,  530. 

Tiem,  Wenzel,  commissioner  of  in- 
dulgences, 40,  61. 

Tischreden,  of  Martin  Luther,  236.  • 

Tilly,  count  v.,  warns  directors,  505 
and  note  5. 

Tobian,  John,  last  Bohemian  minis-' 
ter  at  Lissa,  622. 

Tobitschau,  parish,  164,  224. 

Tomicki,  or  Tomitzki,  John,  at  Koz- 
miuek,  294  ;  at  Slezau,  317Mo^e  3. 

Towaeowsky,  Cetibor,  governor  of 
Moravia,  155  ;  friend  of  U.  F., 
164  ;  listens  to  Lezek's  false  testi- 
mony, 166. 

Transylvania,  exiled  Brethren  in, 
560,  564. 

Treka,  Nicholas,  messenger  of  Ula- 
dislaus,  186. 

Trebitsch,  parish,  224. 

Trecius,  at  Sendomir,  349  note  18, 
351. 

Trinity,  the,  defined  by  U.  F.,  202, 
373. 

Tritheists,  a  Polish  sect,  347  and  note 
15. 

Troilus,  professor,  469. 

Trotzendorf,  teacher,  309and?!o/e21, 
331. 

Tunes,  used  by  U.  F.,  403. 

Turnau,  parish,  223  ;  confiscated, 
266  ;  Brethren  banished  from, 
280. 

Turnovius,  John,  appointed  to  edit 
Polish  Bible,  472  ;  bishop,  474, 
475l  ;  president  of  council,  565  ; 
death,  ib. 

Turnovius,  Simon  Theophilus,  biogra- 
phy, 346  and  note  14  ;  at  Sendo- 
mir, 345,  348,  349,  350,  351  ;  at 
Posen,  352  ;  at  Svnod  of  Cracow 
(1573),  390  ;  suggests  Protestant 
convention,  392  ;  bishop,  418 ; 
president  of  council  and  judge 
for  Poland,  433  ;  advocates  origi- 
nal definition  of  Lord's  Supper,  . 
434  ;  appeals  to  Polish  diet 
against  Jesuit  reaction,  445  ;  his 
scholarship,  446  note  4  ;  breach 
and  reconciliation  with  Gliczner, 


690 


INDEX. 


446  ;  presidentof  synod  of  Thorn, 

447  ;  at  council  of  Vilna,  450- 
455  ;  letter  to  patriarch  of  Con- 
stantinople, 455  ;  death,  472. 

Tyszowce,  confederation  at,  592. 

u. 

Ujec,    George,  member  of  council, 

805  and  7iote  11. 
UladishiuSy   king  of  Bohemia,   163, 

sets  the  ministers  of  U.  F.  free, 

164  ;  grants  Brethren  a  colloquy, 

165  ;  his  edict  against  them,  184  ; 
incited  againstthem  by  the  queen, 
188  ;  a  second  edict  against  them, 
190  ;  his  letter  to  Martha  v.  Boz- 
kowie,  ib.;  his  reputed  mental 
conflict,  191 ;  issues  St.  James 
edict  against  U.  F.,  191,  192;  at 
Prague  in  1509,  193  ;  death,  198. 

Uladislmis'  code,  170  note  13. 
Ungarisch-Brod,  parish,  224. 
Unitas  Fratrum,  founders  of,  98,  99, 

100,     101,     102     and     note     13 ; 

founded,  107,  108  ;  its  first  name, 

107  ;  subsequent  names,  108  and 
note  8  ;  original  principles,   107, 

108  ;  its  first  elders,  109,  110  ; 
other  leading  men,  111  ;  earliest 
disputes.  111  ;  avoids  polemical 
Taborite  writings,  112  ;  first  per- 
secution, 116-120;  issuesstatutes, 
122  ;  considers  question  of  an  in- 
dependent ministry,  127,  128  ; 
inquires  for  genuine  Christians 
somewhere  on  earth,  129  ;  decides 
ministerial  question  by  lot,  130, 
131  ;  its  first  ministers,  133-136  ; 
has  them  ordained  by  presbyterial 
ordination,  137  ;  resolves  to  intro- 
duce episcopacy,  138  ;  introduces 
episcopacy,  141,  142,  152,  153  ; 
negotiates  with  Waldenses  about 
a  union,  156  ;  writes  to  Rokycana, 
157,  158,  159  ;  collects  for  suffer- 
ers in  time  of  persecution,  161  ; 
increases  and  wins  favor,  164 ; 
treats  with  town  councils,  ih.;  de- 
fines its  relation  to  other  churches, 
168,  169  ;  increases  through  serf- 
dom and  the  power  of  the  nobles, 
170  ;  a  schism,  172-178  ;  explo- 
ratory tours  in  search  of  a  true 
church,  175,  176;  breaks  with  the 
past,  179,  180  ;  growth,  180  ; 
writes  to  Catholic  and  Utraquist 


states,  188  ;  its  experiences  under 
edict  of  St.  James,  191,  192,  197; 
persecution  wanes,  198;  itsfunda- 
mental  principles,  201  ;  its  doc- 
trines, 201-206  ;  its  Christian  life, 
206,  207;  ministry,  208-213;  con- 
stitution, 213-218  ;  worship,  218 
and  note  9,  219  ;  its  administra- 
tion of  sacraments  and  special 
services,  219-222 ;  discipline,  222; 
abolishes  rebaptism,  246 ;  in- 
quires into  the  doctrines  and  life 
at  Wittenberg,  249  ;  its  missions 
to  Luther,  233,  235,  245,  249,  250, 
251,  259,  260  ;  its  missions  to  Re- 
formed theologians  at  Strasburg 
and  in  Switzerland,  256-259,  333- 
337  ;  part  of  its  membership  ban- 
ished, 280-282  ;  extends  to  Po- 
land, 283-285  ;  is  a  rallying  point 
for  other  Polish  Protestants,  292  ; 
compact  with  Reformed  at  Koz- 
minek,  293-295 ;  decrease  of  its 
membership,  300  ;  enjoj's  peace 
in  Moravia,  301,  317  ;  progress 
in  Poland,  318  ;  its  three  Prov- 
inces instituted,  318,  319  ;  its  re- 
lation to  Polish  Protestants,  319  ; 
state  at  Ferdinand's  death,  361, 
362  ;  wholly  separated  from  the 
state,  362  and  note  6  ;  presents 
confession  to  Maximilian,  363, 
364  ;  second  deputation  to  him, 
364  ;  unfortunate  tendency  over 
against  other  Protestants,  376, 
377,  378,  386;  growing  sympathy 
with  Refbrmed,  377  ;  regaining  its 
status  in  Bohemia,  378  ;  change 
iu  manner  of  life  of  its  ministers, 
420  ;  relation  to  other  Protestants 
under  the  Bohemian  charter,  463, 
464  and  note  6,  465  ;  prosperity 
in  Bohemia  and  Moravia,  470, 
471  ;  state  iu  Poland  about  1620, 
476  ;  defamed,  488  and  note  8  ;  its 
ministers  banished  from  Prague, 
504,  536  ;  overthrow  in  Bohemia 
and  Moravia,  548-558 ;  its 
churches  seized,  548  ;  cemeteries 
profaned,  549 ;  literature  de- 
stroyed, 549,  550  ;  schools  closed, 
550  ;  ministers  murdered,  ib.  ; 
juinisters  banished,  551,  555  ;  its 
membership  in  times  of  Anti- 
Reformation  and  its  exiles,  555, 
556  ;  the  number  that  claimed  to 
be    Bohemian    Brethren   at  the 


INDEX. 


691 


time  of  edict  of  toleration,  556 
and  note  17  ;  uuhistoric  view  of 
a  decline,  557  note  18  ;  its  charac- 
ter brought  out  through  the  exile, 
559,  560  ;  reorganized  at  Lissa, 
562  ;  its  Bohemian  membership, 
form  independent  parishes,  564  ; 
two  provinces  in  exile,  ib.;  de- 
serted by  Sweden  at  peace  of 
Westphalia,  585  ;  forced  to  give 
up  its  Lissa  church,  591  ;  favors 
Swedish  cause  in  Poland,  592  ; 
receives  a  fatal  blow  at  Lissa,  592, 
593  ;  its  sufferings  in  Poland,  594, 
595  ;  its  worship  ceases  in  Poland 
for  two  vears,  595  ;  its  resuscita- 
tion in  Poland,  597,  598  ;  its  de- 
cline in  Poland,  599  ;  its  hidden 
seed  in  Bohemia  and  Moravia, 
619,  620  ;  maintains  itself  in  Po- 
land, 622  ;  proposed  extension  of 
its  episcopacy  to  England,  624  ; 
begins  a  struggle  for  its  rights  in 
Poland,  628  ;  still  further  decline 
in  Poland,  6:52,  633  ;  decline  in 
Silesia,  Hungary  and  Transyl- 
vania, 633  ;  end  of  its  legal  exist- 
ence in  Poland,  633  ;  memorial 
of  in  the  Unitatsgemeinden,  633  ; 
renewed  U.  F.  legally  recognized 
in  Bohemia,  appendix,  647,  648. 

Vnitdtsgemeindenan  d  their  episcopate, 
591  note  7,  633  and  note  29,  634. 

Unity,  the,  vide  U.  F. 

Universiiij  of  Prague,  vide  Prague. 

University  of  Paris,  30. 

Unum  Nccessarium,  last  work  of 
Coraenius,  616  and  note  17. 

Urban  V,  pope,  23. 

Ursimis,  Benjamin,  at  Thorn,  582. 

Ursiiius,  approves  of  confession, 
376  ;  union  of  Protestant,  con- 
sidered by  synod  of  Lissa,  571. 

Ursinus,  councilor  of  Frederick  I 
of  Prussia,  623. 

Ursk,  fugitive  Brethren  at,  595. 

Usages  and  ceremonies,  defined  by  U. 
F.,  375. 

Utraquists  or  Utraquist  church,  85, 
90  ;  becomes  the  national  church 
of  Bohemia,  91  ;  negotiations 
with  Greek  church,  92,  93;  state 
of,  94  ;  opposes  U.  F.,  183  ;  nego- 
tiates with  Catholics  concerning 
a  union,  185,  237  ;  divided  into 
two  parties,  236  ;  disintegrated, 
262  ;  screens  itself  behind  U.  F., 


266  ;  its  course  over  against  U.  F., 
269  ;  state  of,  at  Ferdinand's 
death,  360,  361  ;  constantly  de- 
creasing, 421  ;  name  given  by 
charter  to  Bohemian  Protestants, 
462. 
Utraquist  consistory,  reorganized,  167 
antl  note  8  ;  orders  its  priests  to 
preach  against  U.  F.,  184,  185; 
corresponds  with  bishop  Luke, 
187  ;  urges  Uladis'laus  to  perse- 
cute the  U.  F.,  191  ;  declares 
Augusta's  paper  unsatisfactory, 
323 ;  sends  articles  of  recantation, 
325  ;  examines  Bilek,  327  and 
note  16  ;  its  pitiful  position,  382, 
383 ;  its  power  waning,  421  ; 
changed  into  the  Protestant  con- 
sistory, 462  and  note  4.  Vide 
Consistory  Protestant. 

V. 

Valenta,  opposes  abolition  of  rebap- 

tism,  246  and  note  13. 
Valentin,  at  Sendomir,  346. 

Valerianus,  Magnus,  Capuchin,  what 
he  says  to  the  pope  about  conver- 
sion of  Bohemia  and  Moravia, 
544  ;  reform  commissioner,  545. 

Vechner,  George,  at  Thorn  collo- 
quium, 582. 

Vechta,  Conrad  v.,  archbishop,  57. 

J'eit,  vide  3Iichalek  Veil. 

Verbenius,  Victorin,  ministers  to 
condemned  Protestant  leaders,  508 

Vergerius,  Peter  Paul.  298 ;  pub- 
lishes confession  of  U.  F.,  299  and 
note  8  ;  applies  to  be  received  into 
U.  F.,  328  ;  interferes  with  Rok- 
ita's  and  Herbert's  mission  to 
Switzerland,  333, 334;  death,  341. 

Vetter,  Daniel,  in  charge  of  Lissa 
press,  562  ;  biography,  565  note 
17  ;  assistant  bishop,  599. 

Vetter,  Paul,  in  Hungary,  565. 

Vetter,  George  and  3Iatthias,  vide 
Strejc,  George  and  3Iatthias. 

Viktorin,  at  colloquy  at  Prague  in 
1504,  126. 

Vilna,  cojincil  of,  between  Greeks 
and  Protestants,  450-455  ;  politi- 
cal confederation  of,  455. 

Viref,  censures  confession  of  U.  F., 
333  ;  excuses  his  censure,  336. 

Virgin  Mary,  how  regarded  by  TJ. 
F.,  205. 


692 


INDEX. 


Vitrelius,  A  lexander,  at  Sendomir,  349 
Vhididaus  IV,  kiug  ol"  Poland,  567  ; 
suggests  union  of  Protestants  and 
Catholics,  581  ;  his  instructions 
for  the  colloquium  charitativum, 
583  ;  death,  589. 

W. 

Wake,  William,  vide  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury. 

Walachisch-Meseritsch,  parish,  224. 

Waldenses,  17  ;  Brethren  so  called, 
108  note  8  ;  priests  of,  join  U.  F., 
121  ;  colony  of,  in  Moravia,  139, 
140  ;  negotiate  about  episcopacy 
with  U.  F.,  141,  142;  about  union, 

156  ;    persecuted   and  dispersed, 

157  ;  a  number  join  U.  F.,  167, 
168 ;  Waldenses  of  Italy  and 
France  visited  by  Luke  and 
Thomas,  180,  181  ;  letters  to  Bo- 
hemia, 181  note  3  ;  deputies  of, 
visit  Brethren,  255,  256. 

Wahlensian  priest,  n,  ordains  first 
ministers  of  U.  F.,  137  ;  conse- 
crated to  episcopacy  by  Stephen, 
140,  141,  142  ;  death,  153. 

Waldhausen,  Conrad,  forerunner  of 
Hus,  20-22. 

Waldstein,  barons  v.,  members  of  U. 
F.,  225,  330. 

Waldstein,  Adam  v.,  regent,  486 ; 
dismisses  Protestant  professors, 
538. 

Wallenstein,  Albert  r.,  558,  566. 

Warsaw,  confederation  of,  627. 

Warsaw,  meeting  of  Brethren  and 
Reformed  at,  628. 

Wartenski,  Alexander,  martyrdom, 
595. 

Weiss,  Blichael  (Zwinglian),  joins 
U.  F.,  236  and  note  17. 

Weiss,  3Iichael,  biography,  394  7iote 
2  ;  mission  to  Luther,  233;  mem- 
ber of  council,  243  ;  his  incorrect 
translation  of  confession,  244  ; 
edits  German  hymnal,  394,  395  ; 
tampers  with  it,  396. 

Weisskircheii,  parish.  224. 

Welswasser,  parish,  223  ;  printing 
office,  226. 

Wejivoda,  Wenzel,  Augusta's  servant, 
ministers  to  him  in  prison,  275. 

Welehrad,  town,  8,  9. 

Weliky,  Jacob,  his  remains  defiled, 
549. 


Welser,  Philippine,  322  and  note  11  ; 
visits  Augusta  and  Bilek  in 
prison,  323  ;  urges  their  libera- 
tion, 325. 

Welwar,  Paul,  tortured,  537. 

Wengiersky,  Andrew,  author,  574 
note  1. 

Wenzel,  at  colloquy  at  Prague  in 
1504,  186. 

Wenzel,  duke,  13,  14. 

Wenzel,  king  of  Bohemia,  character, 
30  ;  compact  with  Sigismund,  38 
note  2 ;  decree  in  relation  to 
university,  37  ;  edict  concerning 
disturbances,  42  ;  requests  Hus  to 
leave  Prague,  43  ;  endeavors  to 
bring  about  a  pacification,  44  ; 
furnishes  Hus  with  an  escort, 
58  ;  orders  Catholic  priests  to 
be  restored  to  their  parishes,  80  ; 
death,  82. 

Wenzel,  of  Hohenmauth,  suffragan  of 
Rokycana,  91. 

Wenzel,  of  Lultsch,  founder  of  a 
sect,  238. 

White  Tower,  vide  Prnque. 

Wiching,  archbishop,  13. 

Wieruszew,  school  at,  414. 

William,  follows  Augusta  to  Prague, 
272  ;  ministers  to  him  in  prison, 
275  ;  arrested,  275. 

Wilsnak,  miracle  of,  35. 

Winthrop,  John,  endeavors  to  secure 
Comenius  as  president  of  Har- 
vard college,  580. 

Wischau,  parish,  224. 

Wifkowberg,  82. 

Wittenberg,  fieldmarshal,  invades  Po- 
land, 591". 

Wittenberg,  Theological  Facidty,  de- 
cides in  favor  of  U.  F.,  344  ;  fur- 
nishes confession  of  1573  with  a 
testimonial,  372,  376  and  notes 
39  and  41  ;  its  prerogative  at 
Wittenberg,  372  no/e  14  ;  the 
Crypto-Calvinistic  catastroplie, 
377  and  note  43  ;  decides  against 
U.  F.,  583. 

Wittman,  Michael,  execution,  528. 

Wlach,  John,  Waldensian  ordained 
by  bishop  Nicholas  and  conse- 
crated bishop,  142. 

Wlodawa,  parish,  563. 

Wodman,  parish,  224. 

Wodniansky,  Nathaniel,  execution, 
527,  528. 

Wokac,  Simon,  execution,  528. 


INDEX. 


693 


Wolfgang,  palatine  of  the   Rhine, 

Wolin,  parish,  224. 

Woliiisky,  George,  his  sufferings,  195, 
196, 

Word  of  God,  vide  Scriptures,  Holy. 

Works,  good,  defined  bv  U.  F.,  374. 

Worship,  public,  of  U.  >.,  218,  219. 

Wotic,  Lmvrence,  visits  Erasmus, 
230. 

Wotic,  Wenzel,  murdered,  550. 

Wratislaw  II,  15  ;  deputation  to 
pope  Gregory,  16. 

Wrouiecky,  Wenzel,  assistant  bishop, 
199,  303  ;  death,  310. 

Wrzesowitz,  general,  cruel  course  in 
Poland,  592. 

Wurtemherg,  duke  of,  corresponds 
with  Maximilian,  312,  319  ;  ne- 
gotiates with  Rokita  and  Her- 
bert, 333,  334. 

Wycliffe,  John,  19  ;  his  writings,  30, 
31  ;  writings  condemned,  35  ; 
biography,  30  note  2  ;  w  ritiugs 
burned,  37. 

Wysschrad,  castle,  6. 

X. 

Xionz,  synod  at,  337. 

z. 

Zacharias,  bishop  and  biography, 
393  and  note  19  ;  president  of 
council,  420  ;  death,  432  and 
note  1. 

Zahn,  on  hymns  of  U.  F.,  403,  404. 

Zanchi,  Jerome,  approves  of  confes- 
sion of  U.  F.,  376. 

Zapolya,  John,  claims  Hungarian 
crown,  241. 

Zatecky,  baron  v.,  what  he  says  of 
Ferdinand's  refusal  to  free  Au- 
gusta, 308. 

Zauchtenthal,  church  at,  548  note  2  ; 
centre  of  hidden  seed,  637,  642. 

Zbinco,  Zajek  v.  Hasenburg,  arch- 
bishop, 35,  38. 

Zhor,  vide  Parsonages. 

Zborowski.  Peter,  at  Sendomir,  345, 
346,  349,  350. 

Zduncky,  William,  martyrdom,  595. 

Zebrowski,  canon,  of  Wilna,  preaches 
against  Protestants,  631. 

Zeisberger,  John  and  Z)(n'/(Z,  witnesses 
in  time  of  hidden  seed,  641. 


Zerawic,  or  Zerawitz,  synod  at,  284  ; 
council  meets  at,  321  ;  meeting  of 
acolytes  at,  422;  centre  of  hidden 
seed,  637. 

Zerotin  family,  192  and  note  7  ;  225. 

Zerotin,  Charles  v.,  birth,  435  ;  edu- 
cation, character  and  military 
career,  436  and  note  13  ;  descrip- 
tion of  his  castle  at  Namiest,  436, 
437  ;  assessor  of  court,  438  ;  tried 
for  heresy,  ib.;  prominent  in  re- 
volt against  Rudolph,  457;  speech 
before  the  Bohemian  diet  in  favor 
of  Matthias,  459 ;  governor  of  Mo- 
ravia, ib.;  builds  church  at  Bran- 
deis,  471  ;  proposes  to  endow  U. 
F.,  ib.;  his  policy  as  governor, 
475  ;  resigns,  475,  476  ;  advises 
the  Bohemian  states  to  yield, 
498  ;  imprisoned  for  refusing  to 
take  part  in  revolution,  499  ;  has 
church  at  Brandeis  torn  down, 
549  ;  shelters  banished  bishops 
and  ministers,  551,  552,  553  ;  in- 
terview with  Ferdinand  II,  at 
Vieuua,  552  ;  sells  his  estates 
and  emigrates,  555  ;  death,  572  ; 
burial  and  grave,  573  and  note  36. 

Zerotin,  Frederick  v.,  at  Slezan,  317 
note  3  ;  governor  of  Moravia,  438. 

Zerotin,  John  v.,  his  position,  383  ; 
publishes  Kralitz  Bible,  424  ; 
death,  435. 

Zerotin,  3Iariana  v.,  435. 

Zettritz,  Ulrich  v.,  finds  body  of 
Lewis,  240. 

Zezschwitz,  on  catechisms  of  U.  F., 
407  note  2. 

Zinzendorf,  count,  what  he  says  of 
Bohemian  Brethren,  377;  incited 
to  resuscitate  the  U.  F.  by  read- 
ing the  Ratio  Disciplinse  of  Co- 
menius,  605  and  note  22  ;  bishop, 
627  note  14  ;  invites  the  Neisser 
families  to  settle  on  his  estate, 
645. 

Zizka,  John,  biography,  83  and  note 
7,  276  7iofe  17;  tomb  defiled,  536. 

Zizka  hill,  83. 

Zmrzlik,  Crescencia,  prominent  mem- 
ber of  U.  F.,  225. 

Zugehdr,  John,  bishop,  623  and  note 
5 ;  death,  625. 


